Armchair Quarterback: Vols face an uphill battle
Owner Ken Pippin with a Carolina Southern Railroad map during a 2012 Interstate Railroad Committee meeting.
Owner Ken Pippin with a Carolina Southern Railroad map during a 2012 Interstate Railroad Committee meeting.
One month before the college gridiron season begins, the ESPN/USA Today Top 25 coaches’ poll is out, with little surprise at the top of the heap.
Oklahoma took the top spot by a single vote over defending champion (No. 2) Ohio State. They are followed by Miami (No. 3) and Texas (No. 4), with Miami taking five first-place votes. The only other team in the top 25 to take a first place vote was Auburn, who comes in rated at six in the poll.
Of course, I’ve seen some magazines which rank Auburn at No. 1, which is somewhat surprising when you figure they have an SEC schedule to complete without a blemish. By the way, Alabama, which is a formidable opponent again, was not ranked because it are still on probation.
The poll is made up of the votes of 63 Division 1-A head coaches. Locally, MTSU Head Coach Andy McCollum is part of the poll group.
While there was really nothing surprising rounding out the top 10 with Kansas State (No. 5), Auburn (No. 6), Michigan (No. 7), USC (No. 8), Georgia (No. 9) and Virginia Tech (No. 10), it was the teams not included in the top 10 that were kind of surprising.
For instance, Florida State, which has become a normal pre-season favorite, is ranked at 12 this season after its fall from grace last year. Bowden’s boys will have to re-earn the respect that a single down season cost them. By the way, the Nebraska Cornhuskers aren’t even ranked in the top 25 this year, and received only 64 votes to make the top 25. As a point of reference, the last teams in the rankings, Penn State and Colorado State, both ranked at 25, received 143 votes.
Joining the slide are the Tennessee Volunteers, who have been ranked in the pre-season top 10 for most of the last decade. This year the Big Orange came in at No. 16, a few votes behind (No. 15) LSU.
Their bowl debacle against Maryland, which is ranked 13 this year, likely stayed in the minds of voters this year as did their inability to beat even one significant team last season as they lost to Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Miami.
The only thing Vol fans can take solace in this year is that the Florida Gators (or Crocodiles as it may be) have fallen even further, ranked at 21 in the poll. Of course, this doesn’t diminish the importance of their Sept. 20 clash in the Swamp, since they will obviously be vying for the top eastern SEC spot along with Georgia.
And, while Georgia is ranked in the top 10, they’ve historically had their problems, like last year, putting away the Gators. And, until recently, they had a mental block with Tennessee. This makes it anybody’s race, with the Gator-Vol matchup still having the same importance as always. Remember, last trip to the Swamp, Tennessee actually won.
Admittedly, Tennessee has a tough climb from its present spot following its openers hosting Fresno State and Marshall, both teams which actually received votes for the top 25. but fell just short of making the poll. The Vols will face a trail of terror the third week of the season, beginning with Florida and followed by an always tough South Carolina team, which has come just short the past three years.
UT then travels to Auburn and hosts Georgia the very next week. They will get a bye before traveling to face Alabama — a team, who if they weren’t on probation, would probably be considered for the top 10. Following this tough run, it’s a breath of fresh air against always bad Duke before they pay a visit to the team who beat them down in their own house last season and fell one interference call short of the national championship — the Miami Hurricanes.
If that isn’t enough, the Vols pick up Mississippi State this year. While the Bulldogs aren’t exactly a great team, they historically have given the Vols problems. Good luck Rocky Top.