Sports Illustrated College Football Preview

My favorite issue of the year arrived yesterday in the mail; Sports Illustrated's college football preview issue (I know, it should be the swimsuit issue right?). I always love when this issue comes as I read through the entire top 25 to see where Penn State and their opponents are ranked, and then scan the 1-119 rankings to see where Temple falls (114).

Now the madness begins...

Good news is Penn State is ranked #14. That is respectable. But aside from that I find many gaffes all over the place on behalf of the SI writers and editors.

Ohio State ranked ahead of the Nittany Lions? I don't see it happening this year, especially after PSU will beat Ohio State, as will Michigan and Wisconsin. And while we are on the topic of the Buckeyes, is there enough pub for their linebacker, James Laurinaitis? Yes, the junior linebacker is good, but is he that much better than Penn State's own Dan Connor? Up until the SI preview every publication I have checked has picked Connor to be a top candidate for the Butkus award for the nation's top linebacker. SI doesn't have him in their top three. Something is wrong there. But the real kicker was when I received another college football preview today, from The Sporting News (yes I subscribe to two sport magazines; I got great subscription deals so calm down). Laurinaitis is the cover athlete, looking as smug as any OSU linebbackers would be expected to appear. What's worse is Ohio State is not even in the top ten list they print right next to him. At least they have the common sense to rank OSU two spots behind the Nittany Lions.

Both publications predict the Nittany Lions will be squaring off with Georgia on New Year's day. Sporting News says Capital One Bowl while SI says Outback Bowl.

Sports Illustrated has another consistency issue to deal with as well.

Rutgers is a feel good story from last year and deservedly so. SI picks them to finish third in the Big East this year (behind West Virginia and Louisville) with a record of 10-2 overall and 5-2 in conference. WVU will finish 6-1 in conference and have the tie breaker over Louisville who will also finish 6-1. So according to SI:

1. West Virginia 6-1 in conference
2. Louisville 6-1
3. Rutgers 5-2

But when you get to their bowl predictions you might scratch your head. West Virginia in the Orange Bowl? No problem there. Rutgers in the Rose Bowl? Louisville in the Sun Bowl? How can a third place team in the Big East go to a BCS bowl when the second place team is going to the Sun Bowl?

The Rose Bowl would NEVER take Rutgers over Louisville, would they? If SI's predictions do come true, which we know they won't, Rutgers might not even be BCS eligible! Nevermind the fact they have WVU ranked #4 and Louisville at #5, and Rutgers at #12. I'm all for Rutgers having a Big East championship season, but let's not carried away with the enthusiasm for the Scarlet Knights. Afterall, they still only play Big East competition.

I also found a punctuation error on one of the first pages. Are there editors at this magazine? I'm thinking about canceling my subscription.

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