Breaking down the preseason Top 25 Coaches poll Rank Team (first-place votes) Points Final 2007 rankings 1 Georgia (22) 1,438 3 2 Southern California (14) 1,430 2 3 Ohio State (14) 1,392 4 4 Oklahoma (3) 1,329 8 5 Florida (5) 1,293 16 6 LSU (3) 1,163 1 7 Missouri 1,143 5 8 West Virginia 1,008 6 9 Clemson 999 22 10 Texas 979 10 11 Auburn 888 14t 12 Wisconsin 747 21 13 Kansas 714 7 14 Texas Tech 644 23 15 Virginia Tech 568 9 16 Arizona State 560 13 17 Brigham Young 547 14t 18 Tennessee 506 12 19 Illinois 422 18 20 Oregon 399 24 21 South Florida 350 NR 22 Penn State 313 25 23 Wake Forest 203 NR 24 Michigan 112 19 25 Fresno State 91 NR Others receiving votes: Alabama (7-6) 83; South Carolina (6-6) 64; Utah (9-4) 60; Florida State (7-6) 53; Rutgers (8-5) 53; Boston College (11-3) 47; California (7-6) 41; Pittsburgh (5-7) 34; Boise State (10-3) 25; Oregon State (9-4) 23; Nebraska (5-7) 17; Cincinnati (10-3) 13; Virginia (9-4) 12; Connecticut (9-4) 9; Michigan State (7-6) 9; Mississippi State (8-5) 6; Kentucky (8-5) 5; Notre Dame (3-9) 5; TCU (8-5) 5; Maryland (6-7) 4; North Carolina (4-8) 3; Texas A&M (7-6) 3; UCLA (6-7) 3; Central Florida (10-4) 2; Georgia Tech (7-6) 2; Louisville (6-6) 2; Arizona (5-7) 1; Colorado (6-7) 1; Oklahoma State (7-6) 1; Tulsa (10-4) 1. LSU with 3 first place votes, 4 SEC teams in the top 11, 7 SEC teams in the top 27. USC was much closer to No. 1 than I would have guessed.
surprised we're higher than Auburn, who the SEC sportswriters and a lot of pre-season mags have winning the West. I still think polls shouldn't come out until after the first month of the season.
Perhaps it reflects a more respectful and realistic thought about who we have returning to play, and not such a hangup on who left. Fans and sports writers might pay attention to little things like that someday.
My first instinct when I saw this in the paper this morning was that No. 6 was too high...but then I started looking at the teams above and below and I think it's just about right. I think we'll have to PROVE that we are better than Florida and Georgia...thankfully we'll get the opportunity to...and I don't know if Missourri down really warrants being ahead of LSU. On a side note...Dennis Dixon-less Oregon at number 20? FRESNO STATE? Please...
I agree with luvdimtigers that polls should not be coming out this early. Having said that, this is great starting position. If everything fell into place and we went unbeaten, we'd be guaranteed No. 3 since we play two teams ahead of us, and USC and Ohio State play each other. Before someone says it, yes, I know. I don't expect us to go unbeaten, and we'll probably lose at least 2. I was just making the observation.
