Quote:4. UL - loses significant talent on the DL; will Brohm be ready? Are we looking at a Dave Ragon senior season situation where UL's losses along the OL leaves their QB battered and frustrated?

Fortunately for UofL we have Mike Summers as our OLine coach instead of Danny Hope-(who was awful) and instead of losing 4 starters in the OLine for Ragone Sr. season we return 3 IF Renardo Foster is healthy. Plus unlike Ragone, Brian Brohm can always hand the ball off to Michael Bush.

That is a good news bad news for UC. The good news is you return everyone, the bad news that includes your QB.[/quote]

Fortunately, thats one position up for grabs and most people believe the freshman craig carey, who redhsirted last season, will be under center...We'll see what it looks like come spring ball

Louisville will be fine.

CyberBull Wrote:

Wilkie01 Wrote:

bitcruncher Wrote:

Cubanbull Wrote:Where are these predictions from?

Does it matter? Last year they had Louisville going unbeaten with Pitt being a close second in the conference. They picked WVU to go fourth in the Big East.

I don't put much faith in prognostication. Even successful prognosticators miss the mark so often it's clear they know nothing about future events.

I guess this is why we go head and play the games! lmfao

So true....

Who had USF beating #9 Louisville?

You can make a case for about 5-6 teams having a legitimate crack at the BE's BCS bid next season.

For example, USF's defense returns just about everyone and we have some very talented redshirts that are going to finally see the field at LB, DL and defensive backfield.

On offense, Hill at QB is going to be what makes or breaks USF. The OL can potentially be better than last year b/c we have more athleticism and size being inserted to replace last year's seniors. Losing Hall is huge but Ricky Ponton is a very capable running back.

The combination of an easier OOC schedule and returning defense should at least keep us at 4-3 in the league. How the QB position improves will tell the tale for USF.


1. WVU - very young team and didn't lose very much; Slanton and White are just plain stupid good. However, there are enough defensive gurus in the league such Leavitt, Wanny and Robinson to figure out a gameplan to slow down those two and force the Mountaineers to put the ball in the air.
2. USF - very young team that can win the conference with better QB play; however it can go south quickly if Hill's inexperience is not managed like WVU did with Pat White
3. PITT - builds on momentum from the 2nd half of 2005; Palko goes out with a bang; along with USF can be a darkhorse for the BCS bid or Gator Bowl
4. UL - loses significant talent on the DL; will Brohm be ready? Are we looking at a Dave Ragon senior season situation where UL's losses along the OL leaves their QB battered and frustrated?
5. Rutgers - Ryan Hart is going to be missed and their defense needs major improvement. However, Rice can put this team on his shoulders if keeps running like he did in 2005
6. UCONN - unsettled QB situation like USF; lack of playmakers on both side of the ball
7. Syracuse - rebuilding projects enters second year...
8. UC - rebuilding project enters second year...like 'CUSE, the bearcats have too many holes

Not to be overly critical, or to sound disrespectful of USF, but I just cannot agree with any predictions that have Louisville coming in at 4th place in the BE. I would switch louisville with USF. USF is building something real in southwest Florida, so its not a slight at USF, just a belief in how good Louisville will be. I think USF and Pitt will battle it out for 3rd place in the BE. Both should be better than last season.

USFBullSpit Wrote:Preseason rankings, stuff changes, ps, how were central's ratings on TV, ummm thank you.

Our bowl game blew yours out of the water in terms of TV ratings. Our other national games were against South Carolina and Tulsa in the championship game which I'd bet bottom dollar blew the doors off of your TV numbers too.

knight_01 Wrote:

USFBullSpit Wrote:Preseason rankings, stuff changes, ps, how were central's ratings on TV, ummm thank you.

Our bowl game blew yours out of the water in terms of TV ratings. Our other national games were against South Carolina and Tulsa in the championship game which I'd bet bottom dollar blew the doors off of your TV numbers too.

I'm sure the 112 UCF fans in Hawaii had a great time.

Can someone please confirm this??? A lot of stuff floats around today. I would really like to see where these numbers were pulled from...

Hummell Wrote:Can someone please confirm this??? A lot of stuff floats around today. I would really like to see where these numbers were pulled from...

http://www.bcsfootball.org/index2.cfm?page=tvratings05

Hawaii Bowl got a 2.20 share. (UCF v Nevada)
Muffler Bowl got a 1.52 share. (USF v NC State)

Knight, thank you. I was more interested in the Big East Games of the Week and their ratings...in other words, where was the initial post on this thread pulled from??

Correct me if I'm wrong, Knight, but didn't USF have a bowl game with competition from other bowl games at the same time?

I know the Hawaii Bowl was played against NO competition on TV (Christmas Eve), so anybody who wanted to watch sports pretty much had to watch the Hawaii Bowl.

Maize Wrote:

bearcatstubb Wrote:wow...cincy returns virtually every player and yet we are predicted to do worse next year....don't think so...middle of the pack around 6-6, 3-4 in the BE..., only becuase we have OSU and V.Tech on the road in the preseason.

That is a good news bad news for UC. The good news is you return everyone, the bad news that includes your QB.

We have a redshirt frosh. qb Carey that has very good arm strength and field vision......granted he doesn't have the year of exp. that Grutza has but I wouldn't rule him out from eventually winning the starting position.

Plus, it's another year under Dantonio's system.

We will be much better than last year and 4-8......we do play a very tough scedule again but I think we are looking at .500 in BE play.

I guarantee you we won't come in 4th and I will bet you some money on that. Ragone was good but he is no Brohm and like Maize said the year Ragone got pummeled he didnt' even have a good running back. That was of the worst running games in the NCAA that year. Every team we played new we were throwing the ball, that team wasn't hard to predict. With Brohm being more seasoned and bush returning plus a slew of skill players we will be more than fine. Yes we lose two studs off the D-line but we return basically everbody on Defense including the line backers and a much improved secondary. I'm sorry I had to laugh at UofL finishing 4th, I'm not trying to sound over confident or cocky, but Louisville and West Virginia are head shoulders above everybody else and Pitt has the talent but its a wait and see thing with them. Plus we will have much more depth on the D-line this year, so we can go full bore. I'm still shaking my head at a 4th place finish, there will be no tire bowl in this city. We don't have to worry about a shaky quarterback situation, as long as Bobby Petrino is here you don't have to worry about us not putting up points. As long as Micheal bush is in the backfield and Brian Brohm behind center I'm very much at ease. I think S.Fla has more to worry about then we do, our coach has already said this could be a special season if everyone can stay healthy. The guys we lost on the o-line were great players and probably 1st day guys but the backups got significant minutes, the o-line was our deepest position last year everybody played that lettered. No 4th place finishes unless our 3 backs go down along with Brohm and his back up then we might be in deep trouble.

Can anyone post a link to the initial thread topic?

knight_01...you're embarassing the rest of us.

preseason rankings and tv ratings are for losers...

Someone should realize that the Hawaii Bowl was on ESPN the Charlotte Bowl on ESPN 2. The ESPN games would have a higher rating because they are in more households.

st932253 Wrote:knight_01...you're embarassing the rest of us.

preseason rankings and tv ratings are for losers...

In this day and age of TV contracts, TV ratings are definitely important. Now preseason rankings are useless. The only time preseason rankings hurt are if you go undefeated and you started out of the top 15 or so teams. You can't make up that distance and get into the championship game. Other than that circumstance, it doesn't matter.

knight_01 Wrote:

st932253 Wrote:knight_01...you're embarassing the rest of us.

preseason rankings and tv ratings are for losers...

In this day and age of TV contracts, TV ratings are definitely important. Now preseason rankings are useless. The only time preseason rankings hurt are if you go undefeated and you started out of the top 15 or so teams. You can't make up that distance and get into the championship game. Other than that circumstance, it doesn't matter.

Scoreboard 31-14

Now go back to your C-DOA board.....