New York Times Ranks Falcons #86

That's out of 120.....

There will be lots more to come. We are just hitting the preview season in college football. In general, if you track these things, they tend to be pretty weak. Football is very unpredictable, and, at that, the MAC is now in an especially unpredictable age.

Add to thatt the fact that most of these pundits have their eyes locked onto the BCS schools and probably do not pay the same attention to the smaller schools (their ability to talk warmly about someone who transferred six months ago is legendary), and you have the opportunity for some pretty poor shit.

I really only look at two.....the MAC Report online preview from that very strong website with a MAC focus, and Phil Steele, who provides the same information-packed analysis for all D-IA teams.

Even then, the whole thing is guess.

So, the New York Times is counting down the 120 teams in the FBS in reverse order. They finally stumbled along Bowling Green somewhere in the mid-80s.

86 to be exact.

The article gives ample credit to ay-ziggy-zoomba.com, the spiritual capital of the Falcon Nation and takes the highly predictable opportunity to remind the world that there is a Bowling Green in Kentucky, and turns it into a trivia question.

Anyway, it represents the mainstream opinion on the Falcons I believe. Summed up, it follows this basic script:

• 6-6 Team
• Major Defensive Losses
• Coach putting in new systems
• More of the same this year.

As predictions go, it is certainly possible. I'll have lots more to talk about in the coming weeks as we prepare for the football season, but I will say this: I think this is an alternate way to look at the same data....equally plausible.