Sporting News 2010 CFB Preview Mag

Got my copy of TSN preview in the mail yesterday.

1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Boise State
4. Miami
5. Florida
6. TCU
7. Nebraska
8. Wisconsin
9. Texas
10. Oklahoma
11. Oregon
12. Virginia Tech
13. Iowa
14. Florida State
15. Oregon State
16. USC
17. Auburn
18. Georgia Tech
19. Pittsburgh
20. LSU
21. Arkansas
22. Utah
23. North Carolina
24. West Virginia
25. Washington

Their Top Five players in the country are:
DT Jared Crick, Nebraska
CB Patrick Patterson, LSU
RB Mark Ingram, Alabama
QB Ryan Mallett, Arkansas
QB Kellen Moore, Boise State

If you have any questions on what they are predicting, just ask.

I'm surprised they have Miami at #4. They do have some talent and if Jacory Harris blossoms they could be good but #4 just seems too high. We'll find out quickly with their trip to OSU.

I think a lot of these preseason pubs believe Miami & FSU are on their way up and keep predicting them way too high each year to try and look like they called it in advance.

TSN has Michigan finishing 8th and missing a bowl.

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Originally Posted by cdj

I think a lot of these preseason pubs believe Miami & FSU are on their way up and keep predicting them way too high each year to try and look like they called it in advance.

TSN has Michigan finishing 8th and missing a bowl.

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How can you finish 8th and not make a bowl?

I'm assuming 8th in the Big 10.

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Originally Posted by cdj

Got my copy of TSN preview in the mail yesterday.

1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Boise State
4. Miami
5. Florida
6. TCU
7. Nebraska
8. Wisconsin
9. Texas
10. Oklahoma
11. Oregon
12. Virginia Tech
13. Iowa
14. Florida State
15. Oregon State
16. USC
17. Auburn
18. Georgia Tech
19. Pittsburgh
20. LSU
21. Arkansas
22. Utah
23. North Carolina
24. West Virginia
25. Washington

Their Top Five players in the country are:
DT Jared Crick, Nebraska
CB Patrick Patterson, LSU
RB Mark Ingram, Alabama
QB Ryan Mallett, Arkansas
QB Kellen Moore, Boise State

If you have any questions on what they are predicting, just ask.

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i have nothing aginst sporting news but i get athlon every year i got mine last week and they have the teams ranked in this order

1.Alabama
2.Ohio State
3.USC
4.Boise State
5.Oklahoma
6.Florida
7.Nebraska
8.Texas
9.Oregon
10.Virgina Tech
11.TCU
12.Iowa
13.Florida State
14.Miami
15.Georgia
16.Wisconsin
17.Arkansas
18.Pittsburgh
19.North Carolina
20.Connecticut
21.Missouri
22.Auburn
23.Penn State
24.LSU
25.Clemson

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Originally Posted by UGA14

I'm assuming 8th in the Big 10.

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Seems like a good assumption to me ;)

Yeah, I should have clarified. They are pegged for 8th in the Big 10. :eek:

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Originally Posted by cdj

Yeah, I should have clarified. They are pegged for 8th in the Big 10. :eek:

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That's b.s. IMO. No way they go 8th. I think they push for top 5.

5th ... maybe. Any higher would be shocking.

I'm not sure where Michigan will end up this year but I'm not expecting miracles. They should be a 0.500 Big 10 squad. I expect OSU to certainly be better and I expect Iowa and Wisconsin to be better. I don't think PSU will be that great. I would think Indiana and Minnesota will suck this year. Other than those two teams I'm not sure UM can claim to be significantly better than the other teams.

Let's face facts about UM. They won only one game in the Big 10 last year and had easily the worst point differential of any team in conference play. They were outscored on average by 11 points a game. That's horrible. They lost Brandon Graham and Donovan Warren on a defense that already gave up the most points in Big 10 play last year. They still aren't settled on their QB.

Bigblue, you follow the program much closer than me. Please give me concrete facts as to why they will be a good Big 10 team. What areas of the team do you expect to be better, same and worse?

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Originally Posted by Rudy

I'm not sure where Michigan will end up this year but I'm not expecting miracles. They should be a 0.500 Big 10 squad. I expect OSU to certainly be better and I expect Iowa and Wisconsin to be better. I don't think PSU will be that great. I would think Indiana and Minnesota will suck this year. Other than those two teams I'm not sure UM can claim to be significantly better than the other teams.

Let's face facts about UM. They won only one game in the Big 10 last year and had easily the worst point differential of any team in conference play. They were outscored on average by 11 points a game. That's horrible. They lost Brandon Graham and Donovan Warren on a defense that already gave up the most points in Big 10 play last year. They still aren't settled on their QB.

Bigblue, you follow the program much closer than me. Please give me concrete facts as to why they will be a good Big 10 team. What areas of the team do you expect to be better, same and worse?

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Well this is the first time in all 3 years that Rich Rod has been here that they are returning a starting quarterback which is one of the biggest things IMO. Last year they didn't have experience and Denard and Tate were nervous at some points.

Defensive wise I'm a little nervous in the defensive backfield. Losing Warren is going to hurt us a lot so I want to see how our defensive backs do. We also can't replace a guy like Brandon Graham but Craig Roh is going to be a monster this year. It should be an interesting year but I don't know why people are picking us to finish 8th!

Michigan fans - on a scale of 1-10 how confident are you of your defense winning you a Big Ten game when the offense doesn't show up?

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Originally Posted by Buckeye

Michigan fans - on a scale of 1-10 how confident are you of your defense winning you a Big Ten game when the offense doesn't show up?

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Zero. The defense is just pitiful at this point, unles there is a major growth spurt between the spring game and now, Rich Rodriguez will be looking for a new job. The linebacking corps is non-existent, Kenny Demons needs to usurp Obi Ezeh ASAP if Michigan plans on stopping the run this year. The secondary upgraded from not-being-there to being-there-two-steps-too-late in regards to defending the pass, Kovac's should make less highlite reel plays now that he's a box player. The defensive line has a lot of talent, so going to a 3-man front makes little sense to me, Van Bergen was set to take over Graham's spot, with Roh on the other edge and Campbell/Martin inside. Not that scheme really matters at this point, they need to improve fundamentals quite a bit.
The offense isn't looking so hot either, no runningback has made a statement yet (Not that i expected one to, Vincent Smith is far and away the best back in the program, and he was out), the receiver's hands just keep getting worse from year to year, and we don't have a quarterback. Other than that we should be set to dominate MAC-Caliber teams to build even more false hype. The only beacon of hope I see is if Denard continues to improve at his current rate, and if Vincent Smith comes back healthy, they could grind us out a few wins. I see them winning about 6 games, to give you an idea of where I see them.

Nebraska at 7...interesting. The schedule is in our favor this year. No Oklahoma, Texas without McCoy, and a cake non-conference.

How do you get handled by Wisconsin in a December bowl at end up at #4 the next year in a pre-season poll? Or is this pre-season poll not adjusted for the "climb to the BCS," and simply how they see the year finishing?

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Originally Posted by MGoBlue

Zero. The defense is just pitiful at this point, unles there is a major growth spurt between the spring game and now, Rich Rodriguez will be looking for a new job. The linebacking corps is non-existent, Kenny Demons needs to usurp Obi Ezeh ASAP if Michigan plans on stopping the run this year. The secondary upgraded from not-being-there to being-there-two-steps-too-late in regards to defending the pass, Kovac's should make less highlite reel plays now that he's a box player. The defensive line has a lot of talent, so going to a 3-man front makes little sense to me, Van Bergen was set to take over Graham's spot, with Roh on the other edge and Campbell/Martin inside. Not that scheme really matters at this point, they need to improve fundamentals quite a bit.
The offense isn't looking so hot either, no runningback has made a statement yet (Not that i expected one to, Vincent Smith is far and away the best back in the program, and he was out), the receiver's hands just keep getting worse from year to year, and we don't have a quarterback. Other than that we should be set to dominate MAC-Caliber teams to build even more false hype. The only beacon of hope I see is if Denard continues to improve at his current rate, and if Vincent Smith comes back healthy, they could grind us out a few wins. I see them winning about 6 games, to give you an idea of where I see them.

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Seems like a pretty good but gloomy review. I just picked up the TSN mag at lunch and I'm reading up on the Big 10. I'm not too optimistic about UM. Not a single player in the AA list (first, second or third team). A good OL but nothing proven or special at the skill positions. The worst defense in the Big 10 loses Brandon Graham and Donovan Warren and I don't see much improvement there either. Some young guys are going to have to progress into something special or this season is going to be another disappointment.

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Originally Posted by Rudy

Seems like a pretty good but gloomy review. I just picked up the TSN mag at lunch and I'm reading up on the Big 10. I'm not too optimistic about UM. Not a single player in the AA list (first, second or third team). A good OL but nothing proven or special at the skill positions. The worst defense in the Big 10 loses Brandon Graham and Donovan Warren and I don't see much improvement there either. Some young guys are going to have to progress into something special or this season is going to be another disappointment.

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Two young guys that i want to see step in (Well, atleast step on campus in the case of Demar) defensively are Demar Dorsey and Marvin Robinson. Those two wowed me on tape, they have a killer instinct when laying hits that I haven't seen from a Wolverine in a long time. Cullen Christian could be interesting, I never know how to judge a CB on tape in high school, but "they" say he's one of the best, so if he can produce they can hopefully get either JT or Justin out of there. The OL should be above average, so if we can generate the running game with Smith or Hopkins (My favorites, or who ever else steps up) I think they can do a lot of damage to the average Big Ten teams.

I still don't know why RR burnt the redshirt on Shaw. The kid did nothing as a freshman and he wasted that year. That really won't hurt the program since Shaw isn't a special player but I almost got the feeling he was willing to burn redshirts on kids needlessly in an effort to point out to the public that the talent pool was low.

Heard on a local radio show that Phil Steele has picked Nebraska to go 12-0, lose the Big 12 Championship to Oklahoma, & go to a BCS game. I'd definitely take that season if offered! Obviously I'd rather have the loss come earlier & go to the NC game instead but I'd definitely take it.

I think we'll be a solid top 10 team, but we lost too many defensive playmakers to not have at least a slight drop & our offense needs to step up in a MAJOR way to make that season happen.

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Originally Posted by Kwizzy

Heard on a local radio show that Phil Steele has picked Nebraska to go 12-0, lose the Big 12 Championship to Oklahoma, & go to a BCS game. I'd definitely take that season if offered! Obviously I'd rather have the loss come earlier & go to the NC game instead but I'd definitely take it.

I think we'll be a solid top 10 team, but we lost too many defensive playmakers to not have at least a slight drop & our offense needs to step up in a MAJOR way to make that season happen.

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really? OU? I figured OU would have an 8-4 season. I just think our O-line is going to be horrible. Our D should be very good so if our O-line and Landry Jones do well we could be in the Big 12 title game but I just don't see it happening. I sure hope Phil is right though.

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Originally Posted by Rudy

I still don't know why RR burnt the redshirt on Shaw. The kid did nothing as a freshman and he wasted that year. That really won't hurt the program since Shaw isn't a special player but I almost got the feeling he was willing to burn redshirts on kids needlessly in an effort to point out to the public that the talent pool was low.

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Yeah Shaw is just another victim of his own athleticism. He never had to develope vision in HS because he just bounced outside, and now he pays for it. I don't see much value in him either. The longer he stays, more chance he developes some vision, thats the only reason i see.

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Originally Posted by MGoBlue

Yeah Shaw is just another victim of his own athleticism. He never had to develope vision in HS because he just bounced outside, and now he pays for it. I don't see much value in him either. The longer he stays, more chance he developes some vision, thats the only reason i see.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ix8LT6IrWIY

Oh, Michael Shaw. I don't think he gets the nod at running back this year. It will be between Vincent Smith and Fitz Toussaint (sp).

For anybody that hasn't picked up previews yet, I picked up both the TSN and Athlon previews. TSN is decent, but Athlon was horribly disappointing. 1 page on every team, so good for lesser schools but less than other mags on the top programs (TSN gives 2 for the Top 25 schools, 1 page for most mid-major and above teams, half page for some of the mid-majors and less). Athlon has a a sizable amount of pages devoted to their Position Rankings (Best QBs, Best RBs, Best DL, etc) and to the entire list of 120 teams (not just a Top 25), but nothing else.

Athlon used to have page upon page devoted to behind the scenes stuff and analysis about the previous season. This year's was horribly disappointing in comparison.

Oh, and only two pages for Sideline pictures (i.e. Cheerleaders). Hmph.

Are any of the magazines picking Baylor to win the Big 12?