NFL.com ranks all 128 FBS Quarterback situations

[RedSkiesAtNightHog]

They specify how they do their rankings based on 5 criteria.  You will not like where they have Arkansas.  I think the list is flawed because NFL.com does not even mention Brandon Allen's injury or the fact that Rafe Peavey is now in the mix as a back up. 

NFL.com has Texas A&M ranked ahead of Arkansas which is completely ridiculous!  The projected starter left and went to TCU and the new projected starter is a true Freshman.  Hill, the other guy in the mix, has had off the field problems. 

To add insult to injury, we are ranked below Arkansas State! 

I am calling it right now:  Brandon Allen will have a very solid year and Arkansas is really going to shock some people this season!

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000364819/article/ranking-every-fbs-qb-situation-nos-110

[rzrbackramsfan]

I think ba finished in bottom five of all qbs in quarterback rating, and I'm sure lots of qbs had excuses too.  So they're not really being unfair.

[COCHISE]

#87 for those looking.

[weresoclose]

#87

It could be worse.  They do have Kentucky and Vandy listed below us.  That puts us at 12th out of 14 SEC teams. 

It makes mention that Brett's offense simply needs its QB to be a decent game manager.  Surely, we have one QB on campus that can be that.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

They specify how they do their rankings based on 5 criteria.  You will not like where they have Arkansas.  I think the list is flawed because NFL.com does not even mention Brandon Allen's injury or the fact that Rafe Peavey is now in the mix as a back up. 

NFL.com has Texas A&M ranked ahead of Arkansas which is completely ridiculous!  The projected starter left and went to TCU and the new projected starter is a true Freshman.  Hill, the other guy in the mix, has had off the field problems. 

To add insult to injury, we are ranked below Arkansas State! 

I am calling it right now:  Brandon Allen will have a very solid year and Arkansas is really going to shock some people this season!

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000364819/article/ranking-every-fbs-qb-situation-nos-110

#87 out of 128? Why should we be surprised, or for that matter, even disappointed? After a disastrous 2013 season, there are still too many unanswered questions.

[hogcard1964]

#87

It could be worse.  They do have Kentucky and Vandy listed below us.  That puts us at 12th out of 14 SEC teams. 

It makes mention that Brett's offense simply needs its QB to be a decent game manager.  Surely, we have one QB on campus that can be that.

I think Reese Phillips is slated to be Kentucky's QB.  He may be a good one.

[The Hogfather]

All of these "projections" are simple:  Look at last year and predict the same.  Sure, there may be very minor adjustments, but nothing will ever be vastly different.  Just look at the end of last year's top 25 and the beginning polls for this year.

The thinking is all the same.  I can sum it up with 2 thoughts:

"_______ lost their starting QB, 3 starting WRs, their whole offensive line, and most of their defense.  But, they're _______, they don't rebuild, they reload!  They'll finish at or near the top AGAIN."

"_______ returns their entire team, including a talented QB, who looked far worse than he actually is because of a shoulder injury, they have decent talent, they're playing in the 2nd year under a very good coach and an impressively rebuilt coaching staff.  They should be better, but they were horrible last year.  They'll finish at or near the bottom once again."

Not many of them do ACTUAL research.  And, the ones who do are normally too scared to go out on a limb and make any bold predictions because they're afraid they'll look stupid at the end of the season.

[Hogwild]

All of these "projections" are simple:  Look at last year and predict the same.  Sure, there may be very minor adjustments, but nothing will ever be vastly different.  Just look at the end of last year's top 25 and the beginning polls for this year.

Pre season AP Poll preseason & finish
#1 Bama- Top15
#2 Ohio St- Top 15
#3 Oregon- Top 15
#4 Stanford- Top15
#5 UGA- XXX
#6 South Carolina- Top 15
#7 A&M- Top 20
#8 Clemson- Top 15
#9 UL- Top 15
#10 Florida- XXX
#11 Fla St.- Top 15
#12 LSU- Top 15
#13 Ok Lite- Top 20
#14 Notre Dame- Top 20
#15 Texas- XXXX

12 of the AP top 15 preseason finished the season ranked in the Top 20, with 9 ranked in the top 15. Whatever formula they use it seems to be working.

The thinking is all the same.  I can sum it up with 2 thoughts:

"_______ lost their starting QB, 3 starting WRs, their whole offensive line, and most of their defense.  But, they're _______, they don't rebuild, they reload!  They'll finish at or near the top AGAIN."

"_______ returns their entire team, including a talented QB, who looked far worse than he actually is because of a shoulder injury, they have decent talent, they're playing in the 2nd year under a very good coach and an impressively rebuilt coaching staff.  They should be better, but they were horrible last year.  They'll finish at or near the bottom once again."

Not many of them do ACTUAL research.  And, the ones who do are normally too scared to go out on a limb and make any bold predictions because they're afraid they'll look stupid at the end of the season.

Last two years LSU has lost 18 players to the NFL draft. From last season they had their QB drafted, 3 WRs (one in each of the first two rounds), the #2 RB in the draft, and a OL in the 3rd round. If you had to bet which teams wins more games this year, who would you put your money on?


Predictions are educated guesses, they aren't perfect but they are for the most part realistic. Every year some teams will surprise and others fail, most teams are in the middle.

[The Hogfather]

Pre season AP Poll preseason & finish
#1 Bama- Top15
#2 Ohio St- Top 15
#3 Oregon- Top 15
#4 Stanford- Top15
#5 UGA- XXX
#6 South Carolina- Top 15
#7 A&M- Top 20
#8 Clemson- Top 15
#9 UL- Top 15
#10 Florida- XXX
#11 Fla St.- Top 15
#12 LSU- Top 15
#13 Ok Lite- Top 20
#14 Notre Dame- Top 20
#15 Texas- XXXX

12 of the AP top 15 preseason finished the season ranked in the Top 20, with 9 ranked in the top 15. Whatever formula they use it seems to be working.



Last two years LSU has lost 18 players to the NFL draft. From last season they had their QB drafted, 3 WRs (one in each of the first two rounds), the #2 RB in the draft, and a OL in the 3rd round. If you had to bet which teams wins more games this year, who would you put your money on?


Predictions are educated guesses, they aren't perfect but they are for the most part realistic. Every year some teams will surprise and others fail, most teams are in the middle.

As I said, they just take last year's poll and substitute the year.  Of course they have a good chance of being fairly close.  What I'm saying is that they don't REALLY do any analysis.  Their analysis is:  Were they good last year?  Yes?  Ok, they'll be good this year.  Were they bad last year?  Yes?  Ok, they'll be bad again this year.  And, even if they do the analysis and come to the conclusion that, say, a team like Bama is going to be bad this year because they lost such a big part of their team, etc., they will be reluctant to actually say that because Bama has been good so many years in a row and they don't want to look stupid if Bama ends up being really good again.  Then, if Bama ends up being horrible this year, they can all say, "well, nobody expected this...."

[fortsmithokie]

All of these "projections" are simple:  Look at last year and predict the same.  Sure, there may be very minor adjustments, but nothing will ever be vastly different.  Just look at the end of last year's top 25 and the beginning polls for this year.

The thinking is all the same.  I can sum it up with 2 thoughts:

"_______ lost their starting QB, 3 starting WRs, their whole offensive line, and most of their defense.  But, they're _______, they don't rebuild, they reload!  They'll finish at or near the top AGAIN."

"_______ returns their entire team, including a talented QB, who looked far worse than he actually is because of a shoulder injury, they have decent talent, they're playing in the 2nd year under a very good coach and an impressively rebuilt coaching staff.  They should be better, but they were horrible last year.  They'll finish at or near the bottom once again."

Not many of them do ACTUAL research.  And, the ones who do are normally too scared to go out on a limb and make any bold predictions because they're afraid they'll look stupid at the end of the season.

You really take this pre-season crap seriously don't you?

[The Hogfather]

You really take this pre-season crap seriously don't you?

No, I don't.  Quite the opposite, actually.

[bennyl08]

All of these "projections" are simple:  Look at last year and predict the same.  Sure, there may be very minor adjustments, but nothing will ever be vastly different.  Just look at the end of last year's top 25 and the beginning polls for this year.

The thinking is all the same.  I can sum it up with 2 thoughts:

"_______ lost their starting QB, 3 starting WRs, their whole offensive line, and most of their defense.  But, they're _______, they don't rebuild, they reload!  They'll finish at or near the top AGAIN."

"_______ returns their entire team, including a talented QB, who looked far worse than he actually is because of a shoulder injury, they have decent talent, they're playing in the 2nd year under a very good coach and an impressively rebuilt coaching staff.  They should be better, but they were horrible last year.  They'll finish at or near the bottom once again."

Not many of them do ACTUAL research.  And, the ones who do are normally too scared to go out on a limb and make any bold predictions because they're afraid they'll look stupid at the end of the season.

I think you are a bit too biased. First, there are a ton of people who make these predictions, and you are correct that many of them do not do complete research.

However, let's look at Arkansas from an outside perspective, noting that I make the assumption that unless the coach has demonstrated a lack of ability or the player that each player improves from year to year with the biggest leap after their first year.

QB: Has a returning qb who started most of the previous season, and only looked good in the first and last game. He did get injured, but was apparently healthy enough to play and to assume otherwise is indeed assuming. Behind him are two freshman who have 0 college game experience. First year starting for BA, but 3rd year in college. Should improve, but by how much? The backups were good level recruits. Watching the offseason, BA did not show good signs of qb play in the first half and the other two are far from ready to see any playing time.

RB: Two very good RB's both with production, both making the jump to their second year of major production, with Collins also having the first year jump as well. A potentially explosive third year back if I watched the spring game, and a back with a nose for the end zone if I research stats from several years back. They were most productive against cupcake teams last year and failed to find the end zone as much as expected.

WR: Hatcher has had 2 seasons to really show out and has so far remained a breakout candidate and nothing more, though no other receiver has any tape worth writing home about. If I really dig, good words were said about Wilson last spring before his injury, but there is little SEC tape for him and even less production. Watching spring game would show hope for the two early enrollees, but assuming any production given this teams defense in SEC play is an assumption. JoJo could be really good, but again, no evidence other than HS tape to back that up. Hawkins is supposed to have speed but has not accomplished anything. Basically, if I'm an outsider, I see a receiving group that isn't very impressive with some new players that one can only guess at their impact.

TE: I think everybody and their mom knows that Henry is a good one already and should be doubly improved next season. A bit of digging into last season would show that Sprinkle is very similar to what Gragg was like for us and some spring ball digging could show that Derby has potential at TE.

OL: This one I have trouble justifying for an outsider. We nearly had two 1,000 yard rushers and were very good at not allowing too many sacks. We lost two starters, but only one will be very tough too replace and we return two players who both started as true freshmen, so they get the double bump in improvement. Admittedly, they still allowed a lot of pressure and it was Allen's throwing it away a lot that kept the official sack number down and we got rushing yards, but failed to get many first or touchdowns.

DL: For an outsider, they see that we return Flowers and an undersized DT who is quick in Philon, but lose a ton of depth at DT and Chris Smith. Our new DE's were highly rated in HS and did well in the spring game, but that means nothing for the real game. Similarly, Jackson looked extremely good in HS, but that was HS.

LB: We have one LB who started a handful of games as a true freshman last year. Another LB who started a handful of games the year before and was injured this year, then some guys who were career backups and didn't play very well last year. THey should improve in their second year as being starters, but they haven't been good since Franklin and Nelson left. Now, we've added some HS safeties to convert into LB's as well. If the prediction is really new, it may include our new LB, but even then, he isn't proven.

CB/S: The play here was very bad the past two seasons. So, what will an outsider see when looking at us this season? Basically the same players will be in play this season, but with a new coach, who if they research him will see a very good track record, but again, mostly the same players at corner. The safeties will be playing familiar faces as well with players who have logged several starts. This should be viewed as an improved unit due to the experience and improved depth. However, it's one of those that may be viewed where addiction by subtraction would be better.

So, what we know is that we should have a very good OL and running game. There is some talent but not a lot of depth of experience on the DL. There is a lot of returning experience in the back 7 of the defense, but they are returning players who haven't done much. There is some continuity at qb, but with questionable depth and the starter didn't exactly shine the year before. Finally, there could be a lot of new faces to throw to, but that is still a question mark.

A lot of the improvement we expect to see comes from what he have seen in HS highlights, practice reports, and in sparse reps previously or the spring game. However, guess what. The other teams have guys with good HS tape and spring game performances as well. They also have guys who have been backups for a while and have improved in a S&C too.

Granted, I think our team will be much improved this next season and we will work out a 7-5 schedule with an even amount of good and bad breaks. However, I can still step back and see this team from an outside perspective.

[BorderPatrol]

You really take this pre-season crap seriously don't you?

You obviously didn't read his post...

bp

[The Hogfather]

I think you are a bit too biased.

No