PRESEASON BLOGPOLL ROUNDTABLE

Pretty simple Blogpoll roundtable this week, what with only two questions:

Who’s overrated? Southern Cal is overrated. The words flying around about that team remind me of another team from recent memory: The Miami Hurricanes of the early 2000s. Remember them, loaded with five-star recruits, contending for national titles every year, occasionally winning (nothing like U$C, I know, but still), many people regarding them as an unstoppable force and potentially one of the best teams in the history of college football? They didn’t have any weak spots on the roster. They crushed their competition consistently. They were ferocious.

They fell apart.

Why? Most of that was Larry Coker not being able to manage all the egos and personalities involved–by the end of his time in Coral Gables, it was pretty clear the players ran the program and not the coach. He had to go. Pete Carroll is no Larry Coker but then nobody thought Larry Coker was Larry Coker in 2002.

Not only that, but people are expecting a LOT of John David Booty, who was fine as an unknown and unproven quarterback in ‘06, but comes into this season as a highly-regarded Heisman hopeful who will be under the intense scrutiny that goes along with being an early Heisman favorite. Even though Booty certainly comports himself well and seems to be pretty grounded, Pete Carroll and his staff are going to have to watch him to make sure he doesn’t turn into Drew Tate, the Iowa QB who eventually thought he needed to make every play into the last play of the ‘05 Capital One Bowl. Because, uh, I can kinda see that happening. And if they’re paying that much attention to the QB, what happens to the rest of the egos on the offense? I’m not saying U$C isn’t good–they are–but I just don’t believe they’ll be able to handle the scenario I see developing with John David Booty trying to do too much and the need to keep him calmed down creating a leadership vacuum elsewhere in the team.

That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.

Who is underrated? Easy. Arkansas and Wisconsin. Even I have the ‘Backs rated low, and I don’t know why. It’s not like they don’t have an offense that can drop half a hundred on just about anyone. As for Wisconsin, I think people are rating them low because they’re worried that it will be hard to replace John Stocco at quarterback. It’s not like Tyler Donovan has never played in a game before. And the Badgers are a defensive-minded team anyway. Sure, they benefited from a slightly pastrylike schedule last year, but then again, they won their bowl game . . . against WHO? Arkansas.

HIGH-CONCEPT MUSICAL LIST

10 Verbs Which Disprove David Lee Roth’s Assertion That You Can’t Go Wrong By Giving A Song A Title Which Is Nothing More Than A Verb:

1. Squat
2. Wash
3. Paint
4. Arrange
5. Import
6. Comb
7. Alphabetize
8. Degrease
9. Mow
10. Giggle