It’s almost that time of year again, which means we are back
here at the QB Duck. I say “we” as if I’m
not the only person writing on here. A
lot has happened since we left off in January.
Missouri and Texas A&M have seen record setting 40 times in camp
with a new influx of SEC Speed. West Virginia
and TCU bailed on the Big East to join the Big 12 (which still has 10
teams). Michael Dyer has been kicked off
of two different teams this offseason, which is just as many as Isaiah Crowell
and Tyrann Mathieu have combined (he’s an overachiever).
In a piece of bittersweet news, Bob Davie has left the
broadcast booth to rejoin the coaching ranks at New Mexico. The Lobos have won a total of three games in
the past three years, and the sad state of
their offensive line should give new meaning to the quarterback duck play. Speaking
of sad states, the grease fire at Maryland is burning even higher now that
their only hope, QB C.J. Brown, is out for the season. Looks like crab cakes are now the only thing
Maryland does.
The big theme this year outside of failed drug tests and guns
is the NCAA disciplinary committee. UNC (academic integrity)
and Ohio State (entrepreneurialism) will not be playing in bowl games this year, and, by the way,
neither will Penn State (well, you know). This makes them
ineligible to receive votes in this poll this season. Speaking of which, USC is back after a two year
bowl ban just in time for them to be loaded in Matt Barkley’s senior
season. Just for the record, I would not
vote USC number one. As per my rules, teams
who finished last season with a losing record are also ineligible for the
preseason poll, so Colorado and Duke will have to wait at least a week to enter
the top 25.
There are a number of big names joining Bob Davie in making
a return to the college head coaching ranks.
Terry Bowden (Akron), Urban Meyer (*), and Mike Leach (Washington State)
come back from their broadcasting gigs.
Charlie Weis gets a promotion (or demotion) to head coach at Kansas
after spending a year calling plays in Gainesville. Jayhawk fans hope Weis can return to the
glory days of Mark Mangino, because Turner Gill clearly wasn’t fat enough to
win in Lawrence.
As a refresher of my philosophy on rankings, teams will not
be ranked based on a projection of where they will finish. They will be ranked based on how good I think
they are at that point in time. People
in the media often rank teams highly in the preseason because “they could go
undefeated with their easy schedule.”
This logic makes no sense for a couple reasons: (1) Perceived future
schedule strength has nothing to do with how good a team is; and (2) if an
easier schedule is seen as a reason to knock a team at the end of the season
(see Oklahoma State vs. Alabama 2011) why would it be cause to rank a team
higher at the beginning of the season?
Of course, we will soon have a playoff system to counter this effect,
and that’s all I have to say about that.
Now that I have hit all the important topics- conference realignment, SEC Speed,
Bob Davie, Maryland crab cakes, drug use, NCAA violations, Duke football, Bob Davie,
America’s obesity problem, BCS controversy, and playoffs (!?!?)- I think we are
ready to start the season.
Oops, I almost forgot to mention Tim Tebow.
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