40 Acres Sports

The preseason magazines don’t have a perfect track record for predicting much of anything, but it’s wonderfully interesting to see what they’re smoking. Fortunately the AAS aggregated the data from all the polls so we can see all this info in one place.

Most overrated? Easily Notre Dame and Oklahoma. The Irish defense was slow and average last year and should be pretty much the same this year, and their schedule is absolutely brutal. Heck, they could be pretty darn good and still lose two of their first five games. And as for the Sooners, their main weakness last year was their offensive line and I’m not sure how losing two top draft picks will help that. If they’re going to be a top team they’ll need a healthy Adrian Peterson and a much improved Rhett Bomar, I wouldn’t count on both of those happening.

With several teams with an equal shot of a national title, proven teams with holes to fill like Texas and USC seem to deserve more credit than teams who had lesser seasons and have just as many issues.

1. reply to  #1

   

   jeff

   July 26th, 2006 at 12:47 am

   I know we all hate oklahoma, but they do deserve the respect they are getting. They were a young team that played through tough times last year meaning they have experience. They’ve picked up JUCO linemen and adrian peterson is healthy. As for Bomar…yes, he will have to improve–but having a guy that has started 10 games (and winning a bowl game) compared to us having two qb’s that haven’t even taken a snap–well, I think the joke’s on us.

   granted the reason we are ranked so high is because of everything but our qb’s

2. reply to  #2

   

   Brian

   July 26th, 2006 at 6:46 am

   Oh I agree we’ll have our struggles and that we have issues as well. My main point is that OU and Notre Dame have just as many question marks as we do, and while we went 13 and 0 last year they finished with 4 and 3 losses respectively.

3. reply to  #3

   

   Jared

   August 1st, 2006 at 9:52 am

   What are the Sooner’s struggles besides the O-Line? Please let me know. As much as it hates me to agree with a Texas fan, Jeff nailed on the head with Peterson being healthy and Bomar going to be better, not a superstar, but better than most QBs in the Big 12. So other than the O-Line, what other holes do the Sooners have? Please don’t say the Defense, because they will be dominate, and Defense wins championships.

4. reply to  #4

   

   Brian

   August 1st, 2006 at 10:09 am

   Um… offensive line is kinda important and is also going to be the reason Peterson could struggle to stay healthy again this year. Bomar will have to improve a lot this year and a porous line with inhibit that.

5. reply to  #5

   

   Jared

   August 2nd, 2006 at 9:37 am

   So that’s it? That is the only reason they’re overrated? I agree that Notre Dame is way overrated, but that’s because they have way to many questions on their D and on their tough schedule. But OU only has O-Line questions (that have yet to be answered…) and you claim to the world that they’re overrated. It’s like looking for a flaw in a Beethoven symphany. Now I’m not sitting here saying they should be #1, they have to earn that, but I am saying that they are a solid top 5 team.

6. reply to  #6

   

   Brian

   August 2nd, 2006 at 2:26 pm

   Well Jared, care to change your stance now? Now you’ve lost ANOTHER starting lineman and your starting QB. This kind of character crap is exactly why I had no faith in Bomar.