While the NCAA Football season still seems depressingly far away, we at HLS have been busy drinking, staring at women on the beach, and hastily cobbling together this year’s edition of The HLS Totally Non-Homer Top 25 – Preaseason Edition. While we’ve elected to save time and our marriages by presenting the HLSTNHT25-PE in a more condensed version from last year’s epic, 27-post thrill-ride, we do feel we’re opting for quality over quantity this time around. Think 3 or 4 Lexuses (Lexi?) rather than 27 Saturns (not that there’s anything wrong with Saturn. I’m now driving a Saturn.).
And so, without much ado in the grand scheme of things, here are a few important notes about the HLSTNHT25-PE:
The method within the madness:
The stated goal of the Loyal Sons, while filling out there ballots was to come up with a close approximation of what we all believe the eventual evil imperial BCS standings will look like at the end of the 2008/2009 season. That was the stated goal. I have no idea if that’s what we’ve actually got because, let’s face it, Biscuit’s a bit of a Maverick. And by that, I mean, Biscuit actually is Tom Cruise. And as we all know, that guy’s a lunatic. So God only knows what we’ve actually got cooked up here.
Now that the ballots have been tabulated, we’re prepared to share the results with the college football fan universe in 4 satisfying installments: “Also Receiving Votes,” “25 through 16,” “15 through 6,” and, wait for it… “The Top 5.” Look for these cleverly named posts to appear at a HLS location convenient to you in the very near future!
Some “fun facts” if “facts” are what you consider “fun,” nerd:
- 38 teams received at least one vote from one Loyal Son.
- Only one team, Auburn, managed to appear in the same ranking on at least 2 Loyal Sons’ ballots.
- There exist 7 rankings for which at least 2 teams tied after the average rankings on each ballot were figured.
- Only 1 military academy even received a single vote on any ballot. Hint: They managed to beat ND last year.
- The best average rank, that of our pre-season #1 pick, was a rather pedestrian 2.33. Repeating, of course.
- The average rank of the 25th team in our poll managed an average rank of 22.33. Also repeating, natch.
- Because of ties, we actually managed to cram 28 teams into our top 25. Hey, screw you. We’ll let the season sort it out.
- Michigan (sucks!) did not garner a single vote in any ballot.
HLSTNHT25-PE, cramming things that don’t fit into other things since 2007.
- HLS Tweets for the Week of 2009-11-15 - November 15, 2009
- HLS Tweets for the Week of 2009-11-08 - November 8, 2009
- HLS Tweets for the Week of 2009-11-01 - November 1, 2009
I think it is fair that UM did not get a vote in your rankings, reasons are fairly obvious.
But this does lead me to what I think is an interesting question, is the UM game an absolute “must win” for ND and more specifically CW this year? CW has enjoyed tremendous recruitng success the past few years, has had time to install his system, and I think it safe to say that you can’t blame Ty for too much anymore.
So what happens if UM rolls in to SB and wins? Maybe even wins “big”, let’s say 28-14? (not sure if UM could score 28 but I do think the defense, which is being under estimated somewhat could be very suprising). What does that say for CW and the state of the program then?
Just curious as to what your take would be, as somewhat rational ND fans.
We’re rational? Wow, that’s the first time that adjective was used to describe us. Thanks DTK. I will not say you suck in this reply.
I don’t think there are any ‘must win’ games this year. You could really run down the list of most of our games and say they’re ‘must win’, with the exception of USC. We ‘must’ beat UM for the reasons you stated above. We ‘must’ beat SDSU bc, well, they suck. We ‘must’ beat Purdue bc they lost their #1 WR, and their coach is halfway out the door. We ‘must’ beat Navy bc, well, you know. Point being, I don’t think any single game is a must win. But overall, the team has to improve, and has to win games. I think 6 wins or more and he’s okay for another year. Anything less and he’s on the hot seat (but I dont think necessarily gone). Could UM beat ND this year? Yep. Will they? Not sure, but I dont think so. The D is better than anyone is giving them credit for but the offense will likely be a mess. That said, if they can run the ball decently against us, it could be a good game. I’d be pretty livid if we lost given the circumstances. But, if we pulled out 8 wins on top of that loss, I’d be fairly satisfied with the season.
No way Mich(sucks) wins in SB…IM BRINGIN THE TEXAS KARMA UP WITH ME BIOTCHES!
trey,
Is Karma welcome at a Catholic school? Sure wasn’t welcome at mine growing up.
Biscuit, if CW and ND have another losign season, I don’t know if there is any way he could keep his job. I am not saying I would be on that bandwagon, but can you imagine the number of stories about how “ND fired the black coach for the same results as the white coach” type of stories?
DTK,
We’re already hearing that though. The haters love to take the overall, 3-year records of Weis and Ty and compare them. Never mind that Weis got to 2 BCS games and had people discussing a possible ND NC late into the 2005 season, while people just kept saying, “I can’t believe how often the ball bounces their way,” during Ty’s best.
I do think a losing season will hurt, but I also think the administration will trot out the “we need stability to rebuild this program” line in that case. Still, I don’t think we’re going to suffer a losing season. I really don’t.
I think a losing season would bring discussions. But not .500 or anything better. And I think 6-6 is the bottom of the basement for this team this year. Granted, I called 8-4 last year so I clearly know nothing.