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A signal of greatness: What an finish outside the top 10 means
August 30, 2010 | By Benjamin Miraski
Our sports culture is obsessed with rankings, especially at the top.
And while I have kept records of the best MRIs since the football rankings began, the more interesting part of the final numbers are those teams who finish No. 11 - No. 25 the previous year.
Are these teams on the verge of something great, or was it a fluke because of a great finish to the season.
Here are five teams to watch going into the 2010 - 2011 season starting Thursday night:
- Oklahoma(Record: 8-5, MRI: No. 11) - The Sooners just couldn’t get it clicking last season. While big things were expected, the loss of quarterback Sam Bradford so early in the year really put handcuffs on what could have been a great team. The good news was that they showed flashes of that potential even with a freshman under center.
The Good: Quarterback Landry Jones got plenty of snaps last season and will be better prepared than if Bradford had run the show. DeMarco Murray should also be 100 percent this year behind an offensive line that returns three starters.
The Bad: There really isn’t any bad for the Sooners.
The Skinny: This team, if they remain healthy unlike last year, should be a title contender. End of story. - Air Force (8-5, No. 15) - Service academies are always tough to pin high hopes on. Most times, players don’t see the field with significant minutes until their senior years because of they just aren’t big enough or skilled enough to go early on. And when was the last time a star recruit went the military route? His name may have been Roger Staubach.
The Good: The ground game returns both Jared Tew (970 yards) and Asher Clark (865 yards) from last year. Although they don’t pass the ball all that often, Tim Jefferson will also be back calling the plays on the field and that can only help.
The Bad: The offensive line that is key to running the Falcon offense is all new. They are so green the five projected starters combined for one start last season. Plus, Air Force plays a horrendous schedule including TCU, BYU and Oklahoma in their third game.
The Skinny: The Falcons are in for a long year. - Arkansas (8-5, No. 19) - Does anyone remember when it looked like the Razorbacks were returning to their former glory. Mitch Mustain, Darren McFadden, Felix Jones and an offense that had the SEC spinning all seemed to point to good things. And then it all fell apart piece by piece until the current Arkansas looks nothing like that miracle team that almost took the SEC title in 2006.
The Good: Ryan Mallett may be the best quarterback in college. Arkansas can thank Michigan for totally throwing tradition out the window in Ann Arbor and sending this kid their way. Mallett will be one of 10 returning offensive starters from last season and this group will only improve on the 427 yards per game of a year ago.
The Bad: The schedule says “At Georgia” in their third game without any real test prior to that. Plus they are at Auburn and at South Carolina. One more thing to consider: Bobby Petrino is in his third year here and if things go well, we could hear his name for bigger jobs, despite those two black marks on his resume from leaving Louisville like he did and that short appearance in the NFL with Atlanta.
The Skinny: Arkansas could be headed to the National Title game against Oklahoma. Look for a BCS bowl. - Clemson (9-5, No. 22) - It is always hard to hype Clemson because they usually fail to achieve to their potential. Last year, with CJ Spiller, there was a lot of hype, but two losses to Georgia Tech (one early and one in the ACC championship) derailed that train. The Tigers stumbled to the finish but won the Music City bowl against Kentucky, not exactly where they thought they would be earlier in the year.
The Good: The offensive line that carried Spiller to 1,200 yards last season is back with a wealth of experience. The defensive line could be one of the best in the country.
The Bad: Spiller and Jacoby Ford are playing on Sunday this year, the rest of the defense looks like Swiss cheese and the ACC should be a tougher league. Plus the Tigers play at Auburn and haven’t won the ACC since 1991.
The Skinny: Maybe they will beat South Carolina this season, but that could be the highlight of the year. If the Music City bowl was a disappointment last year, fans won’t want to see where Clemson is headed this December. - Stanford (8-5, No. 24) - Jim Harbaugh likes to talk trash, which at least makes the PAC-10 fun. He backed it up last year, beating USC and Oregon in back-to-back weeks. If the season had started a little better for the Cardinal, the game against Cal could have meant something big for this team other than Bay area bragging rights. Plus they almost beat Oklahoma in the Sun Bowl, and that Sooner team is expected to great things this season.
The Good: Harbaugh could make your mother a great player by inspiration alone. The team returns 15 of 22 starters from last season.
The Bad:Toby Gerhart is gone after accounting for almost half of the Cardinal offense. Stanford plays at UCLA, at Cal, at Oregon and at Notre Dame.
The Skinny: Stanford looks like they can be a menace in the PAC-10 this year, but the schedule is really stacked against them. The loss of Gerhart probably shouldn’t hurt them as badly as it seems, but this one is pretty murky until we see how they perform in week two against the Bruins.
Posted August 30, 2010 3:00 PM
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