We’ve toiled over statistics, made notes in the margins of our newspapers, did some encantations and finally decided on the most meaningless poll of all – The Pre-Season Poll. Since there’s four of us Buckeye Bloggers here at MotSaG, we’ve eached submitted a top 25 list which has been tallied up and the resulting list looks like this:
Ranking | School | Points |
1 | OSU (4) | 100 |
2 | Texas | 91 |
3 | Auburn | 87 |
4 | West Va. | 78 |
5 | USC | 75 |
6 | LSU | 75 |
7 | ND | 73 |
8 | Cal | 71 |
9 | Iowa | 63 |
10 | Florida | 63 |
11 | Michigan | 59 |
12 | Oklahoma | 59 |
13 | Georgia | 58 |
14 | Louisville | 54 |
15 | Miami | 50 |
16 | FSU | 39 |
17 | Clemson | 33 |
18 | Penn State | 31 |
19 | Va. Tech | 30 |
20 | Oregon | 25 |
21 | Alabama | 20 |
22 | TCU | 16 |
23 | Nebraska | 13 |
24 | ASU | 10 |
25 | Tennessee | 6 |
(Others receiving votes: South Carolina 6, UCLA 3, BYU 3, Toledo 3, Texas Tech 2, Utah 2, MSU 1, Duke 1)
A few comments:
As you can see, one of our voters fancies himself Steve Spurrier and put Duke on his ballot.
Yes, all four of us had Ohio State at #1. Call us homers if you like, it’s not something we’re going to hide. This is the Men of the Scarlet and Gray, afterall. That being said, we all feel, as it stands now, that Ohio State is fielding one heck of a team and they are going to play some good football this season.
Texas: Texas still has loads of talent, but it’s going to be hard to win a championship with a freshman QB, though. (Has it ever happened in the modern era? That is a serious question. Email us if you know of an example.) When Ohio State plays at Austin in September, it won’t be easy; but on a neutral field, OSU would win this game easily.
Michigan: As usual, Carr has amassed enough talent to make most coaches jealous. Great front four on defense will give Big-10 offensive coordinators headaches.
Notre Dame: That schedule just looks too harsh for them to get through it unscathed. There are two very possible losses in the first four games. If they can run the gauntlet and make it to USC undefeated, that will be one of the most important games of the year.
Auburn: Biggest advantage is their schedule – they play a lot of tough home games. Replacing their WR corps won’t be easy to do, which may hurt them early.
What does this all mean? That we can make lists and look smart. Of course we’ll disown this work by the middle of October, but it’s still fun to start the rankings, even without a kick-off for another 3 weeks.
BYU got more points than Utah? The Utes will spank the BYU Boys (Cougars) again and be in the top 20.
I think Jamelle Holieway was a frosh for OU when they won in the mid-80s, although Aikman started the season as the starter
Also Kosar at Miami, although I think Bernie had redshirted so he had been through practice.
Thanks! You’re right. I found this article:
http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=554726
that talks about the freshman QB/championship issue.
The two you mentioned were the only freshmen in collegiate history to win a title. One was a redshirt, like you mentioned, the other filled in for Aikman and won seven games that year.