COACHES' POLL! COACHES' POLL! COME AND GET IT!

[PhilipNelsonFan]

USA Today Coaches Poll
RANK TEAM RECORD PTS PVS
1. Georgia (22) 0-0 1438 3
2. USC (14) 0-0 1430 2
3. Ohio State (14) 0-0 1392 4
4. Oklahoma (3) 0-0 1329 8
5. Florida (5) 0-0 1293 16
6. LSU (3) 0-0 1163 1
7. Missouri 0-0 1143 5
8. West Virginia 0-0 1008 6
9. Clemson 0-0 999 22
10. Texas 0-0 979 10
11. Auburn 0-0 888 14
12. Wisconsin 0-0 747 21
13. Kansas 0-0 714 7
14. Texas Tech 0-0 644 23
15. Virginia Tech 0-0 568 9
16. Arizona State 0-0 560 13
17. Brigham Young 0-0 547 14
18. Tennessee 0-0 506 12
19. Illinois 0-0 422 18
20. Oregon 0-0 399 24
21. South Florida 0-0 350 NR
22. Penn State 0-0 313 25
23. Wake Forest 0-0 203 NR
24. Michigan 0-0 112 19
25. Fresno State 0-0 91 NR

Others Receiving Votes
Alabama 83, South Carolina 64, Utah 60, Rutgers 53, Florida State 53, Boston College 47, California 41, Pittsburgh 34, Boise State 25, Oregon State 23, Nebraska 17, Cincinnati 13, Virginia 12, Connecticut 9, Michigan State 9, Mississippi State 6, Kentucky 5, Notre Dame 5, TCU 5, Maryland 4, Texas A&M 3, UCLA 3, North Carolina 3, Louisville 2, Georgia Tech 2, UCF 2, Tulsa 1, Oklahoma State 1, Arizona 1, Colorado 1. Duke 0. Seriously, WTF!!! WHERE'S THE TOKEN PRESEASON VOTE FOR DUKE!!! COME ON!!!!!

Coaches should never, ever, ever be trusted (see: Arizona, 1 vote), but I hope the pollsters pay attention because this looks really accurate. The only major fallacy within this poll is the slotting of Texas, who by no means should be a preseason top-10. Kansas should also be a little lower, and I honest-to-Moroni would slot BYU 10th in this poll. I also think Oklahoma's a little high, but the coaches corrected that mistake through first-place votes.

The biggest positive sign is pretty simple: No Alabama in the top 25. Or South Carolina, or Rutgers, or Florida State, or Notre Dame. Michigan is 24th, but I think that's a forgivable offense because they finished 19th last year and it's not like Rodriguez fired a bunch of people. The coaches basically gave every team that ESPN crushes on for no apparent reason a well-deserved middle finger. Penn State 22nd? I can live with that, even though I might have dropped them out and added Utah after they lost Sean Lee. I'm not enthralled seeing only three Pac-10 teams in the top 25, but the conference is so disorganized that it's hard to blame the coaches. It's obviously not perfect, but compared to where polls like these usually are I'd have to say this is pretty accurate.

[GYBE]

Michigan is not a Top 25 team. I think people forget what a massive roster turnover they've had.

[Da Schwab]

Is Clemson really the 9th best paper team in America?

[GSWbandwagon]

Duke 0. Seriously, WTF!!! WHERE'S THE TOKEN PRESEASON VOTE FOR DUKE!!! COME ON!!!!!

i guess spurrier doesn't have a vote this year.

[El Turco]

lol@michigan, i would have a hard time putting them in top 50 let alone top 25, otherwise poll looks decent. after reading couple articles in SF chronicle, i am sold on Cal so i would ve put them instead of Michigan.

Georgia wont stay at top more than 4-5 weeks.

[studcrackers]

pnf why do u hate alabama so much?

[El Turco]

alabama is the notre dame of the south, all the hype no results

[PhilipNelsonFan]

+1, Turco. Other stuff that helps enforce my opinion:

1. Alabama's last national title came in 1992, and the one before that in 1979. In that same period, EIGHT other schools have won multiple national titles, including Miami with four. Tide fans, your team is not a special or unique snowflake.

2. John Parker Wilson is the worst QB in the SEC and probably isn't even in the top 100 of Division I quarterbacks.

3. Alabama allowed five yards per play on defense last year, and with Simeon Castille gone and the Jimmy Johns fiasco highlighting a series of defections and injuries for the Tide, I'd expect that to worsen.

4. If this team wasn't coached by Bear Bryant 40 years ago, they would not be considered in the top 50. Period.

Turco, a question for you: I'm not too sold on Cal; so what is it about them that you like the most?

[El Turco]

pnf, on offense, they are returning a very solid couple of o-lineman with mack and tepper and have a good running game. QBs arent the most reliable bunch but pac-10 isnt exactly thick with of elite QBs this season. Receiving lacks experience but from what i ve read Calvin, Boateng and Morrah is looking very good in spring practices especially with slants.

on defense, new defensive scheme seems to be working well with strong LBs.

most importantly, it sounds like they are mentally tougher and got over last years disaster finish with the help of new staff and stricter approach to players. with the help of friendly schedule-they have a fair chance to win every game except USC-i think they are going to have a rather solid year and finish somewhere between 15-25 in the rankings.

[High 5]

Too bad Georgia has the most ridiculous schedule in the country. They're without a doubt the best team.

[El Turco]

way things are going Georgia is going to have the best team in county jail.

[High 5]

Darius Dewberry is the only notable player who has been in trouble. He's not even a starter though. And he'll be missing the two easy games.

[GSWbandwagon]

georgia really laying down the law by making players miss the sec-tastic showdown with georgia southern. if they're really bad, players miss the much anticipated showdown with central michigan.

[High 5]

What do you want them to do? Those are the first two games of the season. No school picks games for their athletes to miss, it's always the next game. Of course most schools may be more lenient if the first game was a tough game.

[GSWbandwagon]

i know its common practice and not just a georgia thing. it's just such a farce to try looking like you're coming down hard on players when you're not making them miss any game of significance. maybe instead of "the next game" they should make it "the next conference game" to add some juice to a suspension.

although at times teams do pick specific games. i remember there was some incident in a washington-oregon basketball game, i think involving aaron brooks taking a cheap shot at someone but i could be mistaken, and one player's punishment included missing the second meeting that season between the two teams. that's a rivalry game (and a conference game) so that was more significant than making a player miss the southwestern central institute of technical southern baking game, though it was partially prompted by fear for the player's safety.

i also recall usc suspending a linebacker "indefinitely" and playing some relatively weak conference opponent. usc was short on linebackers at the time due to some injuries. the game was closer than expected early and the indefinite suspension lasted about 1 quarter. as soon as the player became key to a conference game, discipline was out the window.

[A.J.]

I'll settle for number 10.

[El Turco]

now you are a texas fan? you change teams more than Hugh Hefner does girlfriends.

[A.J.]

now you are a texas fan? you change teams more than Hugh Hefner does girlfriends.

I changed my mind about where I want too go to college, so therefore Im a UT fan.

[studcrackers]

so im guessing vince young has replaced peterson as your favorite player. has the word loyalty ever entered your vocabulary?

[A.J.]

so im guessing vince young has replaced peterson as your favorite player. has the word loyalty ever entered your vocabulary?

Na....Peterson is my favorite. I couldnt go to OU if I tried. Texas is only 2 hours away from home, so it's a good fit.