College Football Top 25

I have never been a fan of college football pre-season polls. I don’t think it is right to rank teams that have not played a single game given an advantage over other teams. If you look at how the rankings end at the end of the season, if teams have the same record, it is almost always the case that the one ranked higher to start is the one that is ranked higher at the finish, regardless of the opposition each team faced. I know, ranking the teams makes the college game more marketable at the begining of the season when the perrenial powerhouses load up on cupcakes, such as West Texas Agriculture school or South Dakota Tchnology and Mines or Maine School for the Blind, but really college football teams shouldn’t rank teams until after at least the first weekend, maybe two weekends.

It will never change though, there will always be pre-season rankings. You will always have teams try to go wire to wire as number 1, but with the target on their back from the start of the season, it is so hard to even stay top five the whole season, let alone number 1. On the other side of the coin, you have teams ranked much higher than they should solely based on the reputation of the University. Last year Michigan was a good team, not a 5th in country team, but a good team, yet because they were Michigan they got the number 5 ranking and lost, in what some call the greatest upset ever, although Appalachian State is the three-peat champions of Division I-AA (I refuse to call it bowl subdivision, non-bowl division, etc.).

Although I think pre-season rankings are irrelevant, the coaches and assosiated press deem them important enough to make them, so I will post them and write what I think about them.

 

1. Georgia (22)

2. USC (14)

3. Ohio State (14)

4. Oklahoma (3)

5. Florida (5)

6. LSU (3)

7. Missouri

8. West Virginia

9. Clemson

10. Texas

11. Auburn

12. Wisconsin

13. Kansas

14. Texas Tech

15. Virginia Tech

16. Arizona State

17. Brigham Young

18. Tennessee

19. Illinois

20. Oregon

21. South Florida

22. Penn State

23. Wake Forest

24. Michigan

25. Fresno State

What I like about teams like Ohio State (yes they have lost two consecutive national championships, two Florida in Florida and LSU in New Orleans) but Ohio State is not afraid to schedule top tier teams from other conferences. Ohio State and USC will shape the rest of the top 25, just as much as teams will shape their own destiny. Obviously inter-conference battles will determine a lot as far as national championship hopes and BCS bowl games. LSU-Georgia, Georgia-Florida, Ohio State-Illinois, Oklahoma-Texas, Oklahoma-Missouri, and so on, other games may make or break a teams chances immediately, such as the Illinois versus Missouri game at the end of the month.

Five teams that I see dropping in the rankings and possibly out of the rankings. Texas, Texas Tech, Clemson, Auburn and Michigan. Michigan I think will have an adjustment year under Rich, but will be on track next year, and in 2010 they will be a top 10 team, I believe. I think that Tech passes too much to be a top tier team, and Texas I think is ranked as high as they are based on the prestige of the program and not nessecarily because they are the 10th best team in the country. I feel that the ACC is the worst out of the BCS conferences (listed below) and Clemson is an overrated piece of an overrated conference. Simply put I am not sold on Auburn being a top tier team this season.

College Football conferences ranked
1. SEC, top to bottom most talent and most quality teams, no questions, number 1 conference
2. Big East, I think top to bottom this may be the most competitive conference in the nation, and if they had more teams and more of a reputation, the Big East would be able to make a run as being the best conference. Louisville, West Virginia, Pitt and Cuse are all on the map, UConn, South Florida, Cincinnati and Rutgers are all on the verge.
3. Big 10, They had 10 out of 11 teams bowl eligible last season. They have the top tier teams, the top half of the conference is strong, but gets real thin towards the bottom. Yes, Ohio State and Michigan are top teams, Wisconsin is always in the top 25, Penn State is past its glory years, maybe, but still very good program and Illinois and Michigan State seem to be on the verge.
4. Big 12, I think much of the same as the Big 10, however I think the main difference is that they have more teams on the decline than they do on the rise, while the opposite is true of the Big 10 (who have more teams on the rise than decline, even Northwestern is rising). Oklahoma is always great, I think Missouri and Kansas won’t be what they were, Texas maybe, Texas Tech, unlikely.
5. ACC, I don’t think this conference has enough pieces, maybe if the programs that should excel start to excel, this conference could be one of the top, but until Florida State and Miami are back on top, then this conference is reliant on Virginia Tech and Wake Forest and North Carolina and Clemson, and those teams just aren’t doing it for me.
6. Pac 10, USC and the rest of them. That is what this conference has become, and it is a shame.

Teams that used to always be ranked that aren’t, I mean I am used to looking at the pre-season rankings and seeing Notre Dame, Nebraska, Miami and Florida State. Those are teams that have severly fallen off the grand scheme of things map in college football this decade.

Five teams that I think will rise in the rankings: South Florida, Arizona State, Oregon, Illinois and Virginia Tech. Arizona State and Oregon I both see going up in the rankings and I think both, if either can beat USC, both have legitmate shots at winning the PAC 10. Illinois has a tough schedule but they are a tough team. The loss of Mendenhall doesn’t hurt as much as the loss of Leman. South Florida was ranked number 2 at one point last season, they have grown from that experience and Virginia Tech won’t be demoralized early by LSU this season so they can get off on the right foot before ACC play.

Five Teams that I think will show up in the rankings. UCONN, TCU, Michigan State, Nebraska and Florida State. I just think these teams will be impressive enough to make the top 25, and I expect a couple of them to be in there at the end of the season.

I really think that at the end of the year Georgia will be in the national championship game, even with all the problems that they have had so far this season, without the season even begining. They have a tough schedule, as you would in the SEC, Illinois has a tough schedule, but I expect them to win the Big 10 this season. UCONN is my suprise pick to win the Big East, even though I think between West Virginia and South Florida is the real battle. Oklahoma goes unchallenged in the Big 12, USC won’t win the Pac 10 and the ACC is anybody’s.

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