Herbstreit's Early Top 5 for 2016

[Mistaken4193]

Urbs hasn't even lost 5 games in his career at Ohio St lol

I was being sarcastic . tOSU will go 10-2 IMO. Michigan will win the B1G

 

[Shanemansj13]

Iowa returns pretty much everyone of relevance and will probably be top 10-12 preseason do I'm pretty confident in saying they'll go 7-5

Their schedule is set up again, no Ohio St or MSU.

Miami OH
Iowa St
North Dakota St
@Rutgers
Northwestern
@Minnesota
@Purdue
Wisconsin
@ Penn St
scUM
@Illinois
Nebraska

All their toughest games are at home. They could be very well 7-0 going into the Wisconsin game.

 

[Shanemansj13]

I was being sarcastic . tOSU will go 10-2 IMO. Michigan will win the B1G

We'll see. scUM doesn't have a QB.

 

[Mistaken4193]

We'll see. scUM doesn't have a QB.

Losses to Oklahoma and Michigan.

 

[rmilia1]

Their schedule is set up again, no Ohio St or MSU.

Miami OH
Iowa St
North Dakota St
@Rutgers
Northwestern
@Minnesota
@Purdue
Wisconsin
@ Penn St
scUM
@Illinois
Nebraska

All their toughest games are at home. They could be very well 7-0 going into the Wisconsin game.

Yeah they should win em all. We tend to collapse under expectations and play better when we " suck ". It's too bad the one bad half iowa played all year was in their bowl game but it is what it is. It'll just be another year of debating their merits next year.

 

[HammerDown]

sorry, but alma mater's be damned..he is a company man now

But isn't?

 

[7Samurai13]

But isn't?

That dude is an ass puppet.

 

[Tharvot]

1..Clemson
2..Bama
3..LSU
4..Stanford
5..Ole Miss

What are your thoughts? Does LSU, Stanford, and Ole Miss deserve their spots? I think Clemson and 'Bama are a "no brainer" for the top two spots. Who would you replace on that list, if any teams need replacing in your opinion.

LSU, Stanford, and Ole Miss are returning their big offensive stars from the year before. I'm not sure who all they are losing though so I gotta assume Kirk knows more than I do.

Ohio State should be quality once again, but with how many players they are losing, its impossible to predict how they will end up. Might be a "rebuilding" season, but I still expect them to be top10 when the season ends.

 

[Tharvot]

I can't see Ole Miss or Lsu being better than Oklahoma with Mayfield/Perine/Mixon back.

whats the o-line looking like coming back?

 

[Deep Creek]

Those the same guys that lost to Texas this year? I swear every year it's the same with you guys and every year it's heart break because you do not learn.

Ole Miss loses way too much for this for that ranking.
LSU could go either way but my guess is they will win 10 games as always and miss the boat.
Stanford is replacing a 4 year starter at QB and that isn't easy.

Clemson
Alabama
Michigan - Depending on what they lose.
Baylor - They are a system now and not dependent on individual players.
Notre Dame - They lost a ton to injuries last year and get Zaire (QB) back so they will be interesting.
OKlahoma - I would put in the top 10.
Tennessee - They might actually make some real noise this year.
USC - They always recruit well and Helton will bring stability.
Houston - They were impressive don't see why they can't do it again.
LSU - Better spot for them

You can play with the order and some may not work out but that is about where I would have them. Truth is you don't know until they hit the field.

This. Rankings earlier than about weeks 8 or 9 are asinine IMO. The early ones are based on reputation and other non performance factors.

Check out West End Vols analysis of pre season rankings versus where they finished. There were a lot that were in the top 25 that didn't even end up ranked. And vice versa, many unranked ended up ranked...and some pretty well.

 

[Rebel]

Ok I'm looking at Ole Miss' depth chart from last year and it looks like:

1. On the offensive line they only return the RG (who was a freshman)
2. Lose Treadwell & Cody at receiver (both starters)
3. Lose Jaylen the RB
4. Lose just over half their defensive starters
5. Lose both Punt and Kick returners

They will be rebuilding an O-Line and trying to replace Treadwell on offense and they are going to be super young on defense it looks like.

You take Treadwell, Tunsil and the Nkemdiche brothers off the team this year and they lose to Alabama, Arkansas and probably Miss State & Auburn.

Most of the starting oline was injured this season or out of position due to tunsil. He will be hard to replace, and will be Mike Hilton and Trae Elston. As far as others Ole Miss's most talented depth is at wr and defensive line. I definitely don't think top five but will still be a solid team.

 

[Wild Turkey]

This. Rankings earlier than about weeks 8 or 9 are asinine IMO. The early ones are based on reputation and other non performance factors.

Check out West End Vols analysis of pre season rankings versus where they finished. There were a lot that were in the top 25 that didn't even end up ranked. And vice versa, many unranked ended up ranked...and some pretty well.

The problem is the ranked teams tend to play each other in conference play and many times there is no way to see how it shakes out. For example Miss State finished out of the top 25 and 6th in the SEC West but there are more than a few teams they would be favored over in the final top 25 if they played. Auburn pretty much dominated Memphis who was ranked during the year.

Top 5 matter but after that it gets kinda messy of who really deserves the rankings anyway in any week. Fact is hardly anyone can tell you who was ranked number 6 in 2008. It just doesn't matter except in recruiting the next year and a couple of other stats.