These teams are worse than your mags or ESPN is telling you

Notre Dame - The Irish should be on this list, or something like it, every year. Only four times in the last 21 years have they finished higher or equal to their preseason ranking. Of those years, they've finished the season not ranked at all. This year, they are ranked no. 16 by AP and no. 18 by the coaches and have some been buzzing that they may play in a BCS game. 


That's absurd. 


We realize they won their last four games a year ago, which has all their apologists in a tizzy. That stretch, however, wasn't as impressive as it looks on paper. They beat Utah, who was coming off a demoralizing, 47-7, beat down at the hands of TCU, Army, who blows, USC, who was playing without Matt Barkley, and in cold weather took out Miami, who can't play when the temperature drops below 70 and was also playing with their second-string QB.


Notre Dame is still Notre Dame, meaning they still don't have the players in the defensive front seven to compete for a high national ranking, let alone a BCS game. While most are calling for double digit wins, we'll say eight, tops, even with their tepid schedule.




Auburn - The Tigers being ranked is proof the media is lazy, has no common sense or both. This is a team that lost 17 starters, including Nick Fairley and, of course, Cam Newton, both of whom had some impact on last year's team, and won seven games last season by a touchdown or less. 


Without those guys it stands to reason that a) they won't be as good and, relatedly, b) will lose almost all of those close games this season without them. Add to that a brutal schedule that includes games at Clemson, South Carolina, Arkansas, LSU and Georgia. Auburn will be very lucky to qualify for a bowl. They are more likely to win four, five games. 




LSU - The Crew didn't like LSU even before the suspensions. Now, we really don't. Jordan Jefferson, who's status is in limbo because he kicked a Marine in the face in about the worst region of the country to kick a Marine in the face, threw a grand total of seven touchdowns last season. Seven. With that recruiting base, at that school and in that conference, they can't come up with someone better than that? How bad must their backup be? We're about to find out. 


But aside from that, they play West Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi State and Oregon away from home. They've been touted as a national title contender. There's no a chance.