Ivan Maisel..What do you know anyways?

[nayers]

if you havent seen it, Ivan Maisel gives his post spring top 25. All I can say is, Ivan, you dont know what your taliking about, Cal, FSU, WVU all ahead of ND??? come on. I understand some people putting Ohio St ahead based on opinion, but not those 3 schools. Good, yes, better than ND, NO WAY!

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/colum...l_ivan&id=2449900&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos1

 

[Fitzgerald]

Pretty senseless. "The D will improve, but not in time to get through the first five games."

Yet none of the five teams ND plays are ranked, by him, ahead of them.

Michigan is #16. Does Maisel think his #8 is going to lose at home to his #16? Then why not switch the rankings? Ga Tech isn't ranked. Does Maisel think his #8 isn't good enough to go on the road and beat an unranked team? Then he should have us lower than eighth. He has PSU 21st. Again, if we can't beat the 21st ranked team at home, why does he have us eighth?

In other words, Ivan, which of those first five games will ND lose? And if they'll lose them, why are so highly ranked, and why are their opponents ranked no higher than they are?

 

[maison bleu]

In addition to ND at 8, what about Auburn at 9 and LSU at freaking 13? All three are in my current top 5 (along with O$U and Oklahoma).

 

[domerfor life]

What about Texas without Vince Young? I wouldn't rank them that high. Cal is ranked ahead of ND? That's a stretch. I also wouldn't rank WVU at No. 3. Those rankings make absolutely no sense at all.

 

[LOVEMYIRISH]

if you havent seen it, Ivan Maisel gives his post spring top 25. All I can say is, Ivan, you dont know what your taliking about, Cal, FSU, WVU all ahead of ND??? come on. I understand some people putting Ohio St ahead based on opinion, but not those 3 schools. Good, yes, better than ND, NO WAY!

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/colum...l_ivan&id=2449900&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos1

Never complain when someone underestimates you...

Herbstreit put us at #1. Tough to live up to that.

Better to have #8 and prove him wrong.

 

[Óglaigh_na_hÉireann]

lol, Maisel is a funny guy, really.

Ready for the big punch-line?

And my, oh, my, that offense.

Okay, but I find it interesting that OSU's offense only showed up when they were playing poor defenses (yes, our's included). Everyone said OSU's offense exploded at the end of the season. Did it really? Well, I think that the cause of their 'offensive explosion' was that they got into the weaker part of the schedule. Afterall, where was the AMOMTO offense (that's 'and my oh my, that offense' in acronym form) when they played Penn State? Anyone? No one? Okay, we'll just leave it at this '?'. Oh and where were they against Texas? Answer: '?'. OSU's defense put up points against Texas, not their offense. The same is true of Iowa and Michigan.

OSU's awfense (sic) is mediocre at best.

So the big '?' is what will happen to their passing game now that OSU no longer has a possession receiver in Santonio Holmes? Look at what happened with Michigan last season. When Edwards left, everyone expected Breaston to take over as the primary receiver. Guess what? He sucked. Why? Because he was at his best when opposing defenses were playing double coverage against Edwards and he could slip by unnoticed with his speed and make the big play. When Edwards left, it was just Breaston. And Breaston is no possession receiver, just like Ginn and Gonzales.

 

[Fitzgerald]

That's not true. It's always better to be expected to do well, especially in college football, where initial rankings actually have a huge impact on where a team ends up. Remember Auburn a couple years ago? They started out ranked so low that though they finished unbeaten they had no chance of passing the other unbeaten teams and getting into the national title game.

So, rank us preseason #1, please.

 

[Óglaigh_na_hÉireann]

That's not true. It's always better to be expected to do well, especially in college football, where initial rankings actually have a huge impact on where a team ends up. Remember Auburn a couple years ago? They started out ranked so low that though they finished unbeaten they had no chance of passing the other unbeaten teams and getting into the national title game.

So, rank us preseason #1, please.

Auburn's main problem was that from day 1, everyone wanted USC-Oklahoma, and unfortunately for them, the door was still open when the bowls made their selection.

There isn't a situation like that this season. No one can agree on a number 1 team or a number 2. Much of that owes to USC's 'decline' and the feeling deep-down among everyone outside of Columbus that Ohio State isn't all they are made out to be. People will be reluctant to rank us #1 because pre-season polls are really a projection of who will win the national title, and few people want to wage a bet on the ND-USC match on November 25... not to mention showdowns with scUM and an opener at Georgia Tech.

I do feel as though we are the best team in the country. The OSU game was an anomoly that won't happen in '06-07', MSU was a game where we shot ourselves in the foot a million times, and USC had to bend rules to beat us (hey, I'm not complaining).

If there's a better team in the country, I don't know who it is. ND will always be a big target, so I don't think being ranked #1 would present much of a new situation. In our case, I don't think the ranking matters much at the beginning of the season. If ND is ranked 25, we will still end up in the national championship if there are 2 other undefeated teams. Why? Because we have 1) an exciting offense 2) a possible heisman trophy winner and 3) the most storied and prestigeous program in football.

Arrogant? Yes. True? Yes.

 

[nayers]

true indeed

 

[tgolden]

I've never seen Ivan write a single positive thing about ND in my life. I could care less what he thinks.

But I agree that it is better to come up on people than to sit on the top all year. As long as we start out in the top 10, we'll be fine if we take care of business on the field.

 

[ant80]

Okay, but I find it interesting that OSU's offense only showed up when they were playing poor defenses (yes, our's included). Everyone said OSU's offense exploded at the end of the season. Did it really? Well, I think that the cause of their 'offensive explosion' was that they got into the weaker part of the schedule. Afterall, where was the AMOMTO offense (that's 'and my oh my, that offense' in acronym form) when they played Penn State? Anyone? No one? Okay, we'll just leave it at this '?'. Oh and where were they against Texas? Answer: '?'.

First off, a lot of our offensive explosion at the end of the season can be attributed to Troy Smith. Smith didn't play the first game, in fact, Tressel didn't even give him enough snaps during practice because of the suspension. Understandably, he was pretty rusty (*cough*lame*cough*) during the beginning of the season against top defenses, Texas and Penn State. In spite of that, we made them close calls.

OSU's defense put up points against Texas, not their offense. The same is true of Iowa and Michigan.

First of all, what do you mean by that? My understanding is you are saying D created turnovers, which the offense capitalized on. If that is the case, you are wrong.

OSU's defense put up points against Texas, not their offense. The same is true of Iowa and Michigan.

Did you even watch the our Iowa and Michigan games? What makes you think the defense put up points then? I remember two fumbles lost, one by TS and another by the fullback Brandon Schnithker (I think I butchered his name) inside the Iowa 5-yard line. In spite of that, we put up 31 points. Against Michigan, we were -2 in turnovers. Did you see the last two OSU drives? Two touchdowns in inside 6 minutes against a Michigan defense is pretty good, I would think. The defense did not win those games for us.

Iowa Game Drive Chart:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/drivechart?confId=&gameId=252670194
See the number of long drives we had. Of course, the D was spectacular, but it wasn't the D that won it for us. We had 314 yards rushing and 530 total.

Michigan Game Drive Chart:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/drivechart?confId=&gameId=253230130
Again, notice the number of scoring drives. We made 418 yards, 300 passing. Again the D was awesome, but the D had to overcome the fumbles in the offense.

OSU's awfense (sic) is mediocre at best.

So tell me again how you figure that...

So the big '?' is what will happen to their passing game now that OSU no longer has a possession receiver in Santonio Holmes? Look at what happened with Michigan last season. When Edwards left, everyone expected Breaston to take over as the primary receiver. Guess what? He sucked. Why? Because he was at his best when opposing defenses were playing double coverage against Edwards and he could slip by unnoticed with his speed and make the big play. When Edwards left, it was just Breaston. And Breaston is no possession receiver, just like Ginn and Gonzales.

Did you see the catches Ginn and Gonzo made against Michigan? Especially Gonzo's last catch against Michigan? That's what's going to happen. Ginn had 9/89 against scUM and Gonzo had 5/90 against Iowa. They were the respective receiving leaders during that game. Don't get me wrong, Holmes is definitely a big loss, but we have some great players to more than compensate for his loss. We only used Gonzo sparingly this year, and he is a constant big-play threat. Holmes is no Edwards and Ginn/Gonzo are no Breaston.

 

[Óglaigh_na_hÉireann]

I'll get back to this, I promise. Hopefully tonight, but most likely tomorrow. For now, I'm writing a paper.

And to answer your question, I was at both games

 

[LOVEMYIRISH]

That's not true. It's always better to be expected to do well, especially in college football, where initial rankings actually have a huge impact on where a team ends up. Remember Auburn a couple years ago? They started out ranked so low that though they finished unbeaten they had no chance of passing the other unbeaten teams and getting into the national title game.

So, rank us preseason #1, please.

Well, there is a big difference between being UNRANKED and ranked #5-10...

Starting UNRANKED is a BAD thing...starting in the top10...good enough.

 

[Fitzgerald]

Not to the pollsters. Although it might well be different with ND, being that, ya know, ND is ND, and nobody else is, still, if two teams are ranked 1-2 all season, and never lose, it's with great difficulty (and great controversy) that an ND squad who began ranked #3, or #5, gets a shot at a national title.

Obviously, a playoff eliminates this sort of crap. But we have what we have.

 

[brucejcarr]

Preseason Rankings mean Squattah....Nothing. Let the games play out on the field gentlemen. A few years ago we were ranked preseason top 10 and what happened.......Anyone, Buheller? We finished the season unranked.

 

[LOVEMYIRISH]

Not to the pollsters. Although it might well be different with ND, being that, ya know, ND is ND, and nobody else is, still, if two teams are ranked 1-2 all season, and never lose, it's with great difficulty (and great controversy) that an ND squad who began ranked #3, or #5, gets a shot at a national title.

Obviously, a playoff eliminates this sort of crap. But we have what we have.

Agreed

That is the one time it really matters (when there are more than 2 teams going undefeated)...

 

[BigIrish]

Pretty senseless. "The D will improve, but not in time to get through the first five games."

Yet none of the five teams ND plays are ranked, by him, ahead of them.

Michigan is #16. Does Maisel think his #8 is going to lose at home to his #16? Then why not switch the rankings? Ga Tech isn't ranked. Does Maisel think his #8 isn't good enough to go on the road and beat an unranked team? Then he should have us lower than eighth. He has PSU 21st. Again, if we can't beat the 21st ranked team at home, why does he have us eighth?

In other words, Ivan, which of those first five games will ND lose? And if they'll lose them, why are so highly ranked, and why are their opponents ranked no higher than they are?

this is a good analysis.

even as a fan, i question the merit of ranking ND in the top five, but that said, if maisel is going to rate the irish at #8, he should at least demonstrate the logic behind his decision making.

i also like how he calls out the Irish for their suspect D, but glosses over the fact that Ohio State will replace virtually their entire defense. Both are causes for concern.

 

[BigIrish]

In addition to ND at 8, what about Auburn at 9 and LSU at freaking 13? All three are in my current top 5 (along with O$U and Oklahoma).

another good point. imo, both auburn and lsu are as close to top 6 teams as you can predict before the season begins.