Post Spring FBall Top 25

General NCS Football17

Ivan Maisel at ESPN.com has listed his 2006 College Football Top 25 after taking closer looks at the programs’ through spring football).

Some random comments:

(1) Ohio State Buckeyes – OSU @ Texas in mid-September will be even bigger this season
(2) Oklahoma Sooners – If NC State’s overall schedule was this weak, our fans would find something to complain about. OU builds this schedule and the fans in Norman are talking National Championship.
(3) West Virginia Mountaineers – last year’s Sugar Bowl momentum and a weak Big East schedule propel this rising program to the Top 5.
(4) Texas Longhorns – Despite all the talent, the Longhorns may lose 3 games this season without Vince Young against the schedule that they play
(5) Florida State Seminoles – welcome back

* Five ACC teams crack the rankings. Three of the top twenty reside in the Atlantic Division in which NC State competes. – FSU #5; Clemson #11; Boston College #20

There are various other Top 25 and other rankings “out there” on the internet. I ask some of you to help add some value to our platform here and use this entry to link-up other preseason rankings/etc that you run across. Thanks so much.

General NCS Football

17 Responses to Post Spring FBall Top 25

  1. Jeff 05/20/2006 at 11:03 AM #

    Here is an interesting link.

    USA Today ran a graphic that presented a combination of academic and athletic success of the football programs at ACC member institutions. The newspaper took the final USA Today/Coaches Top 25 poll and re-ordered it using the recently released NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR).

    The re-organized poll has five ACC teams among the Top 15, including the “academic” No. 1 Boston College with a 982 APR score and Florida State at No. 4 with a 959 score. Miami ranked sixth at 956, Clemson 12th with a 940 and Virginia Tech 14th at 935.

    The Academic Progress Rate (APR) metric was developed by the NCAA in 2004 to examine academic success on a more real-time basis. One point is awarded each term to each scholarship student-athlete who meets academic-eligibility standards and an additional point is awarded if they remain with the institution. A team’s APR is the total points earned by the team at a given time divided by the total points possible. A cutoff score of 925 corresponds to an anticipated graduation-rate of about 50%.

    School (Final Poll Rank) APR
    1. Boston College (17) 982
    2. Auburn (14) 981
    3. Florida (16) 966
    4. Florida State (23) 959
    5. Penn State (3) 957
    6. Miami, Fla. (18) 956
    7. TCU (9) 953
    8. Louisville (20) 952
    9. Georgia (10) 950
    10. Notre Dame (11) 946
    11. California (25) 945
    12. Clemson (21) 940
    13. LSU (5) 935
    14. Virginia Tech (7) 935
    15. Nebraska (24) 932
    16. Texas (1) 931
    17. Southern California (2) 929
    18. Texas Tech (19) 928
    19. Oklahoma (22) 928
    20. West Virginia (6) 926
    21. Ohio State (4) 925
    22. Alabama (8) 916
    23. UCLA (13) 915
    24. Wisconsin (15) 914
    25. Oregon (12) 900

  2. Wxwolf 05/20/2006 at 12:19 PM #

    Here is a link to Dennis Dodd’s post-spring Top 25 on CBS Sportsline:

    His top 5 are:

    (1) Ohio State
    (2) West Virginia
    (3) Auburn
    (4) LSU
    (5) Oklahoma

    ACC teams in his top 25 are:

    (13) VT
    (15) Clemson
    (16) BC
    (20) Miami
    (22) FSU
    25. GT

    Hard to believe he has FSU all the way down at #23 compared to Mailsel at #5.

  3. GoldenChain 05/20/2006 at 1:13 PM #

    I wonder about Clemson, although they are supposed to be good and brought in a lot of new tallent they have shown the propensity to have ‘chuckesque’ seasons.

  4. redfred2 05/20/2006 at 1:47 PM #

    I am glad to see Clemson back up there. I hope it is the truth. It is hard to top the exprience of a great football game in Death Valley. Those guys are as rabid about football as anyone out there, and they have been waiting for a very long time. Good to see the old guard of the ACC showing up respectably in nation hunt again, and another ACC athletic program finally getting back to were it’s fans rightfully expect it to be.

  5. Glen Sudhop54 05/20/2006 at 3:42 PM #

    The ACC is a better league when Clemson and FSU are strong. Their fans have a relationship with Tommy Bowden that was similar to ours with Sendek–which is a bit unfair–but they should never lose to WF and Duke, and they’re 0-3 against them the past 2 seasons.

    Are we EVER gonna play Duke again?

    $#@%*%^! expansion! It has been a complete boondoggle.

  6. redfred2 05/20/2006 at 7:00 PM #

    ^Glen Sudhop54

    Off topic- my 2 cents worth.

    If I hear one more person say “fans unfair to coach” I will go ballistic. People really need to sit through an entire season of every play of every game before they pass judgement on any group of fans. It is very same with the sports media, they glance over just the highlights from game after games every Saturday, win here, loss there, and derive their opinion on any coach, based almost totally on those two factors, wins or losses.

    If the sports writers/analyst were forced to just sit and suffer through every entire game all season long like the die hard fans, watching as their team screws up one opportunity right after another with penalties, turnovers, or poor execution, winning barely by 3 points, when it should have been three touchdowns, their opinions wouldn’t be so bold and mouths wouldn’t talking quite so loud. Those wins still add up, but no fan feels good about them.

    This “fans unfair to the coach” all depends just how far away your focus is while the games are actually being won or loss on the field/court.

  7. Glen Sudhop54 05/20/2006 at 10:55 PM #

    Good points. I guess all fans who desperately live and die by each game complain about the coaches when things dont meet their high expectations.

    Back on topic–I think Clemson has a chance to be a top 10 squad and challenge for a BCS berth. Of course, several in the league have that chance, but it’s been a while since the Tigers have been in the national spotlight.

    The ACC has an opportunity for a memorable season, but no one will win the national title from this league. We’re gonna beat each other up. Hopefully the Pack can sneak up on a few.

    Do you have to go 7-5 these days to be bowl eligible or is 6-6 good enough? (6-6 should NOT be good enough) Making a bowl game isnt so much of an accomplishment nowadays as it’s a mark of failure if you don’t go to one.

  8. redfred2 05/21/2006 at 12:06 PM #

    Most fans are optimistic from day one, the desperation sets in only after seeing a continuous pattern develop. It’s really only the players, and their confidence, that lives and dies by each game. The fans emotions are just the end result.

    Back on topic- Admittedly I haven’t been researching football yet and don’t a feel as to how much impact Clemson’s incoming freshman class will have. Maybe if they can get off to fast start early and build some team confidence early on, they will be a factor late in the season. ACC teams beating up on each other and conference losses will weigh heavily on the BCS selection commitee, as you already stated.

    The BCS knocked most of the shine off most all the other bowl games. Still it’s and honor to be selected, great for the school and the conference dollar wise, but not as prestigious as they once were.

  9. cfpack03 05/22/2006 at 8:47 AM #

    imo, Clemson will be ‘just ok’ this year but not great. Tommy is not known for his offensive prowess, and they’re breaking in a new QB. I guess they did have a nice recruiting class but you can’t weigh the impact yet. As we State fans know, the entire team can be great, but if the QB is flimsy, the whole year can go down the crapper real quick.

  10. Jeff 05/22/2006 at 9:15 AM #

    Clemson has everything in place except for their QB position. As we have learned the last couple of years — this is risky.

    I am going to the game at Death Valley and am very excited. ABC’s Saturday night football has an open date that night — so, there is at least a chance that the Pack & Tigers could make the telecast.

  11. GoldenChain 05/22/2006 at 9:43 AM #

    Is 6-5 or 7-4 (or 6-6 7-5 in a 12 game season) and some bowl game with blue turf good enough for a school that has won a NC and has some claim to being a football school? After all, the case could be made that FSU, Miami, VATech are perennial powers and Clemson should not expect to do better than the status quo of a winning season and going to a minor bowl (sound familiar?!).
    The contemporary thinking is that a fan/booster/ticket holder should be OK with mediocrity as long as the coach is a nice guy.
    Funny but with Chuck’s ego and persona (which the media types hate) they would be delighted if we ran him off.
    TBowden has a 61% win % in 7 seasons (behind West @ 71%, Ford @ 76%, & Pell @ 80%, in the modern era), Chuck has 62% in 6 seasons (only Sheridan had more at 64%, just counting modern era).
    http://www.cfbpalace.net/module-TeamPage-almanaccoaches-tid-14.phtml
    Go to the school page and then ‘Almanac’> Coaches.
    Seems to me that Clemson should be a lot more unhappy with TB than we should be with Chuck.

  12. Jeff 05/22/2006 at 10:43 AM #

    ^ Great comments. I agree that Clemson fans should be more happy with Bowden than they are. This year will be huge for T.Bowden because it creates an opportunity for him to create one of those “peak” seasons that are important to build some equity.

    To his credit, he has performed very well against South Carolina and has been bowl eligible every season that he has been in Clemson.

  13. redfred2 05/22/2006 at 10:36 PM #

    Jeff

    Are you a die hard Clemson fan? Do you go to all the Clemson games and sit and watch every play? If not, then I suggest you should not pass judgement on the Clemson fans. They are there for every snap, they see exactly what is going right on the football field, and what isn’t.

    Fans aren’t “unfair” to coaches without reason. Fans not liking a coach does not make the team lose games. When coaches continually do the same things over and over that contribute to losses, fans who actually watch actually and pay attention during the game, get upset and want to see changes made. It is not until the coach doesn’t, that the fans start to pull away. Coaches aren’t disliked without reason. You guys are always trying to put the cart way a couple miles before the cart.

    I had already said it up there earlier on this thread, if I hear one more “fans unfair to coaches” I will go ballistic. There ya’ go.

  14. redfred2 05/22/2006 at 10:53 PM #

    ^just to add

    I think fans and the people have been really unfair to Lee Fowler.

    Afterall, we have been in five consecutive NCAA tournaments and a bowl game recently.

    That is the official “really not too involved” on looker’s from afar, assessment of the AD’s job at NCSU.

  15. Drew G 05/23/2006 at 3:41 AM #

    “(2) Oklahoma Sooners – If NC State’s overall schedule was this weak, our fans would find something to complain about. OU builds this schedule and the fans in Norman are talking National Championship.”

    I’m sorry, I think you are mistaken if you look at OU’s schedule as weak. It seemed as though last year, everyone looked at OU’s schedule as weak, and well, it was the number 1 schedule in the nation by the season’s end. This season does not look any easier, and in fact is just a bit tougher (much tougher than NC State’s OOC schedule). OU has UAB (a good mid-major), Washington (a major conference opponent) and MTSU (a low-major) all at home. And they also go to Autzen Stadium (one of the toughest in the nation) in Eugene, OR to battle the Ducks of Oregon (who are 14th on that post-spring Top 25).

    And then you follow claiming that OU’s schedule is weak by stating that NC State fans would be upset at a schedule such as that. I honestly hope that your statement was made tongue-in-cheek, because if not, then you better be one pissed of Wolfpack fan. If you go on to look at NC State’s daunting schedule, you’d see it’s weak OOC foes, such as D-1AA Appalachain St., Akron, and East Carolina all at home, while traveling into that hotbed in Hattiesburg, MS to go against Southern Miss. I am sorry, but that is extremely weak when compared to OU’s schedule, which faces two major conference opponents (one of which is on the road) and does not face one single D-1AA opponent.

    The fans in Norman are talking national championship because of what is returning at OU. There is Adrian Peterson, a Heisman frontrunner, Rhett Bomar, who developed well last season and showed plenty of signs of improvement, and one of the top defenses in the nation. That is why people in Norman are looking forward to next season.

  16. jakeob1106 05/23/2006 at 11:45 AM #

    “(2) Oklahoma Sooners – If NC State’s overall schedule was this weak, our fans would find something to complain about. OU builds this schedule and the fans in Norman are talking National Championship.” You’re kidding right?
    NC State’s OOC consists of Appalaician State, Akron, Southern Miss, and East Carolina, as opposed to OU playing UAB, Oregon, Washington, and middle tennessee state. I’ll give you uab, and mts, but Oregon, and washington? I think you need to do a bit of research before making a comment like that.

  17. redfred2 05/23/2006 at 12:47 PM #

    ^Jeff

    There was supposed to be a “horse” mentioned somewhere up there among all those carts. I was putting a little extra finger pressure on the ole keyboard, and not thinking too clearly when I typed that post, as is apparent. My bad.

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