The Polls

I've never been a huge fan of college football polls. I hardly ever look at them during the season. One reason is because, since I think I have a pretty good idea how good teams in the SEC are, I may see LSU and Mississippi State as evenly matched, but the polls see them as LSU #4 and Mississippi State #20.

I see the point of the polls, they want to try to get a good indication of where the teams are so they can promote the game. I've always thought the polls should start out in the same order they ended the previous year. I realize that there is a lot of attrition in college football so the teams will not be the same, but if you made it to #4 last year, someone should have to knock you off before you have to go down to #20 like everyone thinks you will be.

So, this year I'll do my own poll. I'll start the year the way the previous year ended and adjust from there. If you play real bad then you may move down a spot, but to move down significantly you'd have to lose. I'll post it every week and compare it to the current AP Top 25. But going into the season, here's what the Top 25 would look like and the Week 1 AP poll ranking is in parenthesis:

From 2010

1. Auburn............(23)
2. TCU...............(14)
3. Oregon............(3)
4. Stanford..........(7)
5. Ohio State........(18)
6. Oklahoma..........(1)
7. Wisconsin.........(11)
8. LSU...............(4)
9. Boise State.......(5)
10. Alabama..........(3)
11. Nevada...........(NR)
12. Arkansas.........(15)
13. Oklahoma State...(9)
14. Michigan State...(17)
15. Mississippi St...(20)
16. Virginia Tech....(13)
17. Florida State....(6)
18. Missouri.........(21)
19. Texas A&M........(7)
20. Nebraska.........(8)
21. UCF..............(NR)
22. South Carolina...(12)
23. Maryland.........(NR)
24. Tulsa............(NR)
25. N.C. State.......(NR)

Teams that were not ranked at the end of last year, but are ranking in the preseason poll this year are: Notre Dame (16), Georgia (19), Florida (22), West Virginia (24), and Southern Cal (25).


JB