AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION FRIDAY: THE PRESEASON COACHES’ POLL IS OPEN FOR HECKLING
With just a shade under four weeks left to go before the 2009 season finally, mercifully kicks off, the coaches — or, rather, their poor, put-upon assistants, with the exception of Steve Spurrier’s, who isn’t even being allowed to call in the OBC’s take-out orders anymore after the Tim Tebow/All-SEC foofaraw — have issued their preseason Top 25. The rankings are as follows:
1. Florida (53 first-place votes)
2. Texas (4)
3. Oklahoma (1)
4. Southern California (1)
5. Alabama
6. Ohio State
7. Virginia Tech
8. Penn State
9. LSU
10. Ole Miss
11. Oklahoma State
12. California
13. Georgia
14. Oregon
15. Georgia Tech
16. Boise State
17. Texas Christian
18. Utah
19. Florida State
20. North Carolina
21. Iowa
22. Nebraska
23. Notre Dame
24. Brigham Young
25. Oregon State
Others receiving votes: Kansas, Michigan State, Texas Tech, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Rutgers, Miami (Florida), Missouri, Illinois, Clemson, South Carolina, UCLA, Auburn, Nevada, South Florida, Kentucky, North Carolina State, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Southern Miss, Wake Forest, Arizona, Boston College, Central Michigan, East Carolina, Colorado, Maryland, Navy, Tennessee, Houston, Michigan, Minnesota, Troy.
Curiosities, travesties, and other things that struck me after the jump — along with y’all’s chance to tear this thing up yourselves.
Urban Meyer isn’t going to forget this. It’s a big deal, and he’s going to make it a big deal. Maybe it’s just me, but I have to confess to a bit of shock that Florida wasn’t a unanimous choice at the #1 spot. Not that Texas, Oklahoma, and USC don’t have cases to be made, but with Tebow back this certainly seemed to be heading toward a year of “GREATEST COLLEGE FOOTBALL TEAM EVER?!?!?!?!”-type hype for the Gators, and it looks like at least a few folks aren’t buyin’ it.
Apparently some coaches are capable of coming to their senses. The rest of the top 10 conforms fairly closely to what we expected it would be based on compilations of the various publications’/sportswriters’ spring/summer top 25s from a couple months back, with a few exceptions: LSU has risen from a low-teens/fringey-top-10 pick to #9, eclipsing Oklahoma State and Ole Miss, trendy mid-top-10 picks a month or so ago but themselves languishing on the fringes of the top 10 this morning. (Cue Holly: “Like, ‘Hey, the Cotton Bowl was swell, but you’re still coached by Houston Nutt, right? Riiiight.’ “)
Rebuilding year? You might say that, yes. As befitting any conference projected to have a Wannstache-coached team as its eventual champion, the Big East failed to put a single team in the top 25; you don’t find any Big East squads until you dig down into the Others Receiving Votes category and find Cincinnati at a de facto #29, behind Kansas, Javon Ringer-less Michigan State, and Graham-Harrell-and-Michael-Crabtree-less Texas Tech. The Mountain West, by comparison, has three, tying the ACC.
Beano put you up to this, didn’t he? Yes, Notre Dame is in the top 25. Fortunately for those dreading another four months of “Are the Irish back?!?!” stories, we won’t have to wait long to find out whether they deserve it: After opening the season at home against Nevada, the Irish go on a three-week tussle with the Big 10 (at Michigan, vs. Michigan State, at Purdue), a loss in any one of which would probably be enough to bounce ND into Others Receiving Votes purgatory.
“Hope” is a four-letter word. Speaking of which, the coaches collectively exhibited enough charity to spare votes for: Auburn, 5-7 last year and still playing Death Is Not An Option with Kodi Burns, Neil Caudle, and Chris Todd at the QB spot; and Michigan, coming off their worst season ever and still a long ways off from having figured out Rich Rodriguez’s offense. Compared to these, the couple of votes cast for Tennessee almost look justified. (Your projections for what silly-ass comment Lane Kiffin will choose to make about this development, if any, are welcome in the comments.)
The times, they truly are a-changing. Does anybody else feel almost kind of empty inside not seeing Duke there at the end of the ORV category now that Spurrier has been asked to stop casting shits-and-giggles votes for the Blue Devils at #25?
So those are my immediate knee-jerk reactions; let the heckling begin. Audience, what say you?
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51
Vandy J says:
Seriously, there’s not enough space to enumerate the comedy in this poll. Which would be fine, except that this load of manure is given a formal role in deciding the national championship.
The real question is who in the hell besides Mack Brown and his brother thought that Texas was better than Florida OR USC right off the jump.
August 7th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
52
EastHoustonpondwater says:
I’ve heard of pity sex, but not pity votes!
Florida State is not a top 25 team.
They have 6 road games that have beat-downs genetically encoded for the Seminoles.
BC, BYU, UNC, WAKE, CLEMSON, FLORIDA.
FSU = not a top 25 team!
August 7th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
53
Mr. Pelican Pants says:
#50
And thats about as close as they will get to staying there, in the preseason……then it goes down to 1, Vagina Tech. Thats right, its on.
August 7th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
54
Mr. Pelican Pants says:
Oh yeh, who has the guts to start an EDSBS Fantasy Football League? Come on out, and take ya beating. Petition Orson to make it so.
August 7th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
55
SteveInHouston says:
Vandy J,
Neither Mack nor Watson Brown voted in the poll.
As for justification of a #1 vote, perhaps the 4 coaches saw that Texas is bringing back a substantial portion of a team that beat Oklahoma by 10 points on a neutral field last year.
August 7th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
56
Seer says:
No need to worry about Notre Dame being ranked as MSU will beat them. They might as well rename that place in South Bend “Spartan Stadium South” for how much success MSU has had there recently.
August 7th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
57
meatybob says:
@MPP
Thank you, Madam Congressman.
August 7th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
58
socalirish says:
irish suck, shouldn’t be ranked, just let them be with their weak ass schedule. Gonna get smoked by usc, pitt, bc, msu and mich. forget about us. fewer thoughts about us, more likely we’ll lose the nbc contract. better to relegate us to the wac/mountain west status.
August 8th, 2009 at 12:06 am
59
drifter379 says:
Im just happy Texas will have the chance to beat the GREATEST TEAM EVER. again.
August 8th, 2009 at 1:07 am
60
oc phil says:
Socalirish @ 58: no, BC looks pretty weak this year. You will win that one.
August 8th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
61
Grampa Fug says:
Polls, schmolls. Gators, schmators, maisht pataters. Irish & Aubies on here throwing scat on their own teams as lotuses to the Buddha on the preseason altar, secretly hoping for magic seasons. Oh-nine, will you bring me happiness, will you bring me sorrow? Ask Julio.
August 8th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
62
Coop says:
No, Mr. PP, you are right. I mean, take last year for instance. Tech went to Athens and defeated Georgia. Tech also defeated Miss State. Wake defeated Ole Miss, you know that team that was the 3rd best team in the SEC at the end of the year. Both Wake and Duke, yes, Wake and Duke, defeated Vandy, who was able to take out both Auburn and Ole Miss.
And, of course, Clemson defeated SCar, which almost always happens these days.
But, you are right. The SEC really should be playing on Sundays.
Because, when Vandy is whipping up on conference teams, it is that Vandy had become great, not that your conference was mediocre with the notable exceptions of Alabama and Florida.
August 9th, 2009 at 9:43 am
63
Al-D says:
ohiodawg @48 somehow hearing from a dawg that we haven’t reached Duke or Notre Dame “everyone but our fans hate us” status is strangely refreshing.
August 10th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
64
Mr. Pelican Pants says:
#62
And this is why we celebrate the new football year, to make amends for the Fubars of last year. I think this year you will see a better overall SEC picture, and Vandy is my dark horse this year, and I am glad to say, Bama dont have to play them. I think Ole Miss will be a little better,even with all the chest pounding they are doing. If they dont beat Fla last year, they are you typical 5 loss Ole Miss team. Frank Beamer is all class. He was on Finebaum and this should be a good game. I would be glad to beat them by 1 pt.
August 10th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
65
Mr. Pelican Pants says:
Dammit YOUR [.....they are YOUR typical 5 loss Ole Miss team...], damn Ebonics 101 class. See How She Move.
I just wonder if Tenn. will be a “hot mess” this year, like Auburn was last year.
August 10th, 2009 at 4:20 pm