AP Poll Voters...

[donovan]

I agree with Vileborg, though I did not put Hawaii in the top 25 they came to town and did their business and there were at least 30 other teams that could be there. How many put USC in their top 25 and they are not even eligible. I put Ohio State in my top 25 and they beat some high school and as for a mighty power, if they ever were, went 0-14 last year. Early polls are just that. Only Go Boilers knows what is going to happen these next weeks. And, the fact the AP voters are clueless can not come to any kind of revelation to this group. First they still work for newspapers, which if your newspapers are anything like the ones I read, are as out of date as my wardrobe. Well, maybe not that out of date...but close. Newspapers and the vestiges left, still trying to keep them going have become irrelevant.

[billybud]

I wrestled with putting Hawaii, Penn St., and USF in the top 25. It's a turkey shoot of 30-35 teams who could be in top 25 right now. Houston, Air Force, Georgia Tech, BYU, and Cincinnati did well enough to argue cases as well a few others.

I penalized teams for decent wins because they didn't have exceptional wins. I penalized FSU (Moved up 1 spot only) specifically because it took them all four quarters to run up 34 points including 10 in the 4th with Manuel still in the game.

USC had a good statistical game but only put up 19 on Minnesota and it was a close game so they actually slid a spot.

Teams that took care of the teams they should have got more love from me. Miss St. got a nice jump, I jumped Baylor into the poll. Florida got some love for a good game. Stanford got what they could. Virginia Tech jumped a few people.

It's still way too early to be really concerned about the polls. The pre-season was everyones best guess and until teams have had a good number of games to gauge them with it's anyones guess where they should be.

Vile...I wondered a little about FSU as well...How did you like the freshman QB (Trickett), on his first college snap, throwing a TD pass to a true freshman taking his first snap?. The defense did shut out a middle tier IA team. I gave the Noles about the same credit that I gave Ohio State for their win over Akron.

[Spence]

I wrestled with putting Hawaii, Penn St., and USF in the top 25. It's a turkey shoot of 30-35 teams who could be in top 25 right now. Houston, Air Force, Georgia Tech, BYU, and Cincinnati did well enough to argue cases as well a few others.

I penalized teams for decent wins because they didn't have exceptional wins. I penalized FSU (Moved up 1 spot only) specifically because it took them all four quarters to run up 34 points including 10 in the 4th with Manuel still in the game.

USC had a good statistical game but only put up 19 on Minnesota and it was a close game so they actually slid a spot.

Teams that took care of the teams they should have got more love from me. Miss St. got a nice jump, I jumped Baylor into the poll. Florida got some love for a good game. Stanford got what they could. Virginia Tech jumped a few people.

It's still way too early to be really concerned about the polls. The pre-season was everyones best guess and until teams have had a good number of games to gauge them with it's anyones guess where they should be.

Vile...I wondered a little about FSU as well...How did you like the freshman QB (Trickett), on his first college snap, throwing a TD pass to a true freshman taking his first snap?. The defense did shut out a middle tier IA team. I gave the Noles about the same credit that I gave Ohio State for their win over Akron.

Louisiana Monroe is better than Akron. Akron has problems right now stemming from bad recruiting from a former coach. They are really bad. That is why I take nothing from the Ohio State loss. Well, except for the fact that they showed no weakness playing a really bad team. This week should be different. Ohio State will be tested at least enough to show the weaknesses. Maybe even more. I do know that the QB that looked so good against Akron has struggled for several years behind two other QB's. I have great interest in seeing the Ohio State offensive line this week. That and the defensive tackle spot will go a long way in revealing what Ohio State has this year.

[Spence]

It is just really hard to believe true freshman linebackers can look like all americans against anyone in their first game.

[WoVeU]

Speaking of Akron, has our local Zips fan reported to base for this new campaign?

[Spence]

Speaking of Akron, has our local Zips fan reported to base for this new campaign?

Haven't seen him for a while. It has to be a tough road for JasonG, right now. Akron basically started from square one last year and are in the process of major rebuilding. They have built new facilities and they are very nice. It should help this coach build something, but it isn't going to come quicky. They have lots of recruiting to do. They will get there, just not as fast as most Zip's fans would like.

[WoVeU]

Just got off the phone with my dad. Akron came up, both he and my step-father, like most West Virginians worked all over Ohio. Dad said that years ago (that means 30 to 45 years w/ the old man) Akron had a really nice stadium seating like 45,000 he thought.

You know Ohio does not get the credit it deserves...they are sure supporting a whole lot of FBS teams, and Akron as others are building. I have been all over and known so many people from across this country. And I have found no more avid football fans (especially college) than Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Which makes Ohio the heart of all of that. I see just a bit of fall off in Coastal Virginia and Coastal Maryland and even into parts of NC, big...but not as big. {Then you go down to South Carolina and it is really big again, same thing over in Tennessee and every part south. There is a reason the Big-10 Stadiums are only rivaled by the SEC.}

[Spence]

Here is Akron's new stadium. I think they are on the right track and eventually they will have something.

[Cane from the Bend]

Now, will that be before, or after the "super"conferences cut the MAC out of the loop?

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[Derek]

Two voters in CA did not have Arkansas in their top 25 today, but still have Georgia in their top 25 today. Polls this early are pretty meaningless. We will find out soon enough who the pretenders are.

That's def. an agenda in play there. Anyone that has Georgia in the Top 25 right now, is probably FROM Georgia.

[Eric]

I agree with you on Akron, Spence. As Jason G has pointed out, the Akron area and east Ohio usually pumps out good recruits and if Akron can keep a few of them home, things should be on the up and up. The facilities can't hurt at least. It's pretty easy to go from worst to first in the MAC relative to other conferences. It only takes a year or two of experience or solid recruiting for a team to really make strides.