AP TOP 25 POLL RELEASED TODAY

[MrMustang1965]

SMU plays #25 on Sept. 2 in Lubbock!

NEW YORK - (AP) Ohio State is the preseason number one in The Associated Press college football poll after being named first on 35 of the 65 ballots cast by a nationwide panel of media members. The Buckeyes are also number one in the coaches poll.

Number-two Notre Dame received ten first-place votes in the A-P balloting, while defending national champion Texas is third after garnering eight first-place mentions.

Auburn got three first place votes and checks in at number four. West Virginia is next, even though the Mountaineers received three more first-place mentions than the Tigers.

Three voters liked Southern California as number one, but the Trojans will start their 2006 campaign sixth in the A-P rankings.

Florida, L-S-U, California and Oklahoma round out the top ten.

The second ten consists of Florida State, Miami, Louisville, Michigan and Georgia, followed by Iowa, Virginia Tech, Clemson, Penn State and Nebraska.

The 21st through 25th spots belong to Oregon, T-C-U, Tennessee, Arizona State and Texas Tech, respectively.

[mr. pony]

Time to beat another ranked team......

[MrMustang1965]

Time to beat another ranked team......

Just spoke with my oldest who is a student at TT and knows a lot of the football players. She says everytime a new poll comes out with TT ranked low it just ticks off their players more-and-more. And she says unfortunately the first team on the Red Raiders schedule is the poster child for the a** whupping. So...for those of you going to Lubbock, be prepared.

[ThadFilms]

How dare them leave SMU out of the Top 25?!?! This is rediculous. An outrage. A travesty. I mean, c'mon? We're the only D 1-A team in town!!! Oh and we won three out of four games against bowl teams last season. We beat Top 25 TCU and ended on a three game win streak. This is just a darn shame. The AP needs to get their heads out of their backsides. I am thoroughly appalled.

I am sending a letter to every AP voter immediately! And my congressmen!!! Darn it!

No, look. I do mind. The Dude minds. This will not stand, ya know, this aggression will not stand, man.

[LonghornFan68]

Am I the only one not buying the Notre Dame hype?

[mrydel]

yes

[smu96]

Am I the only one not buying the Notre Dame hype?

What part of the hype do they not deserve?

[ThadFilms]

Am I the only one not buying the Notre Dame hype?

In a word, yes.... actually no. I think they are top ten material, so in that sense I feel top five is overrated. But they have a killer offense and a genius of a head coach... and I believe Notre Dame's Joe Theismann put it best when he said "there are no geniuses in football, a genius is someone like Norrman Einstein" ... I will say this, I do believe the hype, but I'm definitely not ready to proclaim them BCS Bowl bound.

In the press conference right after a nice bowl victory for Notre Dame quite some time ago, Lou Holz told the story of his morning breakfast at a local diner. It consisted of a bowl of Cheerios.

Waitress: "Hey Coach, what's the difference between Notre Dame and those Cheerios?"

Lou Holz: "I don't know"

Waitress: "Those Cheerios belong in a bowl."



Notre Dame has NBC... we have All Access...


And even though I'm not a ND fan, part of me hopes they're good. It's hard to hate the Yankees/Lakers/Irish when they are bad. But somehow, no matter what, I am always a Notre Dame fan when I watch Rudy - I cry like a little girl every time. Even with commercials.

Bold prediction: SMU plays ND in a bowl this year.... yeah right (as in we'd have to get a BCS bid, because I don't think ND has a tie-in with any of our bowls... or maybe they have a tie-in with every bowl... who knows? They're different)... so yeah... yeah right.

[SMUballboy]

Am I the only one not buying the Notre Dame hype?

I'm with you Longhorn. You cannot tell me that ND will get through September without atleast one loss. They start off at GT who is a good team and has one of the best recievers in college football with Calvin Johnson. No one in ND's back 7 can stop him. Hell ND's defense can barely stop anyone. Sure their Offense is to die for but what'll happen if Brady Quinn or Samardjza gets injured?

[mr. pony]

[quote="MrMustang1965"][Just spoke with my oldest who is a student at TT and knows a lot of the football players. She says everytime a new poll comes out with TT ranked low it just ticks off their players more-and-more. And she says unfortunately the first team on the Red Raiders schedule is the poster child for the a** whupping. So...for those of you going to Lubbock, be prepared. [/quote]

Bring it on.

[LonghornFan68]

Well, let's see. If I take the Top 3 from this year and look at last year's major stats, here's what we find (team stats and ranks):

Offensive Statistics

Rushing Offense:
02) Texas: 3574 rushing yards
24) Ohio State: 2360 rushing yards
55) Notre Dame : 1765 rushing yards

Passing Offense:
04) Notre Dame: 3963 passing yards
40) Texas: 3083 passing yards
52) Ohio State: 2708 passingl yards

Total Offense
03) Texas: 6657 total yards
10) Notre Dame: 5728 total yards
32) Ohio State: 5068 total yards

Scoring Offense
01) Texas: 50.15 ppg
08 ) Notre Dame: 36.67 ppg
26) Ohio State: 32.67 ppg

Key Losses on Offense
Notre Dame: Anthony Fasano (TE), Mark LeVoir (OL)
Ohio State: Santonio Holmes (WR)
Texas: Vince Young (QB), Jonathan Scott (OL), Will Allen (OL)




Defensive Statistics

Rushing Defense:
01) Ohio St.: 73.4 ypg
33) Texas: 130.9 ypg
34) Notre Dame: 132.3 ypg

Passing Defense
08 ) Texas: 172.00 ypg
43) Ohio St.: 207.92 ypg
103) Notre Dame: 264.58 ypg (yikes)

Total Defense
05) Ohio St.: 281.33 ypg
10) Texas: 302.92 ypg
75) Notre Dame: 396.92 ypg o.0

Scoring Defense
05) Ohio St.: 15.3 ppg
08 ) Texas: 16.4 ppg
53) Notre Dame: 24.5 ppg

Key Losses on Defense
Notre Dame: None (which is bad)
Ohio State: A.J. Hawk (LB), Anthony Schlegel (LB), Bobby Carpenter (LB), Nate Salley (DB), Ashton Youboty (DB) among others
Texas: Rodrique Wright (DL), Aaron Harris (LB), Michael Huff (DB) and Cedric Griffin (DB)

So, after all that, it's clear that all three teams have the ability to play offense (although Texas has the largest question-mark). However, unless the starting 11 (9 returning starters) on defense for Notre Dame bought themselves some talent over the offseason, I don't see them being able to blow teams out. Seriously, with pass-happy teams like Michigan and USC on their schedule, I don't see how then can sustain.

Another thing to look at: tough games

Texas: Ohio State, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Texas Tech and Texas aTm
Ohio State: Texas, Penn State, Iowa, Minnesota and Michigan
Notre Dame: Georgia Tech, Penn State, Michigan, Purdue, UCLA and USC

With a suspect secondary Notre Dame could be out of the title hunt after the first game. Brady Quinn might be the second coming of *insert random great player's name here* but I'm not buying into the hype. Call me weird. Call me stupid. Just don't call me Shirley.

[ThadFilms]

Well that's one of the more rational posts I've seen on PonyFans all year. Well thought and reasoned. I guess you know a thing or two about this college football thing.

But what is it they always say about stats? They're like my grandma... no that's not it... they're like a bowling pin... they're like a... poop! I can't remember.

But I think you're right. And their schedule is in a word: brutal. I'd like to see the Saints play their schedule undefeated (I pick the Saints 'cause they suck but they're still all professionals from major BCS programs). Another word to descrie ND's season? Grueling. But every game is a game I'd like to watch.

It reminds me of the day I bought NCAA 2003. I went over to the house that buddy was house sitting, and we hooked up the game. I took SMU and my two buddies took cheer cheer for old Notre Dame. Double over time thriller that the ponies won. My buddies were in shock. ND should be glad they aren't playing the Ponies this season, esp. if I were at the helm controler in hand.

[SMU Football Blog]

Edit: deleted

[LonghornFan68]

Edit: deleted

Awww, what's the fun in that?

[HFvictory]

Time to beat another ranked team......

Just spoke with my oldest who is a student at TT and knows a lot of the football players. She says everytime a new poll comes out with TT ranked low it just ticks off their players more-and-more. And she says unfortunately the first team on the Red Raiders schedule is the poster child for the a** whupping. So...for those of you going to Lubbock, be prepared.

I wonder what team besides whoever is ranked #1 thinks they have been slighted? Tech will struggle early despite what the polls say and if they don't beat each other up first they may pull it together before conference games. Probably not a dumber bunch of players in Div 1A.