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JLEW1818
7/7/2010, 09:55 PM
I'm bored. worth looking at i guess.




We love the polls. College football polls to be specific. Preseason college football polls to be exact.

There is the annual cry to get rid of them. Hogwash. First, the Associated Press isn't going to disappoint its subscribers by scrapping one of its most popular offerings of the year. Second, there would be no preseason magazines without preseason top 25s.

And last time I checked, the magazines aren't going away either. We need them. We want them. The likes of Athlon and Lindy's are selling better than ever. There are regional editions. Sure, some of them outdated by the time they hit the stands. (USC No. 3, Athlon? Really?) That's OK. The sport is year-round now. It's not going to stop for a printing press.

The mags' arrival officially stirs the juices. Suddenly, it's OK to break down the Sun Belt, predict the WAC. Argue about the SEC East. That's why this blog is devoted to one of my annual obsessions -- a combined poll from all the preseason magazines.

I combined five polls, from The Sporting News, Phil Steele, Lindy's, Athlon and CBSSports.com. Our official preseason poll won't come out until late August. For this purpose, then, I'm using my post-spring top 25.

A few notes, rules and notifications:

*Each school was assigned a number in descending order. Twenty-five points for a No. 1 ranking, 24 for No. 2, etc.

*Schools are then ranked from highest-point total to lowest.

*I also included an average poll rank, mostly because not all the schools were named in all five polls. Example: Oregon State finished No. 25 because it got 11 points from being ranked No. 15 in The Sporting News. The likes of Cincinnati (eight points) and Utah (five) were ranked in two polls but finished with fewer total points than Oregon State.

*Thirty six schools received votes.

*Alabama was not a consensus No. 1. Phil Steele made some waves by picking Oklahoma No. 1.

The annual compilation:

1. Alabama: Duh. Haven't lost an SEC regular-season game since 2007. Highest rank, No. 1. Lowest, No. 3 (123 points, Avg. rank between No. 1 and No. 2)

2. Ohio State: The Big Ten is back. Ohio State never left. Highest rank, No. 2. Lowest rank, No. 3. (118 points. Avg. rank between No. 2 and No. 3)

3. Boise State: Should be a consensus top five pick with major polls debut next month. Highest rank, No. 2. Lowest rank, No. No. 6. (113 points. Average rank between No. 4 and No. 5)

4. Florida: Fastest team in the country, again. Highest rank, No. 4. Lowest rank, No. 7. (103 points. Avg. rank between No. 5 and No. 6)

5. TCU: Nation's best defense the past two seasons. Highest rank, No. 4. Lowest rank, No. 11. (97 points. Avg. rank between No. 6 and No. 7)

6. Oklahoma: Rebuilding into Big 12 and national power again. Highest rank, No. 1. Lowest rank, No. 12. (93 points. Avg. rank between No. 7 and No. 8)

7. (tie) Texas: Adding physicality to offense. Highest rank, No. 4. Lowest rank, No. No. 11 (91 points. Avg. rank between No. 7 and No. 8)

Nebraska: Fitting that these two are tied. They hate each other. Highest rank, No. 5. Lowest rank, No. 11 (91 points. Average rank between No. 7 and No. 8)

9. Oregon: Most talent in the Pac-10. Highest rank, No. 6. Lowest rank, No. 15 (89 points. Avg. rank between No. 8 and No. 9)

10. Virginia Tech: Class of the ACC until further notice. Highest rank, No. 8. Lowest rank, No. 13. (77 points. Avg. rank between No. 10 and No. 11)

11. USC: Two-year bowl ban begins. Does the dynasty continue? Highest rank, No. 3. Lowest rank, No. 16. (76 points. Avg. rank between No. 10 and No. 11)

12. Iowa: Sexy dark horse pick in the Big Ten. Highest rank, No. 8. Lowest rank, No. 14. (72 points. Avg. rank between No. 11 and No. 12)

13. Miami: Starting to look like Canes of old. Highest rank, No. 4. Lowest rank, No. 14. (69 points. Avg. rank between No. 12 and No. 13)

14. Wisconsin: Fresh from pounding Miami. Factor in Big Ten. Highest rank, No. 6. Lowest rank, No. 23. (67 points. Avg. rank between No. 13 and No. 14)

15. Florida State: New coach, healthy quarterback. Great prospects. Highest rank, No. 14. Lowest rank, No. 20. (55 points, Avg. rank No. 15)

16. Arkansas: Petrino starting to work his magic with Ryan Mallett. Highest rank, No. 16. Lowest rank, No. 21. (42 points, Avg. rank between No. 17 and No. 18)

17. North Carolina: Nation's best defense? Highest rank, No. 12. Lowest rank, No. 24. (39 points. Avg. rank between No. 18 and No. 19)

18. Pittsburgh: Coming first 10 win season since 1981. Highest rank, No. 14. Not ranked by Steele. (33 points. Avg. rank between No. 17 and No. 18)

19. Georgia Tech: Defending ACC champs seem to have gotten better. Highest rank, No. 13. Not ranked by Steele and Athlon. (30 points. Avg. rank No. 16)

20. Auburn: Chizik not ready to cede state to Alabama. Highest rank, No. 15. Not ranked by Lindy's. (29 points. Avg. rank between No. 18 and No. 19)

21. LSU: Les Miles on the hot seat? Highest rank, No. 18. Not ranked by Steele. (24 points. Avg. rank No. 20)

22. Georgia: New AD could be the least of Dawgs' problems. Highest rank, No. 15. Not ranked by CBSSports.com and Sporting News. (23 points. Avg. rank between No. 18 and No. 19)

23. Penn State: JoePa going for No. 400. Highest rank, No. 18. Not ranked by Sporting News. (20 points. Avg. rank No. 16)

24. West Virginia: Noel Devine could carry 'Neers to a BCS bowl. Highest rank, No. 19. Not ranked by Athlon. (16 points. Avg. rank No. 22)

25. Oregon State: Mike Riley always has Beavers in contention. Highest rank, No. 15. Not ranked by CBSSports.com, Steele, Lindy's and Athlon. (11 points. Avg. rank No. 15)

Other teams receiving votes: Notre Dame, Connecticut, Missouri, South Carolina, Cincinnati, Utah, Houston, Clemson, Arizona, Stanford, Washington.

Notes: To no one's surprise the SEC led all conferences with six teams in the top 25 (Alabama, Florida, Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, Georgia) ... To everyone's surprise, the ACC was second with five teams (Virginia Tech, Miami, Florida State, North Carolina, Georgia Tech) ... The Big 12 had three of the top 10 (Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska) ... The ACC, Big Ten and Big 12 each had three teams in the top 15 ... Every national champion since 1999 is represented in the top 25 ... Six states had multiple teams in the poll. Florida led all states with three (Miami, Florida, Florida State).


http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/6270202/23059380?tag=headlines;collegefootball
JLEW1818
7/7/2010, 10:00 PM
Oklahoma, Nebraska, Texas

all look pretty damn even.

I like that we only play texas.
Seamus
7/7/2010, 10:17 PM
Oklahoma, Nebraska, Texas

all look pretty damn even.

I like that we only play texas.


We play Nebraska in December.
pappy
7/7/2010, 10:21 PM
We play Nebraska in December.

That's right! Big 12 championship...only fitting that we win the final big 12 championship game!
oudavid1
7/7/2010, 10:56 PM
We play Nebraska in December.

Nice
Okie35
7/8/2010, 12:35 AM
We play KSU/Mizzou in December.

Lol fixed. I think Nebraska might fold. Their 4 away games are no joke.
KantoSooner
7/8/2010, 10:23 AM
Two quick points:

Oregon. Really? Without Masoli precisely what do they have? They won't win the Pac10, much less make noise nationally.

Ohio State, I assume is ranked substantially because of Pryor (sp?). Help me here, anyone: I watched their bowl game. The guy is big, runs well and kind of throws the ball okay. (Not Sam, but not Tebow, either). My gripe/concern/confusion about the hype with him is his decision making. Not bad decisions, really, but slooooooooooooooooooooooooow. I mean even in the BigSlow10 this guy takes forever to make up his mind. Facing anything other than crap opposition, that will come back to haunt them.


I know you're just compiling what the pundits are saying right now, but those two jumped out at me.

Now let the dog pile begin....
Bourbon St Sooner
7/8/2010, 10:58 AM
Yeah, I think that everyone's thinking is that Pryor's RB against duckie is going to be like Vince Young's RB against meatchicken and carry into the next season. I'm really not sold on the guy yet. He has shown very poor decision making at times in the past.
Breadburner
7/8/2010, 11:26 AM
WTF....No Okie State in the Top 25....Do they know who T.Buffoon Pickens is.......
goingoneight
7/8/2010, 11:33 AM
Ohio State has what we have coming back, quite simply. Numbers and a coach the media has reason to mildly believe in.
Saban's a great coach, but 9/11 gone on that defense, plus his top assistant there can hurt them. For all those who think all they have to do is hand it off to #22, I'll remind you that he disappeared at times last year... and relying on one or two good players doesn't always work (see: Alabama vs. Tejas).
HBick
7/8/2010, 01:49 PM
That's right! Big 12 championship...only fitting that we win the final big 12 championship game!

Okay, theory and I really want it to happen. Nebbish Beats Texas, we obviously best Texas.

Game of the century hype from years past, plus last meeting ever. Imagine that hype? It would be the most fitting end to the Big 12 and Nebraska fans have always gotten along well with OU fans. It would the class act of conference championship games.

Oh and I could record in HD to watch for years to come.
Jacie
7/8/2010, 02:01 PM
It isn't often that Iowa is described as "sexy"?
Crimsontothecore
7/8/2010, 02:10 PM
I know this has been said before, but I'm not buying Nebraska as a top 10 team. Last year they had one of the worst offenses I've seen but it was offset by them having the best defender I've seen in quite some time. Without their one man defense I say they are hardly top 25.
BoulderSooner79
7/8/2010, 02:14 PM
I agree about the Husker offense, but they were hardly a one man defense.
JLEW1818
7/10/2010, 08:29 AM
That offense scored 33 points against an above average Arizona team.
OUthunder
7/11/2010, 09:27 AM
NU and TCU top Ten? BAWABAWABAWA. OU will be good but I would have put them around #10. The OL has too many ???? to deserve that high of a ranking. However, we shall see and I hope it's true.
TXBOOMER
7/11/2010, 09:40 AM
Nebbish is getting way too much respect. Their offense fuqing sucks and Suh (remember the guy that took 2 or 3 players to block) is gone. They will struggle every week because of those factors. They will lose at least 4.
IronHorseSooner
7/11/2010, 09:43 AM
IMHO, after 'Bama, tOSU, and BSU, you could make a case for about 10 teams, us included. I must question Steele's high ranking, but with his formula and mountains of insight, I can see how and why he did it. 'Bama has a murderous schedule, tOSU is unpredictable, and even if BSU goes undefeated, their resume doesn't measure up against the other top teams (Sorry, beating VA TECH and Oregon State doesn't a season make).
IronHorseSooner
7/11/2010, 09:45 AM
Nebbish is getting way too much respect. Their offense fuqing sucks and Suh (remember the guy that took 2 or 3 players to block) is gone. They will struggle every week because of those factors. They will lose at least 4.

Whereas I agree with your assessment of their offense, I think they win the North and beat *. The game might be 3-0, with Henery hitting a 55-yarder, but they will win. That game will send offensive football back to the 1940s. :P
TXBOOMER
7/11/2010, 09:47 AM
That offense scored 33 points against an above average Arizona team.

They also scored 7 against Iowa State at Home. They will be a pretty good 4 loss team. I am just saying they are over rated are not a top tier team at this point.
JLEW1818
7/11/2010, 09:59 AM
I don't think we are either.... or texas.

if you really wanna break it down.


i bought into the scoring only 7 at home against Iowa State.

But they were 1 second away from beating the number 2 team in the nation.... a team that later hung with Alabama... 3 point game in the 4th.


lots of ways to look at it.
NatureBoy
7/11/2010, 05:02 PM
I know this has been said before, but I'm not buying Nebraska as a top 10 team. Last year they had one of the worst offenses I've seen but it was offset by them having the best defender I've seen in quite some time. Without their one man defense I say they are hardly top 25.

You honestly think that was a one-man defense? That's pretty silly.

A one-man defense doesn't finish as the best defense in the country. Not even close.
NatureBoy
7/11/2010, 05:04 PM
NU and TCU top Ten? BAWABAWABAWA. OU will be good but I would have put them around #10. The OL has too many ???? to deserve that high of a ranking. However, we shall see and I hope it's true.

Why is it so out of the question to have NU in the Top10 (finished in the Top15 last year) but you'd put OU in the Top10 (finished unranked, lost to NU last year)?
NatureBoy
7/11/2010, 05:06 PM
Nebbish is getting way too much respect. Their offense fuqing sucks and Suh (remember the guy that took 2 or 3 players to block) is gone. They will struggle every week because of those factors. They will lose at least 4.

Do you know that in Landry Jones' 5 INTs against NU, he was hurried only once by Suh...and it was a combination of Suh and Crick on that hurry. Crick tipped that pass that was INT'd.
hgarmorer
7/11/2010, 05:09 PM
"4. Florida: Fastest team in the country, again"
=======
I laughed at this. Not saying they are not, because I don't really care. Still funny none the less
TXBOOMER
7/11/2010, 09:41 PM
Do you know that in Landry Jones' 5 INTs against NU, he was hurried only once by Suh...and it was a combination of Suh and Crick on that hurry. Crick tipped that pass that was INT'd.

Did you watch that MFER play against texass? Landry was shell shocked in that game and we sucked on the road. Neb got beat by GD Iowa State at home last year and everyone acts like they were the second coming. I expect them to lose 4 games this year. Everyone that thinks they won't miss Suh is mistaken.