College Football National Champs 2008

[gsu_paintballer]

Georgia is preseason #1 with an impossible schedule. If they make it out with 1 loss, they'll win the national championship.

This is why we shouldn't have preseason polls.

Not even a chance that the Bucks will make it to the National Championship this year. Keep on dreaming Buckeyes.

Look out! Everyone hide before he calls you a bandwagon fan!

[Bourbon and Coke]

My honest, writers prediction is Ohio State 35 Florida 27. Look at the facts before calling me a homer. Georgia seems fantastic on offense but they seem like the easy pick with a lot of guys wanting the ball - not a good combo for college.

Did you mix up your scouting reports? Florida has the ball-hogging offense (Tebow, Harvin, Rainey, Moody, Ingram.) Georgia has been content to set their season on the shoulders of one running back (Moreno, see also: Herschel Walker.) Georgia has low-key talent on offense; the past couple seasons have shown that all of the players on offense not named Knowshon Moreno and Caleb King have no problem contributing to team success. And you forget one of them has already played as a tandem back and the other was recruited as a tandem back.

The questions for Georgia are on defense and their ridiculous schedule.

And by the way - reports from OSU camp is that Pryor is emerging as a leader, and has shown no ego at all - even playing some daring games with all-american CB Malcolm Jenkins. He seems like a team guy, and I'm hoping he gets some serious playing time in our first two games so he can come in for 2-5 plays against USC, decoy or not.

That would be about the worst thing you could hope for.

[Bourbon and Coke]

This is why we shouldn't have preseason polls.

That's a meaningless statement. Pre-season polls aren't put in place to predict the overall national champion.

If any team in the country could survive Georgia's schedule, they deserve to be in the National Championship game.

[jmontgo3]

I'm gonna take a longshot and say Illinois! Juice, if he can get his passing game together, should have quite a year. Just need to win at OSU and Michigan, which will be tough but doable.

[gsu_paintballer]

That's a meaningless statement. Pre-season polls aren't put in place to predict the overall national champion.

I agree with your last statement.

However, you can't deny that preseason polls DO have an adverse effect on voting.

[MrKadash]

I'm gonna take a longshot and say Illinois! Juice, if he can get his passing game together, should have quite a year. Just need to win at OSU and Michigan, which will be tough but doable.

OSU plays @ Illinois. Unless Juice can be a one man show (I know Benn is at WR) I see a 3rd place finish in the Big 10 behind OSU and Wisky. Losing Mendenhall and Lehman were huge hits that don't get filled that easy. Not a BCS champion contender, IMO, but still should have a decent season.

[jmontgo3]

OSU plays @ Illinois. Unless Juice can be a one man show (I know Benn is at WR) I see a 3rd place finish in the Big 10 behind OSU and Wisky. Losing Mendenhall and Lehman were huge hits that don't get filled that easy. Not a BCS champion contender, IMO, but still should have a decent season.

Oh you're right my bad, its away at Mich / Wisc / Missou. From what I've read and heard our defense should be pretty good, got some good recruits and decent LB's filling in for Lehman. You're right though, no one will replace Mendenhall, gonna miss him a ton.

[TinCupTampa]

Georgia is probably the best team in the SEC this year but their road schedule isnt very favorable.

If I had to guess... OSU/USC winner vs OU.

[TigerCurtis333]

That would be about the worst thing you could hope for.

No no my friend. That's the last thing opposing D-Cords, could hope for. Also Illini will be a fun game but with the experience of Boeckman it won't happen again. Oh by the way - the key TD for Illini in that game that could have gone OSU's way, but in turn was possibly a 14 point swing....the Big 10 issued an official apology for the missed call to Ohio State last week.

[Bourbon and Coke]

I agree with your last statement.

The only time that has ever really happened was with Auburn in 2004, when 3 teams were undefeated and Auburn got screwed out of the national championship game despite a stronger schedule. This was more of an anti-SEC bias than it was a benefit of preseason polling for Oklahoma/USC.

The bigger adverse effect on voting lies in the fact that the weakest conferences don't play conference championship games.

[TinCupTampa]

The only time that has ever really happened was with Auburn in 2004, when 3 teams were undefeated and Auburn got screwed out of the national championship game despite a stronger schedule. This was more of an anti-SEC bias than it was a benefit of preseason polling for Oklahoma/USC.

What is interesting about that 2004 outcome, and something SEC fans will never admit, they were coming out of a few year downswing in their conference. But, SEC fans will tell you they have always had the hardest conference.

[Bourbon and Coke]

Coming out of a downswing? LSU won in 2003 and Tennessee won in 1998. In between, the national championship was won by every conference except the Pac 10. The SEC retained depth, but didn't produce any threat of a dynasty the way Miami and FSU threatened.

[TinCupTampa]

1999 SEC 4-4
2000 SEC 4-5
2001 SEC 5-3
2002 SEC 3-4

A .500 record during a 4 yr bowl span. Is that dominance or does SEC fans conveniently forget they have struggled before?

Why is that when other conferences post this kind of record the SEC states that they are a terrible conference.

Please remember that the SEC hasnt always been on top... and if you need something to help you remember... try looking up the all time record of the Big 10 vs SEC.

[Bourbon and Coke]

Those statistics are meaningless until you post the same stats for the other major conferences and perform regression analysis to determine whether or not there is significance to the variation.

Even then, you're handpicking the stats to suit the argument, not suiting the argument to the stats.

I'll save the philosophical argument over the foolishness of statistics, but I think you'll find that through those years, the conferences were much closer in strength than they are now. Furthermore, I bet if you look at the major conferences for the past, say, 40 years, you'll find that, overall, they all look similar to that. Bowl games, unfortunately, are not about pairing equal strength teams.

[TinCupTampa]

Those statistics are meaningless until you post the same stats for the other major conferences and perform regression analysis to determine whether or not there is significance to the variation.

Thats exactly what I said in the original post that you contradicted ... now you are agreeing?

[Guest]

My prediction is West Virginia

[Bourbon and Coke]

Thats exactly what I said in the original post that you contradicted ... now you are agreeing?

That's hardly the same as a "downswing."

[scgolfer]

Clemson has some of the best talent in the country and one of the easiest schedules. They have 2 of the fastest players in the country and tons of other talent. The only reason they should not go undefeated in the regular season is their incompetent coach Tommy Bowden, who will probably lose a game by getting out coached again against a team like Wake Forest or Maryland.

The SEC is way to tough this year for a team to go undefeated. Georgia, LSU, and Florida are looking really good.

My prediction is a one loss SEC team will win the BCS championship game.