Boycott ESPN

[abpk2903]

Maybe I can save ya a little money TAE because trust SI is not worth buying anymore. The only reason I got the mag is for Rick Reilly's article and to get the Red Sox World Championship package.

SI Top 20:
1. Georgia
2. Ohio State
3. USC
4. Missori
5. Flordia
6. Oklahoma
7. Auburn
8. Texas Tech
9. LSU
10. Wisconsin
11. Clemson
12. Tennessee
13. Texas
14. West Virgina
15. Kansas
16. Arizona State
17. BYU
18. Oregon State
19. Pitt
20. Oregon

There is nothing about the teams out of the Top 20 other than the Conference previews and here is the Big Ten's:

How They'll Finish:
-Ohio State 7-1, 11-1
-Wisconsin 6-2, 10-2
-Illinois 5-3, 8-4
-Iowa 5-3, 8-4
-Penn State 4-4, 8-4
-Michigan State 4-4, 8-4
-Northwestern 4-4, 7-5
-Michigan 3-5, 5-7
-Purdue 3-5, 5-7
-Minnesota 2-6, 4-8
-Indiana 1-7, 4-8

Players to Watch:

Vontae Davis-CB Illinois Jr.
-The 6' 204 lb. lockdown corner was All-Big Ten last fall (4 int., 76 tackles). Physical and fast, he's projected as a future first-round pick

Maurice Evans-DE Penn State Jr.
-The 6' 2" 264 lb has matured into a dominate pass rusher. Flashing speed off the corner, he led the Nittany Lions with sacks last year, with 12 and 1/2

Greg Middleton-DE Indiana Jr.
-As a sophomore the 6'3" 275 lb let the nation in sacks, with 16. This season he'll be a force on a front seven that returns 5 starters

Eric Peterman-WR Northwestern Sr.
-A quarterback in high school who was tried at wide-out and cornerback by the Wildcats, he found his game as a receiver in 2007 with a team high 66 catches

Javon Ringer-RB Michigan State Sr.
-Despite splitting time with Jehuu Caulcrick, he was the Big Ten's No. 3 ground-gainer last season, picking up 1447 yards will averaging 5.9 ypc

Notables:

Top Offensive Player:
Curtis Painter - Purdue QB Sr.
-The 4th year starter needs 3030 yards to surpass former Boilermaker Drew Brees as the most prolific passer in Big Ten history

Top Defensive Player:
James Laurinaitis
-A two-time All-American and last year's Butkus Award winner, he led the Buckeyes with 121 tackles, then passed on the NFL draft

True Freshman to watch:
Terrelle Pryor
-Look for the Buckeyes to use the 6'6" 235 lb super recruit like a young Tim Tebow.

Coach on the Rise:
Mark Dantonio-Mich State
-In his first year he took over a team that had endured 3 straight losing seasons and led it to a 7-6 record and a bowl game.

Coach on the Hot seat:
Kirk Ferentz-Iowa
-He was the toast of Iowa City when the Hawkeyes won 10 or more games in '02, '03, and '04, but since the Hawkeyes are 19-18.

Extra Points:

Michigan's starting qb will most likely be redshirt freshman Steven Threet, a transfer from Georgia Tech who moved up after Ryan Mallet transferred to Arkansas...Without a returning starter at running back, Iowa will rely on its deep corps of receivers, including long-ball threat Andy Brodell, who missed 8 games in 2007 with a torn hamstring. But qb Jake Christensen has to improve on his 53.3% completion rate if the Hawkeyes expect to score more than the Big-Ten low 18.5 ppg last fall...New defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz should help a Northwestern unit that finished 89th in the country in points allowed (31) and 75th against the run (167.1 yards). At Wisconsin in 2006, Hankwitz's D ranked 3rd in scoring defense...For coach Tim Brewster's spread offense to click, Minnesota has to get its running game back on track. The Gophers would get a major boost if jr Jay Thomas is all the way back from ACL surgery.

[abpk2903]

A few things I will give SI credit with is with having WVU, Clemson, and Kansas all out of the top 10. These three teams should not be in the top 10.

They do have Oregon State at 18 and they are the only ranking to have them in the top 25 (i think, help me out here TAE).

They do not have any teams finishing undefeated but they do have Ohio State, Georgia, Missori, Oklahoma, BYU, and Tulsa with one loss. That is too many one loss teams.

Have ND finishing 7-5 which is pretty realistic with their schedule this year.

This is for you TAE, North Texas they have 2-5, 3-9

and for you Deliverence, Texas 5-3, 9-3 which is a safe pick with them but in my opinion but I think Texas is a team like Penn State and Pitt this year that has the potential to play in a BCS game or have 5 loses.

[The Ancient Enemy]

I have BYU losing like 3 games. I'm telling you, that TCU team is good and Utah is senior-heavy.

Tulsa may get upset by someone else, but I really think they'll beat Arkansas.

There's no way Penn State should be talked about like they are gonna have 5 losses, like these previews have them listed. You cannot tell me that returning 9 on both sides to a team who won 9 last season is not BCS material. They will lose to Ohio State in Columbus. This team loses a maximum of 3 games, and even then those other two losses are upsets, because Illinois sucks and Wisconsin is always a joke.

I've had this opinion for months, and I'll say Penn State loses 2 games. Ohio State and Michigan State. I am unusually optimistic about this season.

I agree about WVU and Kansas and Clemson, none of them are worth top 10 consideration.

Everyone is sleeping on North Texas. You're telling me that those Sun Belt defenses are gonna be able to stop them? I have them losing to Florida Atlantic. Even though there's teams better than them, they'll win those other games.

As for Oregon State, I am too lazy to go grab the magazines but I am pretty sure SI is the only publication to have them in the top FIFTY. From what I remember, they are pretty much expected to be about 5th or 6th in the Pac-10, and that is really saying something. The Pac-10 should be glad that these publications were nice enough to include 2 of the Pac-10 teams in the top 25 out of nothing but the goodness of their hearts.

[deliverance]

5-3 in the conference is about what everyone expects. I really don't expect a lot more. These guys have to play a fired up inspired game all year long or 5 losses is realistic for Texas. Thanks for the SI predictions. I can't wait for the season to start.

[D-nice]

BACK TO TOPIC NOW!!!

IF YOU CAN'T DO THE TIME DON'T DO THE CRIME!!!! :roll:

[The Ancient Enemy]

Well, they are kicked off the team, so what more do you want?

[D-nice]

I'm talking about ESPN boycott, no big deal we are not gonna boycott ESPN because they happened to notice that PSU is home to some of college football's most criminal element. Penn State should be embarrassed :oops:

[The Ancient Enemy]

If you've read the thread, which you haven't, it isn't just about Penn State.

[abpk2903]

Actually, have we really discussed Penn State much at all.

[Former Wildcat]

I agree with a lot of what you are saying about ESPN. However, there is a reason. ESPN is a product. Obviously, they will not spend much time covering sports that they do not show. Why drum up interest for a sport on another network? The flip side is that if fans of sports like hockey really wanted hockey info, they would go somewhere else. Plenty of people are still going to ESPN.

On the positive side, not all of the analysts are terrible. I think a problem is that they get lazy after being in the business for a while. Dick Vitale and Billy Packer know very little about college basketball outside of two or three conferences. Doug Gottlieb, Andy Katz, and Joe Lunardi know every team and can speak intelligently about all. Jay Bilas and Digger Phelps fall somewhere in the middle. In college football, Jesse Palmer is good, Herbstreit and May are average, Corso and Holtz are terrible. Every sport breaks down like this. I think it was two years ago that Packer made a lot of statements about how the Missouri Valley Conference should not have four teams in the tournament. Afterwards, he admitted that he had only watched one MVC game the entire season (the conf. tourney champ.). What happened? Two of the four made it to the sweet 16.