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2006 BCS, polls, Bowl Predictions and computer ratings

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After reading through this thread, I'm surprised there were no comments about the article in the USA that accompanied the poll. I thought Dodd put way to much emphasis on the "misdeeds" of the past and too little on the actual news item which is this year's team and it's place atop the poll.

This article was more objective than most Ohio State national media coverage over the past 4 years but why keep harping on this stuff? "The Maurice Clarett hangover is finally gone"? Is he forgetting we finished in the top 5 two of the last 3 years after him? The only part of the hangover left is the media's obsession with him. Also, I didn't see why Clarett's robbery arrest was listed on the Ohio State "series of embarrassments" time line since it occurred 2 years after he was a part of the program.

Am I being overly sensitive here?
 
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TexasBuck said:
After reading through this thread, I'm surprised there were no comments about the article in the USA that accompanied the poll. I thought Dodd put way to much emphasis on the "misdeeds" of the past and too little on the actual news item which is this year's team and it's place atop the poll.

This article was more objective than most Ohio State national media coverage over the past 4 years but why keep harping on this stuff? "The Maurice Clarett hangover is finally gone"? Is he forgetting we finished in the top 5 two of the last 3 years after him? The only part of the hangover left is the media's obsession with him. Also, I didn't see why Clarett's robbery arrest was listed on the Ohio State "series of embarrassments" time line since it occurred 2 years after he was a part of the program.

Am I being overly sensitive here?
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I'd agree 100%. the writer seemed determine to mention every bad thing he could about us, even mentioning basketball in a football article. what is that about?

there was so much he could have written about - much coverered here. instead he smears us, even providing a timeline of "misdeeds." thanks a lot. how long do we have to carry Clarett? if he claims the senior citizen discount a year before he is eligible for it will we hear that "a former Buckeye" is cheating? give me a break.
 
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Dispatch

8/5/06

OSU FOOTBALL

Players accept target that goes with No. 1

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Ken Gordon
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

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Ted Ginn Jr. went to the wrong school. After the USA Today coaches preseason poll came out yesterday, the Ohio State receiver was asked if he liked being ranked No. 1. "I’d rather be (No.) 99 and just come in and sneak up on people," Ginn said. What are the chances of that happening at a perennial powerhouse? "Never, probably," Ginn said with a shrug. "But that’s OK. Being No. 1, it’s cool, but it puts a lot of burdens on our head.

We’ve got to come out, we’ve got to do this, do that."


Several of Ginn’s teammates seemed to get more enjoyment out of the preseason recognition.

"We know that it’s just hype and we know it doesn’t mean anything," center Doug Datish said. "But on that same token, it’s nice to be No. 1, and we’re just going to take it in stride and go through camp and try to prove everybody right."

Quarterback Troy Smith said, "First and foremost, happy for it. But we’ve got to go back to work. It’s great to be No. 1 now, but the end result … everybody knows when you want to be No. 1."

History suggests OSU would be better off not being top-ranked in the preseason. The Buckeyes have garnered that honor five times previously, in 1958, 1969, 1970, 1980 and 1998.

Not once have they won a national title that season, finishing (in order) eighth, fourth, fifth, 15 th and second.

Conversely, in the Buckeyes’ five wire-service national-title seasons (1942, 1954, 1957, 1968 and 2002), the highest they were ranked in the preseason was 11 th in 1968. They were ranked 13 th coming into 2002.

To win a title, the Buckeyes will have to navigate a schedule that features four other ranked teams, including three top-20 teams in the first five weeks: No. 2 Texas on Sept. 9, No. 19 Penn State on Sept. 23 and No. 17 Iowa on Sept. 30.

The other ranked opponent is No. 15 Michigan on Nov. 18.

That Texas game now looms even larger, if that’s possible. Already, the game in Austin could be billed as the defending champions against a team that was one play from beating them last September. Now, it’s No. 1 vs. No. 2, as well. "I wouldn’t care if we were 107 th and they were 108 th, it would still be a fun game to play in," Datish said. Smith was asked if he happened to notice who was No. 2. "Uh, yeah," he said, uncertainly. "I think, was it Texas? " Then he smiled, a twinkle in his eye. "It’s a huge game."
[email protected]
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Dispatch

8/5/06

COMMENTARY

Flawed preseason polls have long-term implications

Saturday, August 05, 2006

ROB OLLER


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College football coaches love to remind us that how a team enters the season matters less than how it exits.

True, but never underestimate where a team enters the season, because it matters. A lot.

Ohio State is king of the hill today — the Buckeyes are No. 1 in the USA Today coaches preseason poll — which is more than just a ceremonial title.

If the king of the preseason poll loses early in the regular season, it can count on remaining among the rankings royalty, defined as the top 10. But a college program that begins the season at, say, No. 7 or below, joins the ranks of the peasantry if it stumbles out of the gate.

If the goal is to complete the regular season ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in the BCS ratings, thereby gaining entry into the BCS championship game, then it’s easier to climb back into con- tention from the second row than from the nosebleed seats.

Some will see the Buckeyes’ No. 1 ranking as nothing more than another slam on No. 15 Michigan, but the reality is that an undefeated UM could conceivably enter the Nov. 18 game against Ohio State still ranked below a one-loss OSU.

Such is the power of potential, and such is the flawed premise of this preseason poll, that a team such as Ohio State, which must replace nine starters on defense, is ranked No. 1 before practice begins.

Not that any other team deserves to be ranked ahead of the Buckeyes, but it would be nice to see how things shake out through three or four games before breaking out a poll based on how good a team should be. In 2002, the coaches ranked OSU No. 13 in the preseason. The Buckeyes went on to win the national title. In 2003, they were No. 2 before the season began and finished No. 4. So the preseason can be almost right, or very wrong.

If BCS bigwigs really want to turn over every stone in search of a true national champion — minus a playoff system — they should insist that the first coaches poll not appear until at least late September.

The 31-member coaches poll is one of three components the BCS uses to determine its weekly rankings, which don’t appear until Oct. 15. The other two are the Harris Interactive Poll and an average of six computer rankings.

But the coaches poll is the only one to "predetermine" which schools have the best chance to win the national championship.

The Harris Poll, composed of 115 former players, coaches, administrators and current and former media members, does not appear until late September. Last season, it was first released four weeks into the season.

By waiting, the coaches could avoid the embarrassment of voting Oklahoma No. 5 in the preseason. The Sooners’ prospects diminished significantly this week when starting quarterback Rhett Bomar and offensive lineman J.D. Quinn were kicked off the team for receiving money for work they didn’t do.

Unfortunately, the coaches’ votes had already been tallied.

While it’s likely Oklahoma will drop in the polls — assuming the Sooners won’t excel under replacement quarterback Paul Thompson — voting them No. 5 displaced a more worthy team.

Ironically, coaches typically loathe patting players and programs on the back who might become good, but that’s exactly what they’re doing with the preseason poll.

It smells of control-freak coaches enjoying the influence they wield over voters. Make no mistake that some Harris Poll voters — and more than a few voters in the now toothless Associated Press poll — will base some of their initial voting decisions on where teams already stand in the coaches rankings. That, in turn, affects the BCS standings. By releasing its preseason poll when it does, USA Today also benefits from readership in an otherwise poll-free time of the year.

Is the preseason poll fun to discuss? Yes. Is it harmless? Hardly. That’s good news for the Buckeyes, unless they let the headlines and hype go to their heads.

Rob Oller is a sports reporter for The Dispatch.

[email protected]
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Dallas and Texasbuck....

Don't worry about that kind of stuff. Such is the "down side" of being a "powerhouse program" Hell, I think half the writers out there that print the "time line" type crap just do it 'cause they know they'll get our rabid fanbase all in a twitter. And, usually... they're right.. I mean, we're talking about a fan base that went apeshit over Dennis Dodd's ranking stadiums for the love of poop. (And rightfully so, as the rankings were pure horseshit :biggrin:) I'm not saying being fanatical is bad, in fact, it's one of the things I love about OSU, just saying writers know how to manipulate this kind of emotion that us fans feel for OSU.
 
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Canton Rep

[FONT=Verdana,Times New Roman,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Coaches: Buckeyes No. 1[/FONT]
Saturday, August 5, 2006 [FONT=Verdana,Times New Roman,arial,helvetica,sans-serif]By Todd Porter REPOSITORY SPORTS WRITER[/FONT]

The Buckeyes have a bull’s-eye.
Ohio State is the preseason No. 1 team in the country according to the coaches’ poll announced Friday. The Buckeyes received 28 first-place votes and 1,487 total points.
Texas was second, with Notre Dame and Southern Cal tied for third. Oklahoma was fifth in the first USA Today coaches’ poll.
This is the first time since the end of the 2002 season that Ohio State is first in the poll. The Buckeyes won the national championship that year.
“It isn’t important where you start,” Ohio State Head Coach Jim Tressel said. “It’s important where you end up. ... It’s just another example of the respect people have for Ohio State.”
The first Associated Press poll comes out Aug. 19.
The Buckeyes’ top ranking sets up a mega-game Sept. 9 against defending national champion Texas on national television.
Ohio State caught the attention of the nation at the end of the 2005 season. After losing at Penn State on Oct. 8, the Buckeyes won seven straight, capped with a 34-20 win over Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl.
Quarterback Troy Smith returns for his fifth season. He is among a handful of Heisman Trophy favorites after combining for 745 yards and four touchdowns against Michigan and the Irish.
“I still operate out of a sense of hunger and getting better every day,” Smith told reporters this week at the Big Ten’s Kickoff Luncheon.
Smith said he and 17 other fifth-year seniors have taken it upon themselves to become leaders. He mentioned the leadership that players such as Mike Doss provided during the 2002 national championship.
As part of their summer reading project, an assignment Tressel gives to his seniors every season, they read the “360 Degree Leader.” The idea behind the book, Tressel said, is “leaders are all around us.”
Rounding out the top 10 are Auburn, West Virginia, Florida, LSU and Florida State.
 
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CPD

Buckeyes cautious over being ranked No. 1



Saturday, August 05, 2006 Doug Lesmerises

Plain Dealer Reporter
Columbus- Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith paused. He knew the Buckeyes had been voted No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' preseason poll released Friday. But he was trying to remember who was second.
"Uh, yeah, Texas," Smith said.
He was right. "It's a huge, huge game."
Maybe the best regular-season college football game in a decade.
It was no great surprise to see the Buckeyes handed their first No. 1 preseason ranking since the 1998 team was ranked first in both the coaches' and Associated Press polls, but still the reality of the ranking re-emphasized the magnitude of the Sept. 9 showdown between Ohio State and Texas in Austin. Last season's game in the Horseshoe when No. 2 Texas beat the No. 4 Buckeyes, 25-22, on a Vince Young touchdown pass with 2:37 to play could wind up as nothing more than an opening act.
The AP poll won't be released until Aug. 19, but finding No. 1 vs. No. 2 regular-season matchups as part of any poll is a rarity. Ohio State has been involved in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 game just twice and both in bowl games - when the No. 1 Buckeyes beat No. 2 USC, 27-16, in the 1969 Rose Bowl to cap off the 1968 national championship season and when the No. 2 Buckeyes beat No. 1 Miami, 31-24, in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl to win the 2002 national title.
There have been only 20 regular season No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchups, the last on Nov. 30, 1996, when No. 2 Florida State beat No. 1 Florida. A Big Ten team hasn't been part of a regular-season No. 1 vs. No. 2 since No. 1 Notre Dame beat No. 2 Michigan in 1989.
"Everyone knows where you want to be," Smith said at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, where he and Ted Ginn Jr. were doing a photo shoot for Sports Illustrated.
"It's a tremendous amount of respect everybody has for the university and we have to live up to it."
Both teams still should be living up to those rankings by the second week of the season. Ohio State opens up with Northern Illinois on Sept. 2. Texas starts with North Texas. Two wins, and it's on to even more hype than last season. The Buckeyes started last year sixth in the AP poll and ninth in the coaches' poll before winding up No. 4 with their 10-2 record. Texas is the defending national champion.
 
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lvbuckeye said:
i have to disagree with that assertion. did you actually watch how fast they ran out to a 4 TD lead against UGA??? Georgia isn't exactly a chump team, and the 'Neers were running through them like a hot knife through butter...
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I have a feeling WVU was a lot more motivated for that game than Georgia. Georgia doesn't want to play WVU in their BCS bowl game. I'm sure OSU would've been a little disappointed if they had to play WVU instead of ND.
 
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TexasBuck said:
After reading through this thread, I'm surprised there were no comments about the article in the USA that accompanied the poll. I thought Dodd put way to much emphasis on the "misdeeds" of the past and too little on the actual news item which is this year's team and it's place atop the poll.
Click to expand...

Just for the record, that's Mike Dodd of USAToday (as opposed to Dennis at CBS).
 
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In one of the above posts, did Columbus Dispatch reporter Rob Oller actually use the words "reality" and "undefeated UM" in the same sentence?

Quote: Some will see the Buckeyes’ No. 1 ranking as nothing more than another slam on No. 15 Michigan, but the reality is that an undefeated UM could conceivably enter the Nov. 18 game against Ohio State still ranked below a one-loss OSU.

He sure did!

That is without a doubt one of the funniest things I've read in quite some time.

He also uses the word "conceivably" which is funny to me. I'm sorry but we've reached a point here where a scUM team that doesn't lose atleast 3 games is unconceivable. Atleast it's unconceivable to me.

At number 15 to start the season, I think Michigan is right where they probably should be. This may be proof that scUM is starting to lose some of the mystique that, in the past, has allowed them to fool voters into starting them out higher than they probably should've started. UM was top 5 last year weren't they?

The Buckeyes have a golden opportunity to further the destruction of that mystique by just absolutely HAMMERING scUM this November!

We may be approaching uncharted territory in the history of this rivalry and I am more than a little bit excited about it!

Go Bucks!!!!!
 
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