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Posts Tagged ‘Top 25’
Are the Arkansas Razorbacks Underrated?
Posted by Adam Butler on October 5, 2011
Posted in Sports | Tagged: Arkansas Razorbacks, College Football, Top 25 | 8 Comments »
AP: Hogs #15 to Start 2011
Posted by Brett Kincaid on August 20, 2011
The season-ending injury to Knile Davis has lasting effects, both on and off the field. The 2011 Arkansas Razorbacks were widely considered a Top 12 football team before the injury. Today’s Associated Press release of their preseason Top 25 shows how voters have taken the news. The Razorbacks enter the year at #15, a very respectable ranking but at least 3 spots lower than most of us expected. The ESPN.com preseason power poll – released prior to the injury – rated Arkansas #10 in the country.
This strikes me as a pretty fair ranking to start the year. Ronnie Wingo, Jr. and Dennis Johnson certainly have the talent to lead the running back corp, but neither has shown the mettle or durability needed to make fans or writers feel comfortable. The defense, though, shows the potential to be a Top 20 unit. Tyler Wilson and his all-American receiving corp have the ability to pick up some of the slack. And the Razorback special teams unit could be the best we’ve seen in 25 years or more.
A few other notes about the poll:
Inexplicably, Auburn cracked the Top 25 despite losing the bulk of the talent that led to a national title (that will ultimately be vacated). Their inclusion gives the SEC 7 ranked teams.
Notre Dame starts the year at #16.
West Virginia is the only ranked Big East team. Yup…Big East is a BCS conference. By the way, the Mountain West Conference has 2 ranked teams including one in the top 5.
Here are your top 5 teams:
- Oklahoma
- Alabama
- Oregon
- LSU
- Boise St.
Posted in Sports | Tagged: Associated Press, College Football, Top 25 | Comments Off
Coaches Poll: #14 Arkansas Razorbacks
Posted by Brett Kincaid on August 4, 2011
Yet another day of scorching, 100-degree heat and it still feels a bit like fall.
The USA Today Coaches Poll has been released, and you can find the Hogs ranked inside the Top 15 to start the year. Most observers probably expected to see Arkansas ranked a bit higher, but there’s no shame in starting at #14 in the nation. It’s a great place to start if your goal is another BCS run.
The best part for fans is the innumerable debates a poll can start. Is Oklahoma really the best team in the country? Why is Alabama ranked so high with a brand new QB and a starting RB who has never carried the full load over the season? Is Texas A&M really that good?
Truthfully I only see one thing that makes me say, “You gotta be effing with me!” Defending BCS champ Auburn is ranked #19, despite being picked to finish fifth in the SEC West. Auburn lost a ton of talent, and I wonder if they’ll manage to escape the season with as many as eight wins in 2011. I assume it’s a tip of the cap to a team that won it all last year, but I am thoroughly confused by that one.
So let the debate begin… We’ll unveil the BlogHawgs.com Pre-Season Select 17 in a few weeks.
Posted in Sports | Tagged: Arkansas Razrobacks, NCAA Football, Top 25 | Comments Off
Movin’ on Up
Posted by Brett Kincaid on September 20, 2010
As expected the Arkansas Razorbacks took a couple of steps up the board in both major polls released on Sunday. The Hogs are up to #11 in the USA Today/Coaches’ Poll and #10 in the more-reputable AP poll. Leaning on the less-ripe-for-corruption AP poll means we have a Top 10 matchup in Fayetteville this weekend for the first time since the Hogs played the Houston Cougars in 1979.
While it is certainly nice to see the Hogs ranked so highly in the national polls, it’s Chris Low’s SEC Power Rankings that have me full of pride today. The ESPN.com SEC blogger puts the Hogs at #2 in his latest conference power rankings, right behind the Crimson Tide. The winner of Saturday’s game will reign supreme over the rest of the league at the season’s quarter poll.
Meanwhile, things are not so rosy on the other side of The River. This year could be labeled the Magnolia State Misery given how poorly both of the SEC schools have performed. My guess is that Southern Miss would be favored to beat the Rebels and the Bulldogs right now. Because we revel in the pain of Mississippi fans, enjoy this nugget from C-Low:
12. Ole Miss: It’s hard to imagine it getting much worse in Oxford. The Rebels (1-2, 0-1) were supposed to be feasting on this first part of their schedule. Instead, they’re sinking and sinking fast; so fast that finding many more wins on the schedule is difficult. Losing by two touchdowns at home to Vanderbilt is never a good thing. But to really put things in perspective, this is the same team that lost to FCS foe Jacksonville State at home the first week. Well, Jacksonville State had to go into overtime last week to beat Georgia State, a team in its first year of football.
It is hard to believe that we Hog fans settled for their head coach at one point in time.
Posted in Sports | Tagged: Arkansas Razorbacks, SEC, Top 25 | 16 Comments »
Friday Fodder
Posted by Brett Kincaid on August 6, 2010
The USA Today/Coaches’ Poll was released early this morning, and Alabama was unsurprisingly ranked #1 by a wide margin. Also unsurprisingly, Ohio State was ranked #2 to open the season. I actually am pretty bullish on Ohio State and the Big Ten in general this year. While the conference overall is not as strong as the SEC, they are making gains. Iowa and Ohio State are both legit Top 10 teams, and Penn State – even with a lot to replace – will probably merit a Top 25 ranking all year.
The Razorbacks enter the season ranked #19. That sounds about right for a team that still has to prove it on defense. I’ll probably have them in my Select 17 when we roll it out in a couple of weeks, but I’m not willing to put them in the Top 10 just yet.
Probably the biggest surprise to me is that Florida is ranked #3 in this poll. Are the voters just unsure of what to do with this team? I suppose Florida is a Top 10 team, but they have a lot to prove this year.
Something tells me this is going to look a lot like the 2007 season where it’s a crapshoot until the very end. I would not be surprised to see a team come from nowhere (like USF in ’07) to hang around the Top 5 this year. I also think this is the year that Boise State makes the BCS Championship Game if they run the table. There will be too many one-loss teams out there, and the cries will be deafening to put the Broncos back in Glendale where they pulled off the miracle win over Oklahoma.
Speaking of OU, are they for real this year? Phil Steele loves Oklahoma this season, and I can see why. They have a schedule that provides them with marque games that are not impossible. Basically if they beat Texas, I think OU has a great chance to run the table. Obviously if OU is undefeated, they’ll be in the BCS Championship Game. Could we have an OU/BSU rematch?
Oh the things we consider in early August…
Posted in Sports | Tagged: College Football, Razorbacks, Top 25 | 8 Comments »
BlogHawgs Week 4 College Football Preview–Twitter Style
Posted by Adam Butler on September 23, 2011
It’s back–by popular demand.
And, by popular demand I mean that the funniest guy I know told me he dug last week’s BlogHawgs Twitter Style College Football Preview and, a certain, injured All-SEC Razorback running back just “happened” to send out a tweet today with the hash tag #dontsleeponme a few days AFTER the inaugural CFB Twitter Style preview featured the fake Twitter user name @dontsleeponnavy.
Was the latter coincidence? Absolutely. Am I going to use that coincidence to allow myself to think I am using this space to in some small way buoy the spirits of a great, fallen Hog? You betcha.
So, in honor of Knile Davis, let’s get right into this week’s BlogHawgs Twitter Style CFB preview. The only rules are that the fake user names can’t be longer than 15 characters (but may or may not be registered, already), Tweets cannot exceed 140 characters, and I have to end each tweet with a smartazz (that’s for BK–he LOVES Zs in place of Ss) hash tag. Here we go:
Colorado at Ohio St.: @bringlotsocoors: 1 More Bad Loss and Luke’s Fans Will Be Fickle. Bucks will Re-Buff CU. Big time. #imissdanhawkins
SMU at Memphis: @betitallonsmu: Seriously. I know it’s SMU, but Memphis gave up 600 passing yards to Ark. St. #junejones’viagra
Georgia at Mississippi: @QB1killa: There’s (SIC) lots of championship games and bowls, but there’s only 1 monster.com bowl #thegigisup.
Arkansas at Alabama: @Iheartltiffin99: We need a anti-hero. #whydoeseveryunder40manfrombamasoundsuper!thanksforasking!
LSU at West Virginia: @maybelesISmore: The over/under is 5 1/2…….full sets of teeth in the stands in Morgantown. #taketheunder
Florida at Kentucky: @countdown2hoops: Big Blue is counting down the days ’til Cal can hang a “almost” championship banner that will come down. #jokerneedscalsrecruitingmanual
Notre Dame at Pittsburgh: @zzzzzzzzzzzzz: Even my dislike of Notre Dame couldn’t keep me awake thru this one. #meritbasedrelevanceis4suckers
Fla. St. at Clemson: @toneitdowndabo: Dabo Swinney has a definite “The Mississippi Coach during the salad days” vibe working. This is not a good thing. #actlikeuhavebeenthereevenifuhavent
La Tech at Miss. St. @shelfrelf: It’s no bueno when you have a running QB who can’t throw on the run or make tacklers miss. #atleastwearenttheschoolupnorth
Oklahoma St. at Texas A&M: @tripledigits: Look out for a flag football score & lots of awkward kissing. #SECSECSEC!
Missouri at Oklahoma: @showmehate: This one could get ugly. #payback
Tulsa at Boise: @flyntheointment: One of Boise’s tougher games (this one) involves a 28-point spread. #weeklyglorifiedscrimmage
Fla. Atl. at Auburn: @cecil17: I can think of 180,000 reasons to skip this game. #isthegusbuseverleaving?
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Posted in Commentary, Sports | Tagged: Arkansas Razorbacks, College Football, Top 25 | 8 Comments »