Looking At The USA Today Preseason Coaches Poll
Here she is, hot off the press:
1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Oregon
4. Stanford
5. Georgia
6. Texas A&M
7. South Carolina
8. Clemson
9. Louisville
10. Florida
11. Notre Dame
12. Florida State
13. LSU
14. Oklahoma State
15. Texas
16. Oklahoma
17. Michigan
18. Nebraska
19. Boise State
20. TCU
21. UCLA
22. Northwestern
23. Wisconsin
24. USC
25. Oregon State
A few brief thoughts:
1. Blah blah blah Alabama blah blah Roll Tide.
2. Ohio State deserves the number 2 spot, regardless of what the SEC blowhards might think. They will be a tough squad this year, offseason distractions be damned.
3. Pac 12 coming in strong at 3 and 4. We’ll see how Oregon performs with a new head coach and those swanky new digs.
4. Can’t wait for A&M vs. Bama in College Station. The whole country agrees.
5. SEC with 5 of the top 10 spots. No surprise.
6. I’d flip-flop OU and Texas. I don’t care how many players Texas has coming back, OU has embarrassed them on the field as of late. It’s not right having them ranked in the current order.
7. Big 10 and Pac 12 close strong near the bottom of the list.
And finally, preseason lists don’t mean shit. We’ll see how good these teams are when they strap ’em up in less than a month.
[via USA Today]
Image via Bleacher Report
I think Florida could be a strong darkhorse this year.
13 years ago at 2:16 pmFlorida will be getting ass pounded by 90% of the SEC teams they play. Period.
13 years ago at 2:32 pm^ I’d bet my unborn daughter’s virginity against your statement. You’d have to be stupid, naive, or both to actually believe that. I’d go as far to say that the SEC Championship will be either them or Georgia vs. Alabama. And I am in no way a fan of Florida.
13 years ago at 7:14 pmI blame SFPL for everyone’s hatred of Florida on this site.
13 years ago at 9:36 pmFlorida got one of the best recruiting classes in the country last year, they’ll get the cotton bowl.
13 years ago at 12:27 pm^^^^Yes, because the #10 team in the nation will get ass pounded by Tennessee, UK, Arkansas, Missouri, and Vandy. There’s a 90% chance you’ve never watched football before.
13 years ago at 12:07 am
13 years ago at 2:17 pmWhat an insightful article!
13 years ago at 2:21 pmI feel like this trend has gone on for way too long. Once again, Ohio state will buckle when they play an actually challenging opponent, and les miles will ride a wave of “nobody believes in us!” to the top 5.
Also, I’m putting down in predictions Bama dismantles A&M, but the bulldogs get their revenge as well for the championship last year. LSU-Bama will not relinquish its place as the pivotal game of the year. I have no predictions outside the SEC because I only worry myself with contenders
13 years ago at 2:23 pmI fucking hate Ohio State, but did you watch those assholes last year? They’re fucking amazing.
13 years ago at 2:29 pm^ Respect. But it doesn’t matter. The shitty teams in the SEC love to flaunt that their conference is the best in the nation and have SEC circle jerks. So the majority of them deny that Ohio State is good so that they can maintain their fantasy that there is no cream at the top of the milk bucket. They want to believe that just because the SEC’s top three teams are better than any other conferences’ top three, that makes their sad excuse of a team somehow great by default just by being in the same conference.
The SEC can say what they want about Ohio State, because if we crumble then it will only be expected. But if OSU somehow pulls off a win against the Tide in the NC, no one will let the entire SEC forget it.
13 years ago at 2:53 pmThe SEC’s best 4 teams are better than the nation
13 years ago at 5:04 pmJohn Cooper was awful. If you’re talking about someone who couldn’t coach against a good team, then look at his 2-10 record against Michigan.
13 years ago at 2:58 pmWith that being said, OSU’s record last season was certainly helped by the weak strength of schedule, however, they are a much better team this year.
^ Struggled against UofM, sure (just like another good coach Lloyd Carr lost his job for coming up short in the rivalry) but he had a stretch of like 8 years where the lowest the Buckeyes finished in the Big Ten was third. Granted, the days of Big 2 + Little 8 are long gone, but Cooper took over an average team from Earle Bruce and built a national power in Columbus.
13 years ago at 3:35 pmOSU still has one of the easiest schedules in the country. Don’t see how that warrants a NC bid. I’m curious to see how they play against Cal after last year, especially without Hyde.
13 years ago at 3:39 pmAn SEC team won’t take the title this year. I’m sick of that cocky piece of shit conference. OSU, Michigan, Nebraska and possibly Northwestern would give all SEC teams a great shot. Maybe OSU is the only one I listed that can take down Bama but last year Nebraska manhandled Georgia for 3 quarters and almost won. If they can do it then Michigan sure as hell can too. But I am laughing my ass off at the folks who are saying OSU has an easy schedule… I will agree that they do but have you seen bamas schedule? They play A&M then nobody else. And don’t even try to argue that LSU is good
13 years ago at 12:22 pm^ This is a hard argument to make. USC beat Michigan in a way that no one will claim was easy, yet spanked the Dawgs 35-7. Bama is the only team that dominated everyone they faced last year (looking past A&M here). Northwestern would legitimately have no earthly chance of taking down Bama, UGA, USC, or A&M. I wouldn’t say Nebraska or Michigan would beat them either. OSU has a great squad, and Braxton is a freak, but when you look at the battles on the offensive and defensive lines, the Big 10 has trouble matching up.
13 years ago at 9:23 amDon’t really care that much about the top 25 rankings (they don’t really mean that much unless you’re a mid-major that needs help getting into the NC if you run the table). However, the rankings coming out means we’re a month away from beautiful weather, hot girls in sundresses, expensive bourbon, cheap beer and joining tens of thousands of people acting like belligerent assholes for six saturdays (hopefully more) in the fall.
Doesn’t matter what team you root for, we can all agree that it’s going to be difficult waiting for the start of college football.
13 years ago at 2:26 pmLove the insight, but I have a question. Do you not get belligerent for away games as well…?
13 years ago at 2:58 pmI do but it’s usually in the comfort of the house or at a nearby bar. My school is in the ACC so outside of Clemson and maybe a couple of other campuses, road trips aren’t worthwhile.
13 years ago at 3:32 pmGuessing CH NC state or Duke? If your at Chapel Hill the cocks are going to show who the true Carolina is! I can’t wait for that game it’s going to be the best atmosphere at the Bryce outside of the clemsux game.
13 years ago at 12:11 am^ Very true. The only ACC schools that have decent tailgates are Clemson, VT, NC State, and FSU
13 years ago at 5:37 pmonly 6? i thought 8 was a minimum
13 years ago at 10:17 pm^^^Duke Football? Bahaha. I would never roadtrip to watch Duke football. NC State, Virginia Tech, Clemson, FSU and maybe UNC are the only schools with legit gameday experiences. VT, Clemson and FSU are the only schools that treat football like a religion (which is what I love) so that would be the only three schools I’d want to go for football games.
13 years ago at 1:22 amNaw I was trying to guess what school you go to. Those are all in close proximity to one another
13 years ago at 11:58 amI see a Louisville/Ohio State National Championship in the works.
Lousiville’s toughest game is a road game vs Cincy.
Ohio State’s toughest game is a road game vs Michigan.
Meanwhile, Alabama, Texas A&M, Georgia and the gang have to walk through miles of broken glass, shit, and semen just to hopefully finish the season with only 1 loss. It ain’t fair, but that’s what happens when that dumbass AAC conference gets Automatic Qualifier status. And the Big10 blows.
13 years ago at 2:35 pmWell, as much as no one else on this site wants to agree with you, you’re correct. Neither team plays anyone worth a damn and will cake walk into the Title game.
13 years ago at 9:28 amThere is indeed quite a bit of semen…
13 years ago at 12:09 amI hate USC. Nothing but asians, homosexuals, and hippies.
13 years ago at 2:39 pmSame thing at UT besides Greek community
13 years ago at 6:30 pmWe should rank Dorn’s failures
13 years ago at 2:52 pmFootball is upon us!
13 years ago at 3:10 pmHonestly, I think preseason polls are absolutely pointless. If you go back and look at the preseason polls in past years, you will see some teams that are way out of place. For example, University of Southern California, the team that went 7-6 and lost to GuyTech in the Sun Bowl, was ranked number THREE in the Preseason Coaches Poll. In my opinion, there should be no rankings until after the second or third week of the season.
13 years ago at 3:16 pm