Venerable and relevant though it may be in the actual BCS process, the preseason Coaches' poll is ultimately no more informed than any of the many, many other polls out there this summer. There's persuasive evidence, in fact, that the coaches are considerably less plugged into the national landscape than writers and pundits who have the time and inclination to actually care about more than one team on any given weekend. But in 2010, it doesn't take an obsessed, objective stat head to come up with Alabama as the preseason chalk. Just like everybody else, the initial Coaches' poll is tapping the Tide to pick up where it left off last year, at No. 1.
[Rewind: Fans pose with Alabama's championship trophy at Wal-Mart]
And just like everywhere else, it's not really close. 'Bama garnered 55 of 59 first-place votes, with the other four going to No. 2 Ohio State, another pick that falls right in line with the preseason consensus to date. In general, this is not the place for curveballs. This year's top five going into the season ? Alabama, Texas, Florida, Boise State and Ohio State ? is just last season's top five at the end, slightly shuffled.
Other observations on the poll at large:
? The "mid-major" conferences garnered significantly more preseason respect last year than ever before with a record four teams ? Boise State, TCU, Utah and BYU ? in the initial top 25 (all four of which finished there, too, for the second year in a row). Off that success, the traditional outsiders hit a new milestone in this year's poll with the first top-10 projection ever from outside of the "Big Six" conferences, and double up on the occasion with Fiesta Bowl combatants Boise State and TCU coming in at No. 5 and No. 7, respectively. With that kind of love, there's literally no other barrier left for the non-Big Six contingent to topple except the BCS title game itself, which Boise looks more than capable of crashing if it runs the table in the regular season for the fourth time in five years
? In the conference standings, the SEC has the most teams in the entire poll with six (Alabama, Florida, LSU, Arkansas, Georgia and Auburn), but the wealth is pretty evenly distributed: The Big 12 has the most teams in the top 10 with three (Texas, Oklahoma and Nebraska), the Big Ten has the most in the top 15 with four (Ohio State, Iowa, Wisconsin and Penn State) and the ACC has the most in the top 20 with five (Virginia Tech, Miami, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Florida State). The Pac-10 gets the short end of the stick with only two teams making the cut (Oregon at No. 11 and Oregon State at No. 22), though it doesn't help the conference that USC is forced to sit this one out.
? Temple, Mississippi State, Nevada, Northern Illinois and SMU all received at least one hat tip in the "Also Receiving Votes" section ? one more than Tennessee or Michigan, neither of which appeared on a single ballot.
? The coaches aren't quite daring enough to follow the magazines' lead by vaulting Oklahoma over Texas off last year's injury-plagued, 8-5 disappointment for the Sooners, but they aren't blind to the rebound potential in Norman. Oklahoma is back in the top 10 at No. 8, by far the most generous leap for any team that finished 2009 outside of the final polls altogether. That's the kind of respect winning four of the last six Big 12 championships will buy you ? but only once.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/footba...y-picks-up-where-it-left-off?urn=ncaaf-260784
[Rewind: Fans pose with Alabama's championship trophy at Wal-Mart]
And just like everywhere else, it's not really close. 'Bama garnered 55 of 59 first-place votes, with the other four going to No. 2 Ohio State, another pick that falls right in line with the preseason consensus to date. In general, this is not the place for curveballs. This year's top five going into the season ? Alabama, Texas, Florida, Boise State and Ohio State ? is just last season's top five at the end, slightly shuffled.
Other observations on the poll at large:
? The "mid-major" conferences garnered significantly more preseason respect last year than ever before with a record four teams ? Boise State, TCU, Utah and BYU ? in the initial top 25 (all four of which finished there, too, for the second year in a row). Off that success, the traditional outsiders hit a new milestone in this year's poll with the first top-10 projection ever from outside of the "Big Six" conferences, and double up on the occasion with Fiesta Bowl combatants Boise State and TCU coming in at No. 5 and No. 7, respectively. With that kind of love, there's literally no other barrier left for the non-Big Six contingent to topple except the BCS title game itself, which Boise looks more than capable of crashing if it runs the table in the regular season for the fourth time in five years
? In the conference standings, the SEC has the most teams in the entire poll with six (Alabama, Florida, LSU, Arkansas, Georgia and Auburn), but the wealth is pretty evenly distributed: The Big 12 has the most teams in the top 10 with three (Texas, Oklahoma and Nebraska), the Big Ten has the most in the top 15 with four (Ohio State, Iowa, Wisconsin and Penn State) and the ACC has the most in the top 20 with five (Virginia Tech, Miami, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Florida State). The Pac-10 gets the short end of the stick with only two teams making the cut (Oregon at No. 11 and Oregon State at No. 22), though it doesn't help the conference that USC is forced to sit this one out.
? Temple, Mississippi State, Nevada, Northern Illinois and SMU all received at least one hat tip in the "Also Receiving Votes" section ? one more than Tennessee or Michigan, neither of which appeared on a single ballot.
? The coaches aren't quite daring enough to follow the magazines' lead by vaulting Oklahoma over Texas off last year's injury-plagued, 8-5 disappointment for the Sooners, but they aren't blind to the rebound potential in Norman. Oklahoma is back in the top 10 at No. 8, by far the most generous leap for any team that finished 2009 outside of the final polls altogether. That's the kind of respect winning four of the last six Big 12 championships will buy you ? but only once.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/footba...y-picks-up-where-it-left-off?urn=ncaaf-260784
