The 2010 Dubsism Pre-Season College Football Rankings

I’ve said it before, and I will say it again. There is a rule in the blogosphere that says if you tag more than three posts with “college football,” you are required to do a pre-season ranking. It’s really almost like a chain letter; failing to engage is such willful prognostication can mean your goodies will swell into purple soccer balls before they burst and drop right off. Not only that, but you are forced to sit in front of Lou Holtz without a spit shield. Since I can barely swim…

Granny's trying to wet the wettest whistle in the history of wet whistles (reaches for a squeegee).

Teams are rated within their conference, and the conferences are ranked in order of overall strength.

Plus, since here at Dubsism we are believers in the yin and yang of things, we felt it necessary not only to do the obligatory Top 25 list, but a comprehensive list as well. Why? Because for every team that should be admired for its prowess, there is one that should be pitied for its ineptitude.

Independents:

The special category for Army, Navy, and that school in Indiana that used to mean something. Every year, Notre Dame gets more attention than they deserve; a phenomenon that continues up to that point when the Irish get such a crushing loss that every the most ardent Notre Dame fan has no choice but to admit they simply aren’t very good. Even though the Irish have their typically soft schedule, the hype really should be over by the third quarter of the Purdue game.

Thankfully, there is an Independent worth discussing. The Navy Midshipmen have built a program that is now worthy of a discussion wondering how good they will be rather than if they will be any good. Top that off with quarterback Ricky Dobbs, who is the best player you’ve never heard of. His name would be on all our lips were he at a “traditional” football power rather than preparing to serve his country.

1. Navy
2. Notre Dame
3. Army

11) Sun Belt Conference

Yeah, this is really Division I football, but it has a way to go to be the little brother of top-flight college football. Right now, it is more like a fetal version of a real conference; there are some signs of life beginning to develop. The Sun Belt has produced 9- and 10-win teams. Sun Belt teams have scored victories over big-conference teams; just a few years ago Louisiana-Monroe beat Alabama, Troy shocked Oklahoma State, and FAU took out a weak, but still BCS conference Minnesota all in the same season. Arkansas State upset Texas A&M in 2008 and in 2009 almost scored a road win over Iowa, falling 24-21.

The second trimester is denoted by a road win over a BCS conference team.

Another sign that this conference is developing is the fact it has an increasing number of top-quality players; this year’s class includes Middle Tennessee State’s Dwight Dasher, Troy’s Jerrel Jernigan and Florida International’s T.Y. Hilton.

1. Troy
2. Middle Tennessee
3. Western Kentucky
4. North Texas
5. Florida International
6. Arkansas State
7. Louisiana-Monroe
8. Louisiana-Lafayette
9. Florida Atlantic

10) MAC

It’s easy to say the MAC is like a mini-me to the Big Ten, except the MAC doesn’t have bloated, over-rated teams that can’t get it done on the field (read that as “Michigan.”) Nine straight wins means there just might be a new “Golden Era” in Philadelphia. These aren’t the Temple Owls that stumbled affably toward, yet never achieving respectability. Now, the goal is to win the conference, which would’ve likely happened in 2009 had it not been for an injury to star running back Bernard Pierce.

1. Temple
2. Toledo
3. Kent State
4. Northern Illinois
5. Akron
6. Western Michigan
7. Bowling Green
8. Miami (OH)
9. Ball State
10. Central Michigan
11. Buffalo
12. Eastern Michigan
13. Ohio

9) WAC

Boise State defines the term “big fish in a small pond.” While the Broncos enter the Dubsism pre-season rankings in the Top Ten, you have to scroll all the way to #65 to find the next WAC member. But this fish is no less dangerous just because it comes from a small pond; you wouldn’t fuck with Jaws just because he was in your hot tub.

We're going to need a bigger tub.

Don’t look now, but Boise State has won 26 of their last 27 games, including two man-handlings of Oregon and handing a very-good TCU it’s walking papers from the ranks of the undefeated.  They finished No. 4 in the AP poll last year, they are returning over 20 starters, and this is a program that has won two BCS Bowl games in the last four years, which means you have to consider this team, goofy blue field and all, a legitimate national championship contender.

1. Boise State
2. Fresno State
3. Hawaii
4. New Mexico State
5. Nevada
6. Idaho
7. Louisiana Tech
8. San Jose State
9. Utah State

8 ) Conference USA

This may as well be the wild-card conference, because there’s just no telling what may happen once these teams hit the field. Houston is long on talent, but short on mental toughness and leadership. Central Florida returns 15 starters, has depth and talent in the receiver ranks, but the running game is suspect and there are questions about the quarterback position. Southern Miss is the model of consistency, yet can’t seem to crack seven wins, and East Carolina may start hijacking merchant ships.

Today's pirate: Less "Yarrrgh," more "Allah Akbar."

After all, we have a new face of piracy in the world, and perhaps it’s time ECU updated their look to be more in tune with the modern swashbuckler. After all, head coach Ruffin McNeill likely learned a lot about pirates from his last boss.

1. Houston
2. East Carolina
3. Southern Miss
4. UCF
5. Memphis
6. Marshall
7. Tulsa
8. Southern Methodist
9. UTEP
10. UAB
11. Rice
12. Tulane

7) Mountain West Conference

For a brief, shining moment, the Mountain West was poised to become the uber-“Small” conference. Unfortunately, right after Boise State made the announcement it was leaving the WAC to join, Utah bolted for the brights lights and the big city of the Pac-10.  All that does is remind us the tectonic shifting of conferences likely isn’t over yet; TCU is a prime pick to jump over that BCS fence if they were given an opportunity. Despite all that, for as long as it lasts, the Mountain West is still the best non-BCS conference out there.

1. Utah
2. TCU
3. Brigham Young
4. Air Force
5. San Diego State
6. New Mexico
7. Wyoming
8. Colorado State
9. UNLV

6) Big East

Honestly, the Big East puzzles me. I never really have any respect for anybody in this conference, but there are always a couple of teams that look good…well, until they get to a bowl game. Since the Big East winner gets an automatic bid to the BCS dance, look for Connecticut to be the sacrificial lamb come January.

1. Connecticut
2. Pittsburgh
3. West Virginia
4. Cincinnati
5. Louisville
6. Rutgers
7. South Florida
8. Syracuse

5) ACC

Here’s another conference I don’t really understand. With a few exceptions, these teams are really all the same. Take the top seven teams in this conference, toss them up in the air and see which one lands first; North Carolina or Boston College could find themselves on top of this league as easily as one of the Techs. Likewise, the bottom five teams are all equally rancid; it is almost impossible to tell the difference between the level of awful going on at Maryland versus Duke.

1. Georgia Tech
2. Virginia Tech
3. Clemson
4. Miami (FL)
5. Florida State
6. North Carolina
7. Boston College
8. North Carolina State
9. Maryland
10. Wake Forest
11. Virginia
12. Duke

4) Pac-10

As emasculated as Oregon and USC have been by the justice system and the NCAA respectively, they are still better than anybody in either the ACC or the Big East. For those of you east coast people to whom football west of Texas is an unknown world, just wait for the inevitable bowl season when those conferences will give their usual dismal performance, whereas it will likely take the Big 10 winner to handle Oregon.

Asterisks or not, USC is still better than anybody in the Big East.

1. Oregon
2. USC
3. Arizona
4. California
5. UCLA
6. Stanford
7. Oregon State
8. Washington
9. Arizona State
10. Washington State

3) Big 12

Considering the Big 12 is in its swan song as a conference, this might not be the best time to point out Nits lameness. But I must; I may not have another  chance. First, there’s the supposedly-dominant Longhorns (yes, the same ones that were manhandled by Alabama) have lost to Kansas State twice in the last five years.   Nebraska has been consistenly the class of the Big 12 North, which is really the Kazakhistan of  BCS conference football, which qualifies them to be a red, western version of Michigan State once they join the Big Tweleveten. And then there’s Oklahoma. The Sooners are always a darling in August, and that “belle of the ball” status usually dies after the annual loss to Texas.

This is usually what an OU fan looks like after the Texas game.

1. Texas
2. Nebraska
3. Oklahoma
4. Oklahoma State
5. Missouri
6. Texas A&M
7. Texas Tech
8. Baylor
9. Kansas
10. Iowa State
11. Kansas State
12. Colorado

2) Big 10

Everybody loves to be down on the Big 10; every year we hear stuff about how the conference is really the the Big Three and the Insignificant Eight. Let’s not forget the Big Ten won two BCS bowl games last year, but that this conference produces at least four good football teams each season. Look for depth in this conference; the Big 10 will produce at least 7 bowl teams.

1. Ohio State
2. Penn State
3. Iowa
4. Michigan State
5. Purdue
6. Wisconsin
7. Northwestern
8. Minnesota
9. Michigan
10. Illinois
11. Indiana

1) SEC

Clearly the best conference in the country, the SEC is the only conference other than the Big 10 that won two BCS games last year and will produce more than 6 bowl teams this year. The bottom line is since its inception in 1998, the SEC has owned the BCS. An SEC team has won 6 of the twelve title games, including the last four. You could have an all SEC title game if it weren’t for the SEC’s own championship game, which you can expect to be a Florida and Alabama affair again.

1. Alabama
2. Florida
3. LSU
4. Mississippi
5. Auburn
6. Georgia
7. Tennessee
8. South Carolina
9. Arkansas
10. Mississippi State
11. Kentucky
12. Vanderbilt

Overall Rankings:

1. Alabama
2. Florida
3. Ohio State
4. Texas
5. Penn State
6. LSU
7. Utah
8. Iowa
9. Oregon
10. Boise State
11. Mississippi
12. Auburn
13. USC
14. Georgia
15. TCU
16. Georgia Tech
17. Nebraska
18. Connecticut
19. Pittsburgh
20. Tennessee
21. West Virginia
22. Brigham Young
23. Michigan State
24. Oklahoma
25. Virginia Tech
26. Oklahoma State
27. Cincinnati
28. Arizona
29. Purdue
30. Clemson
31. California
32. UCLA
33. Wisconsin
34. Miami (FL)
35. Florida State
36. South Carolina
37. Missouri
38. Texas A&M
39. Stanford
40. Northwestern
41. Minnesota
42. Texas Tech
43. Arkansas
44. Oregon State
45. Mississippi State
46. Washington
47. Navy
48. North Carolina
49. Kentucky
50. Air Force
51. Arizona State
52. Baylor
53. Boston College
54. Michigan
55. Illinois
56. North Carolina State
57. Vanderbilt
58. Houston
59. Louisville
60. Kansas
61. San Diego State
62. Iowa State
63. Kansas State
64. East Carolina
65. Maryland
66. Fresno State
67. Southern Miss
68. UCF
69. Rutgers
70. South Florida
71. New Mexico
72. Wake Forest
73. Colorado
74. Wyoming
75. Memphis
76. Hawaii
77. Notre Dame
78. Virginia
79. Temple
80. Duke
81. Marshall
82. Tulsa
83. Southern Methodist
84. Toledo
85. Colorado State
86. Troy
87. Indiana
88. Kent State
89. Middle Tennessee
90. UTEP
91. Syracuse
92. Northern Illinois
93. UNLV
94. New Mexico State
95. Washington State
96. UAB
97. Akron
98. Nevada
99. Idaho
100. Western Kentucky
101. North Texas
102. Louisiana Tech
103. Florida International
104. San Jose State
105. Western Michigan
106. Arkansas State
107. Rice
108. Bowling Green
109. Miami (OH)
110. Utah State
111. Ball State
112. Central Michigan
113. Tulane
114. Louisiana-Monroe
115. Buffalo
116. Eastern Michigan
117. Louisiana-Lafayette
118. Army
119. Ohio
120. Florida Atlantic

About J-Dub

What your view of sports would be if you had too many concussions

View all posts by J-Dub →

2 comments on “The 2010 Dubsism Pre-Season College Football Rankings”

1. cmadler

   August 13, 2010

   

   Not bad, but I disagree with a few points.
   – Even in the Sun Belt, there’s no way that Western Kentucky, with a first-year head coach, can rise, phoenix-like, from the ashes of an 0-12 season to finish 3rd. Ain’t gonna happen.
   – Your MAC ranking is just plain bizarre. Scheduling pretty well prevents 4 of the top 5 teams from coming from the same division. Also, an awful lot of people have picked Ohio to win the conference, or at least the East division; putting them last is a very bold move that I don’t think will pan out.
   – Cincinnati will finish a lot better than 4th in the Big East and 27th overall. Butch Jones has already proven that he could follow the Brian Kelly Show successfully at Central Michigan, and I think he’ll find similar success as Kelly’s successor with the Bearcats.
   – Iowa has a very real chance to finish the regular season undefeated. Last year they won by 11 at Happy Valley, and with Stanzi sitting out, playing at the Horseshoe, Ohio State only beat them by 3. This year they get those tough games at home. If they stay healthy all year, they’ll probably be in the BCS Championship Game against the SEC champ (Florida or ‘Bama).
   – In the SEC, I think you switched Kentucky and Tennessee. I guess it’s forgivable; they both have first year coaches and the states are right next to each other. But Kentucky’s new coach brings continuity and stability to a program that’s been to 4 consecutive bowl games and won 3 of them, while at Tennessee, the only stability is the hate for Lane Kiffin.

   LikeLike

   Reply

2. Pingback: Trash-Talking the Top 25 « Dubsism

Drop Your Comments Here Cancel reply

Enter your comment here...

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Email (required) (Address never made public)

Name (required)

Website

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

Notify me of new comments via email.

Notify me of new posts via email.

Δ