LSU #3 behind USC and OU. Good. Not too high, not too low. I like the big, fat bullseye right where it is... Among the suprises: Florida State #6, California #15, Clemson #16 and Oregon State nowhere in sight. BTW, this is the list of coaches that will be voting this year (SEC coaches in bold): The USA TODAY/ESPN Board of Coaches is made up of 61 head coaches at Division I-A institutions. All are members of the American Football Coaches Association. The 2004 board: Barry Alvarez, Wisconsin; Chuck Amato, North Carolina State; Gary Barnett, Colorado; Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech; Mike Bellotti, Oregon; Phil Bennett, Southern Methodist; Jack Bicknell, Louisiana Tech; Bobby Bowden, Florida State; Tommy Bowden, Clemson; Jeff Bower, Southern Mississippi; Gregg Brandon, Bowling Green; Mack Brown, Texas; Watson Brown, Alabama-Birmingham; Lloyd Carr, Michigan; Larry Coker, Miami (Fla.); Gary Crowton, Brigham Young; David Cutcliffe, Mississippi; Gary Darnell, Western Michigan; Darrell Dickey, North Texas; Bill Doba, Washington State; Dennis Franchione, Texas A&M; Ralph Friedgen, Maryland; Phillip Fulmer, Tennessee; Joe Glenn, Wyoming; Walt Harris, Pittsburgh; Dan Hawkins, Boise State; Fitz Hill, San Jose State; Pat Hill, Fresno State; Terry Hoeppner, Miami (Ohio); Brady Hoke, Ball State; Lou Holtz, South Carolina; Dirk Koetter, Arizona State; Jim Leavitt, South Florida; Rocky Long, New Mexico; Sonny Lubick, Colorado State; Dan McCarney, Iowa State; Andy McCollum, Middle Tennessee; Glen Mason, Minnesota; Les Miles, Oklahoma State; Joe Novak, Northern Illinois; Houston Nutt, Arkansas; Tom O'Brien, Boston College; George O'Leary, Central Florida; Joe Paterno, Penn State; Gary Patterson, TCU; Bobby Petrino, Louisville; Gary Pinkel, Missouri; Bob Pruett, Marshall; Mark Richt, Georgia; Steve Roberts, Arkansas State; Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia; Nick Saban, LSU; John L. Smith, Michigan State; Bob Stoops, Oklahoma; Mike Stoops, Arizona; Jeff Tedford, California; Jim Tressel, Ohio State; Tommy Tuberville, Auburn; Ron Turner, Illinois; Charlie Weatherbie, Louisiana-Monroe; Tyrone Willingham, Notre Dame. The AFCA prohibits schools on major NCAA or conference probation from receiving votes.
I know this is a mistake and will be corrected soon, but imagine my surprise when I first saw this version of the poll this morning: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=1849109 Hey, who let Trev play with the coding this morning? :dis:
Each of the top three teams receieved some first place votes. I can't wait for the season to get started! Ughhh.
"It's not out of the question the Trojans could become the first repeat national champ since -- and stop us if you've heard this before -- the 1994-95 Nebraska Cornhuskers." :dis: :angry:
I think ESPN must have let Trev write this for them so that he could put OU on it twice and therefore they would have enough votes to jump to number one as they are clearly the best team in the nation: 1. USC (449 first-place votes, 1,500 points, 12-1 and No. 2 in '03) It's not out of the question the Trojans could become the first repeat national champ since -- and stop us if you've heard this before -- the 1994-95 Nebraska Cornhuskers. After all, this was the season Pete Carroll and crew targeted for a national title run. They have a favorable conference schedule (Cal at home, no Oregon), but a solid non-conference slate (Virginia Tech, Notre Dame and Colorado State) plus the sudden target on their back hardly make it a certaintly USC will be in Miami in January. 2. Oklahoma (12 first-place votes, 1,426 points, 12-2 and No. 3 in '03) 3. Georgia The Bulldogs lost safety Sean Jones to the NFL draft, but the decision by defensive end and spiritual leader David Pollack to return for his senior season means a great deal to what is still a young team. 4. Oklahoma The Sooners remain loaded on defense, and once more have issues with their running game. That has been their m.o. during the Stoops era, so expect the same level of success. 5. Miami Huge losses on defense, with the early NFL departures of safety Sean Taylor and tackle Vince Wilfork, but the 'Canes depth should make the difference.
449 first place votes for the Trojans?! Wow, that's impressive considering there's only 61 total votes. And on top of that, they voted Oklahoma twice and LSU wasn't ranked in the top 25. Smells like some ESPN home cooking to me. :lol: :lol: