http://athlonsports.com/college-football/very-early-college-football-top...
Highlights include Notre Dame, Texas, and Oregon.
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http://athlonsports.com/college-football/very-early-college-football-top...
Highlights include Notre Dame, Texas, and Oregon.
Comments
You warned me, yet, here i am... just baffled.
Absolute joke...and not because we aren't ranked. ND, Oregon, Miami are you kidding me?
10-4? no ranking for you!
To be fair, the writer has us in the others list with four other ACC programs. He specifically calls out the losses on offense as his reasoning. Hard to argue those, considering the trepidation that has been all over this website the last week.
What about Miami losing Kaaya, Coley, Walton or Yearby (can't remember which one), etc?
This is my issue, I know why people are going to be less bullish on us, but a similar team with a worse record and similar production and key positions being lost is ranked.
edit: I don't particularly care that we aren't ranked in this too early 2017 Athlon ranking, I just felt the need to point out that the logic being used to exclude us was not applied to our friends down south.
This x1000.
I'm fine with people being hesitant with us after all we the players we are losing. But don't throw a team in there whose ass we beat that loses similar playmakers. I mean, it's not like Mama Giraffe wrote the article.
Miami has out-recruited us (in some cases, substantially) over the last four years. Now that they have a head coach who is much less likely to squander that talent, I can see why.
He sure did a lot with those "dudes" Thursday night in Lane. /s
This UGA fan questions the basic premise of that statement.
9-10 wins in the SEC gets you fired when your boosters are sick of no championships.
9-10 wins in the ACC punches Miami's first ticket to the ACCCG.
Richt is a decent head coach, not outstanding but never bad. I was lukewarm to the idea of VT hiring him when his name surfaced in 2015, but he's got a decent track record, which is more than we can say for Miami in the last 10 years or so.
his only "problem" -though I give him credit due here, and hearing all about this on Atlanta radio during his tenure at UGA... but he'll easily suspend a player for their (fill in the blank) or violation of team rules... so he'll always be down 2-3 star players, any given game
Wasn't Frank the same way, plenty have taken a bus back home instead of playing in a bowl game. ...which is hilarious, lol
Yeah, he will make them a consistent threat. But I don't fear Mark Richt coached teams.
VT has the third best coaching staff in the ACC, maybe 2nd depending on what Jimbo does next year.
Haven't they always out recruited us? Pretty sure they aren't the ones with any ACC or division titles. But, I get your point.
100x this. We surprised a lot of people this year, particularly ourselves (remember how happy most of us said we'd be to hit 8 wins and make some Coastal noise?) Now, we lose record-shatterer Ford, physical nightmare Hodges, the record-breaking QB, the spiritual leader of the offense Rogers, and some key talent on defense. What else should anyone expect to see in these way-too-soon predictions? VT did great this year and we've got some momentum. But right now, we've got to keep proving ourselves. It's like how everyone got all excited over the basketball ranking - it's great, but it means nothing if you don't keep playing at that level (or better) and hold onto it. The way I see it, going into 2017, there are more questions than answers for VT football. Lots of momentum and promise, but much yet to demonstrate.
Yeah I see your point, but if you read the list that is pretty much everyone except the top 10. Notre Dame went 4-8 and lost a top 10 pick in Kizer but I guess its Notre Dame?? s/ Texas went 5-7 and lost their 2,000 yard running back, Miami lost everyone good except Walton and a couple LB's. Even Louisville lost their top 3 WR's and a bunch of other starters but are ranked 15 after mailing in the last month and half of the season.
I usually just ignore these articles but with Tech probably finishing top 15 in the AP Poll, that should be enough to enough to keep us in Top 25 preseason, especially will only 1 true loss on defense (Clark: Walker, Settle, Hill were pretty much co-starters by end of year).
Dont forget two offensive lineman with 94 combined games, and a senior backup QB that made transition easy with injuries. Thats six starters and a key backup.
Defensively, the talent you mentioned is Chuck Clark, Woody Baron, Nigel Williams and Ken Ekanem, with of course the possibility of Brandon Facyson also looming out there. So potentially five starters gone from defense.
Yeah definitely offense is a different story, with Evans, JMac, Conte, Hodges, and Ford pretty much getting all the meaningful reps at their positions. Defensively though, I look at it as really only losing 1 starter (Clark got all meaningful reps at FS) because Settle, Walker, Hill, and Alexander all got meaningful starter type reps for Baron, Williams, Ekanam, and Facsyon (maybe) this past year.
Sure but we have other guys who looked good in significant playing time to fill those roles. Defense shouldn't be a question mark for us next year barring some new development *knocks on wood*.
This article...it tastes like crap.
Is it just me or does every preseason ranking look almost identical? They just jumble around the elite teams and the blue bloods and sprinkle in a G5 or two.
Isn't that how most seasons shake out anyway?
I agree that the top 15 or so are probably comprised of that mixture. Whether they started at #3 and fell to #14, or the other way around. But, it feels like some teams are consistently overrated and thrown in there just based on name alone. This is of course based on absolutely no fact checking and comes with the daily value of sodium intake.
Also why I normally think about whether I should post (or speak) before I actually do. This time it didn't go so well.
With Evans, probably top 15.
You know. Let's not waste our time here. Such redundent BS. Year in a year out.
IMO, there's a big difference between preseason projections, which indicate where you think teams will FINISH next season, and preseason rankings, which is where you think teams stand at the start of the season (many members of the media fail to clarify this and it drives me nuts).
Assuming these are meant to be rankings, here are my grievances and comments:
I feel like this gets discussed every year, but I don't believe there is a difference between these two things.
Preseason rankings = Current rankings - player/coaching losses + experience + recruits
Preseason projects = Current rankings - player/coaching losses + experience + recruits + ease/difficulty of schedule + predictions of how players will improve/digress.
There are more ACC teams mentioned in this list than UVA had fans at their spring game.
Lol
All three, vying for more irrelevance than the other. Not even worth the click. I don't say that because they didn't pick VT, but preseason hype is a waste, rankings are just that, rankings, and Athlon is well, Athlon.
Athlon is to sports media what LOLUVA is to football. Weak and irrelevant.
Perhaps an unpopular position, but IMO Braden Gall at Athlon does a pretty good job. He was the first person I heard that got behind VT pre-season across every national media / preview source I follow, including Steele. Does he take some clickbait positions here and there? They all do, it is their living. But Athlon like any organization, has some that are good and some that are bad.
I don't know when I'm going to stop laughing, but saying that there's only one Coastal team worthy of the Top 25 after this epic bowl season is the funniest thing I've heard all day.
wouldn't sleep on Georgia Tech,
they beat usand had a really strong finish to their year...Yep.. I like to call them the 5 to 9 team. A bunch of fumbles? 5 wins... Not a horrible amount of fumbles?- 7 wins.. their best turnover ratio of the PJ era? 9 wins... They are never going to be terrible being the only P5 team that runs the triple option- teams have to prepare for it uniquely THAT week.. so that is 4 wins right there. Then, PJ IS a good in game offensive coach- in the ACC with UVA, Duke, Wake, etc.- that is 6 wins right there... Get a good QB in there? 8-9 wins.. they are never going to play in the college playoff with that offense, but they are never going to be UVA bad either.... IIWII... When VT finally figures out how to score 4 offensive touchdowns on Paul Johnson, we should have no problem beating him every year. Bud does as good as anyone against that offense.
Not sure if I'm just in a "glass is half full mood" or not, but if you'd told me, back in August, that we would be complaining about "only" being included in the others who may break into the 2017 top 25, I would have been very happy with that, because it meant we had a good season with 8+ W's and Evans was as good as we were hoping. Evans was as better than we hoped, so he's leaving for the NFL and we're STILL in the "others who may break into the top 25" list.
Yeah, Miami is getting more love than they deserve, but when you try to figure out who might replace them, I'm hard pressed to identify a team that didn't lose as much or more than they have and they have had some good recruiting classes.
We will be ranked week 1 since WVU will be ranked. They can then call the game a top 25 matchup.
The cousins are probably more likely to be ranked, sadly.
Too bad they won't be ranked after week one.
Too badGood thing they won't be ranked after week one.I don't expect us too be ranked preseason. Too many question marks for voters to rank us.
It will more than likely be the last preseason ranking we aren't included in for years to come though.
Prior to clicking on the link, I decided that no matter what happened, I wouldn't be mad unless they somehow included ND and Miami but not us. Well I'm mad.
sooo da U is bak?
Haven't you heard?
The bird is the word??
I love it...we always perform better as the underdog. Let everyone sleep on us.
Except the recruits, of course.
Oklahoma seems to be in the right spot...........
Preseason rankings in January?
They got Michigan at 10.
Michigan loses their whole team this year and plays Florida in Texas in week 1 next year.
Florida playing an OOC game Outside of Florida?? I dont believe it.
holy shit, that is pretty uncharacteristic of them.
Do they play 8 home games and 10 games in the State of Michigan next year too?
Florida State #3.....
I'm gonna go ahead and say that they're a heavy ACC favorite next year. First half FSU and second half FSU this year were two completely different teams. Sucks that Cook declared for the draft, would've really helped with their opener vs Bama.
I agree, Clemson has a big reloading job to do on both sides of the ball, particularly on offense with a new QB. Louisville returns Lamar but I'm sure they have some losses on both sides as well and need to fix the OL.
While Cook could maybe be the best RB FSU will ever have, they have big time recruits coming in and former 4/5* Jacques Patrick.
Look Mom, it's a football poll- Notre Dame and Oregon have to be included, it's the rules.
But we will have Lawson at QB1 next year!
thanks for showing up, everyone was worried...
spicy
Throwing to Todd Nolen?
The thing that stands out to me the most is Clemson at #8 and OSU at #2.. last week's game might have something to say about that.
I know Clemson is losing Watson most likely, but from what I understand they are still returning a large portion of the team on both sides of the ball.
They lose a ton on offense, but return a ton on defense (Boulware and Tankersley is all they lose I think on the top of my head.)
They lose pretty much their whole offense outside of Cain (who can't leave, but certainly will next year when eligible) and Renfrow and Ray Ray outside, and a few OL. But new QB, new rb, new faces everywhere at receiver.
Defense they will lose Tankersley, Jadar Johnson (best safety, Dragon rider), Carlos Watkins (tackle, 94), and Boulware for sure. So they will retain three of the best players on the DL in Ferrell, Lawrence, and Wilkins, but they will be rebuilding at the other two levels.
Michigan writeup is hysterical...
Each level of the defense suffered a significant loss,/em>
they lose every defender that started the bowl game, all 11.
hmmm...and since the B1G fared so well, we'll put them at 10th!