It is that time of year year again.
This years initial BlogPoll Roundtable is hosted by Hey Jenny Slater
1. Without naming names, a few teams seem to have popped up frequently on everyone's "overrated" lists in the preseason, so let's forget about them for the moment and concentrate on a different group: sleepers. Which currently unheralded team are you currently putting at least a few of your chips behind in the hopes that you'll be able to say "totally called that" once they've accomplished big things by the end of the season?
I went back and looked at my pre-season ballot and looked at the teams from #15 down and really could not find anything that I might have missed. So I Iooked at the other ballots to try and glean some knowledge from some of the other voters. Well, two teams stood out... Colorado and Texas Tech. TT is easy, Leach will continue to do well with his easy schedule and he will continue to draw great offensive players with the system he runs. Colorado on the other hand has been doing some solid recruiting and even though they have had some bad losses. Dan Hawkins is building a quality program up there. They could make some real noise in the Big 12 North.
2. In a similar vein, pick a sleeper player on your team whom nobody's talking about right now and tell us why we will be talking about them by December.
WR David Ausberry and CB T.J. Bryant come to mind though with the recent injury to Ronald Johnson and with CB Shareece Wright ruled academically ineligible these are two names that have have spiked within the USC community. We hope to see a lot production out of both of these players.
3. Florida is about as big a consensus favorite as we've seen in recent years, but remember, USC got 62 out of 65 first-place votes in the AP's 2007 preseason poll and still managed to lose to Stanford. Given how difficult it is to go undefeated period these days, where do you think the Gators are most likely to stumble in the regular season?
Well, obviously we know a little about this...The bottom line is this. These are kids who DO read their press clippings so it is easy to buy into the hype. Now, Florida may have it a little bit easier with their schedule but one can never know and they lost at home last year to a better Ole Miss team than everyone thought. Florida has lost a few players this pre-season and they have a few that are banged up so their depth is going to be tested. They also lost their second best weapon in Harvin. The other unknown is that Steve Addazio is now the main play-caller and that will the test for Tebow as he has grown comfortable Dan Mullen. Florida will also have one tough game at LSU (see below) that could trip them up...
4. Which regular-season game not involving your team or conference are you most looking forward to this year?
For a conference game it has to be Florida at LSU - It is not that LSU is better than UF, at least not this year, it is that Baton Rouge is a tough place to play and the Tigers will be looking to make a few sets of luggage out of some Gator trophies. I just don't see any other game on Florida's schedule that would be trouble for them.
For an out of conference game it has to be OK St. against UGA I am sure Kyle and Doug are much better at discussing this game.
5. In honor of Georgia's opening-weekend opponent and their most prolific booster, let's say you somehow come into T. Boone Pickens money and can buy anything you want for your program -- facilities upgrades, an airplane for recruiting, buy out the contract of that coach you hate, you name it. Where does your first check go?
OK, this one is easy...Better facilities!
It is amazing that USC has been so dominant with such crummy facilities. I am not saying that they need what the Ducks have with all that Nike money they spend and it is not like it helped the Ducks win a title but it sure would be nice to some sort of upgrade for the players.