2018 Preseason USA Today Coaches Poll & Rankings Prediction

[963BUSC]

I think those narratives come up in every conference. Oregon was only decent because UW and USC were down for example. I can think of a couple from the ACC and a few blips from the Big12.

If either of those teams (NW/Utah) were to win their conf you can bet fans of those expected top teams (mine included) would be claiming it's not as valid because obviously the good teams are down.

It's really an overall problem with how unbalanced the various schedules are even within each conference.

I wouldn't care if others claim such things about UW, as they did two years ago on the backs of a weak schedule. Just win and get to the show. Let the haters hate. It's all they have.

There is some validity to the statement though. The only time I remember Northwestern winning the Big 10 was in 95/96 when they got beat in the Rose Bowl by a fairly bad pac 10 champion USC. Similar to last two times WSU won the Pac only to be beaten by Michigan and Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl. Losing the Rose Bowl doesn't prove the teams won on a down year for their conference, but it doesn't help their case.

 

[AlaskaGuy]

There is some validity to the statement though. The only time I remember Northwestern winning the Big 10 was in 95/96 when they got beat in the Rose Bowl by a fairly bad pac 10 champion USC. Similar to last two times WSU won the Pac only to be beaten by Michigan and Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl. Losing the Rose Bowl doesn't prove the teams won on a down year for their conference, but it doesn't help their case.

WSU got fvked in that game vs Michigan. They called time out and the refs let the clock run out.

 

[ericd7633]

They didn't win it against the only team that was actually elite, they never faced Ohio State.

Must not have been as elite if NW ended up in the rose bowl.

 

[Deep Creek]

Funny. I am that way when the Cowboys win.

LOL. I catch hell here in Texas because I absolutely hate Jerry's Cowgirls.

 

[ralphiewvu]

lol at projecting that obviously Purdue would beat Utah. That takes some novice level college football logic to say with a straight face.

The plain truth about last year (which says nearly nothing about this coming year) is Utah was down after suffering the loss of their starting QB for a couple of key games they played tight and lost by less than a TD. They lost to Stanford by 3 and mostly shut down Love and their running game and lost to USC by 1. Both with a simply horrible backup QB that UW cast off years ago as their 4th best QB.

Put their normal starter in and that easily should have been a 9 win campaign. It happens and it's part of the game, but it's also another example of why simply looking at W/L doesn't entirely tell you the whole story of how good/bad teams are to enough degree to find equivalence against teams from other conferences. It simply doesn't work. Like ever.

Ahh dude WVU was missing their starting running back and and our best player on offense our starting qb. If you are going to make the excuse for Utah’s regular season you should also do that for their opponents most specifically their bowl opponent.

 

[CorpRebel]

LOL. I catch hell here in Texas because I absolutely hate Jerry's Cowgirls.

Heck, I'd root for anybody that plays the Cowboys & Patriots!

 

[ralphiewvu]

They didn't win it against the only team that was actually elite, they never faced Ohio State.

That PSU game in 1995 was very harsh. (For PSU fans) The bucknuts had like 3 minutes left on that last drive and didn’t use Eddie George (till the end) or Glenn at all an yet still scored. That sucked.