If you’ve been a reader of this lil’ ol’ website for any length of time, you know full well my opinion of preseason polls. I hate them. Despise ‘em. Loathe them on a level only exceeded by the BcS. And the “cast” of Jersey Shore.
So, what am I about to do? Attempt a preseason poll, of course.
Don’t read it the wrong way, though. It’s not that I think they’re worthless. Rather, I don’t think they’re worth anything. It makes no sense, before a single game in a new year with a different roster of players and possibly a change in coaching staffs has been played, to guess how to place schools in some semblance of a realistic order. A predetermined order, incidentally, that goes a long way in determining the “contenders” in the national title hunt.
And, of course, I went on to prove the utter worthlessness of these types of polls -- and my own inner Nostradumass -- by picking Florida as our preseason No. 1. The Gators, of course, went on to finish 8-5 and outside of the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time since 2004. So, of course, I’m about to attempt yet another preseason poll.
Of course.
If anything, this should scare the living fecal matter out of any member of the Alabama Nation because, as inferred in the headline, I have the Tide heading into CFT’s preseason Top 25 as the numero uno team in the nation. Guess we’re about to find out if we’ve spawned an offshoot of the SI cover jinx, eh?
Honestly, though, there appear to be about eight -- at least -- you could stick into a bag, shake ‘em up, pull one out and make a helluva case that they could/should/will be the ones laying claim to the crystal in New Orleans on Jan. 9. Those eight? In alphabetical order so as to stave off offending anyone until further down in this post: Alabama, Boise State, Florida State, LSU, Oklahoma, Oregon, Stanford and Wisconsin. Then when you realize you’ve left teams like Nebraska and Oklahoma State and South Carolina and the like of that initial, highly-subjective Group of Eight list, it hits you like Vontaze Burfict in a really foul, angry mood: this is shaping up to be one of the most spectacularly exciting, unpredictable seasons of college football in recent memory.
And one where the SEC could see its run of five straight BcS titles come to an end. Or not, if my inner Kreskin attempt is correct (chuckle).
So, without further ado... well, one additional ado: for all of my and Ben Kercheval’s conference-by-conference predictions, please click HERE as the latter did a helluva job doing the heavy lifting on this part of our 2011 preview. And there’s also a place where you can voice your opinion one vote at a time by casting your ballot for who you feel should be the preseason No. 1.
Now, without any additional ado -- and we mean it this time -- here’s CFT’s preseason Top 25 list, with an individual link to a broader look for each team available by merely clicking on the name of the school.
1.) Alabama
2.) Florida State
3.) Stanford
4.) Oklahoma
5.) Wisconsin
6.) Oregon
7.) Boise State
8.) LSU
9.) Nebraska
10.) Oklahoma State
11.) South Carolina
12.) Virginia Tech
13.) Arkansas
14.) Texas A&M
15.) TCU
16.) Georgia
17.) USC
18.) Notre Dame
19.) West Virginia
20.) Ohio State
21.) Mississippi State
22.) UCF
23.) Arizona State
24.) Michigan State
25.) Air Force