2007 Opponent Position Preview Summary | by Pat
Here is the final summary table for the 2007 position previews. If you're looking for the individual breakdowns, follow the links for quarterback, running back, wide receiver, tight end/offensive line, defensive line, linebacker, and defensive back. When it comes to looking over these rankings, I'm going to repeat what I wrote last year:
One important thing to keep in mind though. These previews ignored coaching acumen (or lack thereof), offensive/defensive schemes, game location, cheerleader aesthetics, and many other important factors that determine just how hard a team really is to play. This table technically only represents one guy's opinion of how the talent and experience levels of the 2006 opponents stack up against one another.
| Team | QB | RB | WR | TE | WR/ TE | OL | DL | LB | DB | Avg. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southern Cal | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2.5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.5 |
| Michigan | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2.5 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 3.2 |
| UCLA | 4 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6.5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4.5 |
| Georgia Tech | 10 | 3 | 7 | 11 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4.9 |
| Penn State | 5 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 5.0 |
| Boston College | 3 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 8.5 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 5.9 |
| Purdue | 6 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 5.9 |
| Stanford | 7 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 5.5 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 7.9 |
| Michigan State | 12 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 7.5 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 8.4 |
| Navy | 9 | 4 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 10.0 |
| Duke | 11 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 8.5 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 10.1 |
| Air Force | 8 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 10.5 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 10.8 |
(I updated the table -- PeteatND reminded me that I meant to blend the WR/TE numbers together, so that the tight end ranking alone wasn't weighted as much as a QB or OL ranking. The final tally is now the average of QB, RB, WR/TE, OL, DL, LB, and DB. Thanks Pete.)
Glancing at the table, the Trojans stand out as the obvious #1 with Michigan a clear #2. UCLA is a touch ahead of Georgia Tech while the Yellow Jackets and Penn State are pretty much even as the 4th team on the list. After that, BC and Purdue come in at the same spot with the next five teams all a small step apart from each other. I'm not so sure this matches exactly how I would consider the schedule difficulty-wise, but I think it's pretty close. Obviously once you start to factor in things like home game versus away and coaching ability things might shift a bit, but that list doesn't look too bad to me. What do you think?
