Preseason BlogPoll Roundtable

Corn from a Jar's been driving the RTT BlogPollMobile this week while I've been sleeping in the back seat. Having just awakened alone in a convenience store parking lot, I'd had the notion to take the wheel while he's inside paying the clerk, but, blast it, he took the keys with him. So I'm left here mumbling to myself waiting for him to return.

And . . . that's about enough of the lame metaphor. On to the Preseason BlogPoll Roundtable! CfaJ will be along shortly. Brian posits two questions about the first (there will be two this year) preseason BlogPoll: who's overrated, and who's underrated?

And for context, here's what we're talking about:

My initial thought when I started writing this was to look at the BlogPoll, compare it to "our" poll, identify the two teams about which "we" were most out of whack with the rest of the balloteers, and then try to convince the rest of the voters that "we" were right and everybody else was wrong. That's probably what Brian was after as well, but now that I'm sitting here with my Phil Steele, I'm thinking "we" were wrong, and by "we" I mean that guy paying for the gas. He's getting an earful when he gets back. Here he comes now.

Florida State was ranked No. 18 in the BlogPoll, and they didn't even make our top 25. What gives? They're Steele's No. 1 surprise team of the year, for crying out loud. They return the most experienced group (eight starters on defense and six starters on offense) since 1999. And who's their competition in the ACC? Virginia Tech, who will be riding an emotional high? Need I remind you that a hapless Tennessee team kicked LSU while it was down in front of its rabid fans and a sympathetic nation? No, Florida State is underrated in the BlogPoll at large because "we" didn't even rank them.

On to overrated. The BlogPoll has Arkansas at No. 20, and we have them at No. 14. My goodness. I know that they were really the only team that whooped us last year, but have you read any news over the summer? Need I remind you what happens when a team is in disarray?

 

Arkansas' Las Cronicas Locas de Boss Hawg makes the summer giving birth to the Fulmer Cup and death to The Season of Which We Do Not Speak look like the dramatic equivalent of a teenage girl's first pimple. I half expect the next revelation to be that Darren McFadden dresses like a woman not for laughs, but because that's how Uncle Houston likes him. No way they make it through the season without imploding. No, the Razorbacks shouldn't be ranked No. 14 or even No. 20.

So there.

What? Do I want to drive? No. I just want to criticize you.