Phil Steele Preseason All-MAC teams

[Falcon137]

http://www.philsteele.com/Blogs/2013/MAY13/DBMay22.html

9 of 11 defensive starters were listed on one of the 4 teams. Gabe Martin and BooBoo were 1st teamers.

Alex Bayer and Dominic Flewellyn were 1st team on offense.

[mscarn]

It's tantilizing to think how good this team will be if we can get improved play out of the passing game. If only we had a head coach with an offensive background and an experienced, motivated player at the quarterback position...

[Flipper]

Schilz isn't experienced and motivated? He's coming up on his 4th year as a starter, how much more experience should he have?

Gallon on the 4th team seems low....

[mscarn]

Schilz isn't experienced and motivated? He's coming up on his 4th year as a starter, how much more experience should he have?

Flipper, I'm surprised!

[Flipper]

Given some of the whackadoodle comments often seen 'round these parts...can you blame me?

[Falcon137]

Schmiedebusch needs to be better this year. He was really up and down last year and for the most part trended towards down.

He has gone from the top junior punter (Mel Kiper) last year to preseason 3rd team All-MAC.

Anyone else surprised Tettleton was named 2nd team ahead of Wenning and Owens? I would have gone Lynch, Wenning, Owns, Tettleton.

[kdog27]

He better be motivated.

[mscarn]

We got some love in the Athlon magazine lists. Our recruiting class was ranked #2 in the MAC with 4 individual players in the top 10. We were also picked to win the East division. Toledo coach Matt Campbell topped the "Coaches Who Use The Most Hair Gell" list.

[mscarn]

Almost forgot: Beckman was named as one of 10 coaches on the hot seat in the magazine and one of the 10 worst coaches on the website.

http://www.athlonsports.com/college-foo ... aches-2013

It's an injustice to him because it's common knowledge he is the worst.

[Falconfreak90]

Time to tee it up....gonna be a BiG year at the Doyt!

[Beaker]

Pre-season all-conference/all-american/all-anything picks are as riduculous as pre-season team rankings. Let the accolades be earned on the field. All of these "pre-picks" are just to give the sports journalists something to write about and fans on discussion boards something to debate when there's nothing else going on.

Immediately following my last annual performance review at work, I informed my boss that I had been selected as "pre-year employee of the year" for next year and I should get my corresponding raise, effective immediately, rather than wait until the end of the year.

[BGFalconfromCincy]

Pre-season all-conference/all-american/all-anything picks are as riduculous as pre-season team rankings. Let the accolades be earned on the field. All of these "pre-picks" are just to give the sports journalists something to write about and fans on discussion boards something to debate when there's nothing else going on.

Exactly why it was posted on this fine site

[Falconfreak90]

Pre-season all-conference/all-american/all-anything picks are as riduculous as pre-season team rankings. Let the accolades be earned on the field. All of these "pre-picks" are just to give the sports journalists something to write about and fans on discussion boards something to debate when there's nothing else going on.

Umm...those accolades WERE earned on the field last year...and the year before in some cases. What's so ridiculous about it? It's recognition for talent returning. Some players take steps back, like Schmiedebusch. He had a monster first year but was too inconsistent last year.

The two biggest keys to a great season are Schilz and Schmiedebusch. I think we're gonna be fine with Tate at K. Bayer is back as the holder but we need to replace Corey Johnson at LS. I am convinced Schilz is doing everything he can to be the best he can...

137,
Tettleton is a playmaker...flat out. We did a good job on him in Athens last yr but he can make plays. Lynch is the top QB in the league. Our defense is loaded with playmakers.

92 days til kickoff.....BEAT TULSA>

[Beaker]

Pre-season all-conference/all-american/all-anything picks are as riduculous as pre-season team rankings. Let the accolades be earned on the field. All of these "pre-picks" are just to give the sports journalists something to write about and fans on discussion boards something to debate when there's nothing else going on.

Umm...those accolades WERE earned on the field last year...and the year before in some cases. What's so ridiculous about it? It's recognition for talent returning. Some players take steps back, like Schmiedebusch. He had a monster first year but was too inconsistent last year.[/quote

Accolades earned last year were given out at the end of the season last year. Just because a player has been good in prior seasons is no guarantee that he'll perform at an all-conference level the next season, as you pointed out with Schmiedebusch. Don't get me wrong, I'm not arguing with any of the individudal picks. I'm just saying I'm not a fan of even having any pre-season, all anything teams picked, period.

I say that picking pre-season all-confernce teams, as well as having teams ranked before the season, is ridiculous because it focuses attention on those named teams or players and puts them a leg up on all others. It can detract from the attention or consideration given to other players or teams whose on-field play may end up deserving it more. It does that before a down has even been played. We can probably all think of examples where a player has come into a season with heaps of hype and pre-season all conference tags, (in many cases justified, based on the prior year) and those players get outperformed on the field by someone else at their position, yet still get the all-conference honors at the end of the year only because they were the incumbent and had the name recognition going in. It certainly doesn't always happen, but there are times when it does. Same can be said for the team rankings. A team gets tagged with a pre-season ranking and then their position gets adjusted using their ranking as a baseline, rather than strictly using their performance. Those teams that start the year unranked have to do a whole heck of a lot more to get into the rankings than the annointed teams have to do in order to stay there. The name on the front of the jersey has as much to do with pre-season rankings as the actual level of talent returning does. That's why it's been suggested that there be no rankings at all until at least 4 games have been played. That idea makes sense, but you could make the argument to delay the rankings even further into the season, as long as so many of the "big programs" keep scheduling early season cupcakes. The pre-season rankings matter under the current system because a highly ranked team in the pre-season has a better shot at finishing higher in the rankings than a team that has comparable results on the field, but started the season unranked. That might influence bowl bids, especially when we're talking about the top few teams, given the psudo playoff system we have at the top now.

I hope our guys that were named, all have great seasons and meet or exceed the expectations set for them by the pre-season picks. I also hope none of our guys that have great years and deserve all-conference recognition at the end of the season don't get snubbed just because their names didn't appear in the pre-season media guide.

I'm not naive enough to think that pre-season rankings or all-conference teams are ever going to go away. I just don't care for them, personally. Besides.........media relations folks, sports writers, and as was pointed out, fans on discussion boards need to have something to talk about in the off season.