2006 Preseason Polls (official thread)

[osugrad21]

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Thu, August 31, 2006
Buckeyes class of field, for now


By ROB BRODIE


THIS TIME, THE DRAMA -- and yes, 2006 should positively teem with it -- will take a whole lot longer to play out.
This year, you won't have to read about the inevitable Texas-USC showdown from about mid-October on (if it wasn't actually sooner).
Nope, we've got ourselves one heck of a horse race as a new season of college football (finally!) dawns upon us. Just take a look at the pre-season polls, which see six schools with at least one first-place vote from someone. In the Associated Press version of the weekly voting, that hasn't happened since 1997.
While Ohio State is everyone's choice to rule the roost, the Buckeyes aren't exactly the juggernaut -- not yet, anyways -- that USC fielded to start 2005. Yes, that offence will be hellacious, but coach Jim Tressel is lining up a swift defence missing nine starters from one of the nation's best stop troops last season -- a group which produced a handful of folks you'll see on Sundays this fall.
Right behind the Buckeyes are a raft of talented teams with flaws of their own. The Notre Dame hype is already in full swing -- surely, you must have heard all that talk about a national title and a Heisman Trophy for QB Brady Quinn? -- but the memory of a defensive secondary getting torched by Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl remains fresh.


Texas must make do without all-world QB Vince Young; USC moves on without Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush, LenDale White and plenty of other stellar talents. Auburn, LSU and Florida must survive the always nasty Southeastern Conference.
Anyways, you get the picture. Lots of questions still to be answered. And more than four months of fun to get it done.
Big change worth noting this season: The NCAA has approved a boost to a 12-game schedule, which explains, in part, why every team in the Top 25 sees action on Labour Day weekend.

[osugrad21]

Link

OSU has seen bigger distractions than No. 1
BY JIM NAVEAU - Aug. 31, 2006

COLUMBUS — They say their No. 1 preseason ranking isn’t something they talk much about.
But there was one day where being No. 1 created a bit of a stir in Ohio State’s football locker room.
That was the day Sports Illustrated’s college football preview issue arrived with quarterback Troy Smith and offensive linemen Doug Datish and T.J. Downing on the regionalized cover.
“The only time we really talked about it was when Sports Illustrated came out,” senior wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez said. “That’s kind of neat because when you’re a kid and when you’re an adult, you read Sports Illustrated, that’s the sports magazine you look at.
“But, to be honest, nobody really talks about it. We’re not talking about it in our locker room. Some other teams might be but we’re not talking about it much, if at all,” he said.
Ohio State was ranked No. 1 in The Associated Press and USA Today coaches polls.
The last time Ohio State entered a season ranked No. 1 was in 1998, when this year’s players would have been in elementary school.
But the fifth-year seniors, like Van Wert’s Joel Penton were around for the national championship run in 2002 as redshirt freshmen.
The lesson from that season, where Ohio State wasn’t No. 1 in the polls until after the BCS title game win over Miami, is that rankings only matter when all the games have been played.
Penton said, “I wouldn’t call it pressure being No. 1. We know the important thing is not the preseason rankings but where we finish at the end.”
He said Ohio State’s defense has used the No. 1 ranking as motivation. People point to nine new starters on defense as the biggest factor working against the Buckeyes making the preaseason predictions come true.
“It’s definitely motivating. It’s kind of nice to be the underdog in some way and it’s tough to get that feeling when you’re ranked No. 1 going into the season,” Penton said.
Offensive T.J. Downing said OSU’s players won’t be distracted by the polls because they’ve faced preseason commotions before.
“Last year it was the quarterbacks, before that it was the Maurice Clarett distraction,” Downing said.
Asked which of the three was the least distracting, he chose this year without hesitation.
“We know it’s only talk. We haven’t done anything to deserve that No. 1 ranking. Yeah, we won some games last year, we won the Fiesta Bowl and we did great doing it. But we lost a lot of guys from that team. There are some new faces who are going to have to step up and deserve that No. 1,” Downing said.
Coach Jim Tressel said the only person in the chain of command to mention rankings so far has been athletic director Gene Smith.
“I've never mentioned that,” Tressel said. “Gene Smith mentioned to the team in our team opening meeting, he talked about distinguishing yourself and how do you do that at a place like Ohio State, there have been so many great teams and so forth. He threw out the challenge to us, you know, there is a way to distinguish yourself. That was day one of practice.
“We haven't talked about it since because we've been pretty busy and I'm sure we won't talk about it after, but it was mentioned once.”

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

telegraph-forum

No excuses
"There's work to be done." -- QB Troy Smith

By Jon Spencer
NNCO



COLUMBUS -- So what if the pigskin pundits who anoint Ohio State as America's No. 1 team take it for granted that the Buckeyes can replace five NFL first-round picks and nine starters on defense?
They must figure Ted Ginn Jr. can avoid another slow start and replace Santonio Holmes as the go-to receiver. They apparently believe the Buckeyes can win two huge road games at night in September even though they've lost their last four regular-season games under the lights.

Maybe all that matters is that triggerman Troy Smith is taking nothing for granted. "Coming in as a young guy, we won the national championship," said Smith, reflecting on his redshirt year in 2002. "I'm walking around with my ring on. I had hardware on that I earned ... and yet I didn't.


"It's something I took for granted. I don't wear my ring now because all that work is done on the field. I'll worry about being glorified later. There's work to be done."

It's fair to assume the rest of the Buckeyes share Smith's mindset after the way they followed his lead down the stretch in 2005. Once he shook off the effects of a two-game suspension for taking $500 from a booster, Smith directed OSU to seven straight wins, capped by a 34-20 rout of Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl.

The Buckeyes' 617 yards in Tempe were the most ever allowed by Notre Dame and made an indelible impression on those who've forecasted a return to the Valley of the Sun for this year's BCS championship game.

"I can't disagree with that (prediction)," Min- nesota coach Glen Mason said. "A play here or there last season and Ohio State could have been national champions. They have outstanding offensive talent."

The Buckeyes also made a believer of Penn State coach Joe Paterno, even though Smith and Co. generated only 230 yards in a 17-10 loss at Happy Valley that ultimately gave the Lions a share of the Big Ten championship with OSU.

"No question, Smith is an outstanding quarterback," Paterno said, comparing him to Michael Robinson, who won Big Ten MVP honors for Penn State last season. "Against us, he was just starting to get a feel for things. After that he was just a tremendous, tremendous player. They have a couple of good kids around him, too.

"That Ginn kid ain't bad. I don't want to cover Ginn. And Jim (Tressel) does a great job of recruiting Ohio and getting good people. So I think they probably deserve to be the favorite."

That perception -- that Ohio State merely reloads -- makes it easy for some to overlook all the holes on defense. Talent has come and gone, along with two defensive coordinators, but the Buckeyes were No. 1 in Big Ten rushing defense three of the last four years and in scoring and total defense twice. The result: one national championship, two Big Ten titles and three Top 5 finishes.

"It's Ohio State; they're always going to have great athletes and backups who could start for a lot of Division I teams," Iowa quarterback and 2004 Big Ten MVP Drew Tate said. "Just because they graduated nine starters doesn't mean their defense is going to be bad. I've seen teams with nine starters back not do as good. It can go either way."

Gone is arguably the best set of linebackers in school history -- two-time consensus All-American A.J. Hawk, Bobby Carpenter and Anthony Schlegel.

But what might really hurt are the early NFL defections of safety Donte Whitner and cornerback Ashton Youboty.

Their departures left OSU with the task of replacing its entire back seven.

The only holdovers up front are tackles Quinn Pitcock and David Patterson, whose four sacks are the most of any returning player. Cornerback Malcolm Jenkins started four games last year as a freshman.

"Some guys got spot-duty last year," Tressel said, referring in part to projected starters Jay Richardson (end), James Laurinaitis (middle linebacker), John Kerr (outside linebacker) and Jamario O'Neal (strong safety). "Did they get enough? Probably not. The good thing about the spring is that we didn't have many nagging injuries. I feel if we keep healthy, we'll have enough experience to be a good defense. I feel we're very capable."

Tressel hopes his 18-man senior class -- including 17 fifth-year players -- helps the young defense age gracefully. He's banking on members of the 2002 recruiting class, like Smith and offensive linemen Doug Datish and T.J. Downing, to provide invaluable leadership.

"The thing I like about Troy now is he wants to know 'why' when he watches film or we do something a certain way," Tressel said. "He's got to think like the opposing defensive coordinator."

Smith also needs to think like an offensive coordinator in finding ways to maximize Ginn's game-breaking skills. The Buckeyes waited too long to incorporate Ginn into the attack his first two years. Another slow start by the speed demon could doom OSU with prime-time showdowns at Texas and Iowa awaiting in September.

"My expectation of Ted is that he's going to be the best player in the nation," Smith said of his childhood friend, Glenville teammate and fellow Heisman Trophy contender. "He can do that. He's got all the tools and, hopefully, we can get the ball in his hands so he can flourish."

Seventeen of Ginn's 51 receptions last season came in the last two games against Michigan and Notre Dame. He caught only four TD passes, but none was shorter than 46 yards. He had a 100-yard kickoff return and a 68-yard punt return for scores last season. It was his fifth punt return TD, tying the Big Ten career mark.

But can Ginn and complementary pieces like Anthony Gonzalez, Roy Hall, Brian Robiskie and Brian Hartline make OSU fans forget Santonio Holmes?
"I want the team to feel I'm the go-to guy," Ginn said. "Santonio made us feel he was that guy when he was here. I just have to have confidence that the team has confidence in me. I have to try and stay relaxed and humble and trust in my seniors."

There's always a potent running attack to fall back on. Junior Antonio Pittman answered questions about his toughness and speed, rushing for 1,331 yards and seven TDs last season, including the clincher in the Fiesta Bowl. Keeping him on his toes and offering a powerful change of pace will be 6-foot-1, 225-pound freshman Chris Wells, touted as the nation's No. 1 prospect when he enrolled in the spring.

It might be asking a lot of 27-year-old South African Ryan Pretorius to match the place-kicking exploits of predecessors Josh Huston and Mike Nugent, but this OSU attack could be even better than the one that averaged 33 points and 422 yards last season.

Question is, how much scoring will be enough?

"I'm glad people are talking about our offense, but you can't leave out the defense," Pittman said. "They've been the heart and soul of the team for years and nothing's going to change this year."

jspencer@nncogannett.com
419-521-7239

Originally published August 31, 2006

[NFBuck]

This was good for a laugh. What an assbag. Just look at #2.

http://www.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/...082506aar.html

[MililaniBuckeye]

Originally Posted by NFBuck

This was good for a laugh. What an assbag. Just look at #2.

Well, he did have one good statement: "Anyone better at reloading than Tressel?"