Spring football is over and the newsstands will be filled with football preview magazines any day now.
In honor of the annual release of those preseason guides, we are unveiling the Preseason Consensus Poll for 2005.
This is our ongoing listing of preseason polls for the upcoming college football season. We will maintain this list and add to it every time a new preseason list is released right up through the release of the preseason Associated Press media poll and the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll.
Each year, it is my mission in life to produce an ongoing consensus preseason top 25 for college football. With a number of the national web sites already predicting their top 25s for the upcoming year and the preseason magazines due out any minute, we thought this would be a good time to unveil the consensus preseason poll.
The premise is simple: We use the published polls as “votes” in our own consensus poll. Teams ranked No. 1 get 25 points and so on down to one point for those ranked 25th.
So far, we have as many as eight preseason polls to log for this initial poll. They are CBSSportsLine.com, SI.com, CollegeFootballNews.com, Lindy’s, NationalChamps.net, Scout.com and two polls from ESPN.com (Ivan Maisel and Pat Forde).
And so far, those preseason prognosticators are unanimous in their selection of two-time defending national champion USC as the No. 1 pick. Keep in mind, a third straight national title for the Trojans would be unprecedented since the inception of the Associated Press poll in 1936. (Will anybody have the guts to pick somebody other than USC to win it all?)
A year ago, our final consensus poll contained 14 different polls. USC was the preseason No. 1 on all but three. CBSSportsLine.com and The Sporting News each picked Georgia, while Phil Steele’s College Football picked Oklahoma. Nine of the 14 polls correctly picked the final 1-2 match-up of USC and Oklahoma at the Orange Bowl.
Also, a year ago, Ohio State was ninth in the final consensus poll with rankings ranging from sixth to 14th. OSU ended up 20th in the final AP poll after beating Oklahoma State in the Alamo Bowl to finish the year 8-4.
The initial Preseason Consensus Poll shows how close the Big Ten race could be. Ohio State comes in at No. 4. But just 10 voting points separate OSU from the defending conference co-champions, Michigan and Iowa.
Athlon Sports is in the process of counting down its poll – Ohio State was 12th. It will be added when it is finally released. If you see a published poll that we are missing, please send a link or the list to bucknuts@bucknuts.com
Here is a look at the initial Preseason Consensus Poll:
Preseason Consensus Poll
(First-Place votes; last year’s record in parentheses)
1. USC (8; 13-0) 200 points
2. Texas (11-1) 185 points
3. Tennessee (10-3) 162 points
4. Ohio State (8-4) 160 points
5. Michigan (9-3) 156 points
6. Iowa (10-2) 151 points
7. Oklahoma (12-1) 150 points
8. Florida (7-5) 149 points
9. Virginia Tech (10-3) 143 points
10. LSU (9-3) 134 points
11. Miami (Fla.) (9-3) 132 points
12. Louisville (11-1) 102 points
13. Georgia (10-2) 99 points
14. Florida State (9-3) 98 points
15. Auburn (13-0) 86 points
16. Arizona State (9-3) 66 points
17. Texas A&M (7-5) 62 points
18. Fresno State (9-3) 52 points
19. Purdue (7-5) 50 points
20. Boise State (11-1) 42 points
21. Pittsburgh (8-4) 30 points
22. Texas Tech (8-4) 29 points
23. Boston College (9-3) 26 points
24. Cal (10-2) 21 points
25. Alabama (6-6) 15 points
26. Georgia Tech (7-5) 14 points
27. Wisconsin (9-3) 12 points
28. Nebraska (5-6) 10 points
29. Bowling Green (9-3) 9 points
30. Minnesota (7-5) 8 points
30. Oregon (5-6) 8 points
32. Wyoming (7-5) 6 points
33. Colorado (8-5) 4 points
33. Virginia (8-4) 4 points
35. Iowa State (7-5) 2 points
35. UCLA (6-6) 2 points
37. Penn State (4-7) 1 point
37. Utah (12-0) 1 point
ESPN.com (Ivan Maisel)
1. USC
2. Texas
3. Michigan
4. Iowa
5. Florida
6. Oklahoma
7. Auburn
8. Miami (Fla.)
9. Oklahoma
10. Tennessee
11. Ohio State
12. Louisville
13. Texas A&M
14. Florida State
15. Georgia
16. Nebraska
17. Arizona State
18. LSU
19. Boise State
20. Wisconsin
21. Cal
22. Wyoming
23. Alabama
24. Georgia Tech
25. Bowling Green
ESPN.com (Pat Forde)
1. USC
2. Michigan
3. Texas
4. Tennessee
5. Iowa
6. Virginia Tech
7. Ohio State
8. Florida
9. Miami (Fla.)
10. Louisville
11. LSU
12. Florida State
13. Virginia Tech
14. Georgia
15. Boise State
16. Texas Tech
17. Auburn
18. Texas A&M
19. Fresno State
20. Arizona State
21. Bowling Green
22. Cal
23. Pittsburgh
24. Iowa State
25. Wyoming
Scout.com
1. USC
2. Texas
3. Ohio State
4. Tennessee
5. Oklahoma
6. Michigan
7. LSU
8. Florida
9. Iowa
10. Miami (Fla.)
11. Virginia Tech
12. Louisville
13. Florida State
14. Georgia
15. Arizona State
16. Texas A&M
17. Texas Tech
18. Fresno State
19. Auburn
20. Wisconsin
21. Boston College
22. Purdue
23. Pittsburgh
24. Alabama
25. Cal
CBSSportsLine.com
1. USC
2. Iowa
3. Tennessee
4. Texas
5. Ohio State
6. Virginia Tech
7. Oklahoma
8. Florida
9. Michigan
10. Louisville
11. LSU
12. Miami (Fla.)
13. Georgia
14. Florida State
15. Fresno State
16. Arizona State
17. Pittsburgh
18. Texas A&M
19. Purdue
20. Boston College
21. Auburn
22. Texas Tech
23. Boise State
24. Colorado
25. Utah
Collegefootballnews.com
1. USC
2. Tennessee
3. Iowa
4. Ohio State
5. Virginia Tech
6. Texas
7. Miami (Fla.)
8. LSU
9. Florida
10. Oklahoma
11. Arizona State
12. Georgia
13. Michigan
14. Purdue
15. Florida State
16. Georgia Tech
17. Boston College
18. Auburn
19. Minnesota
20. Alabama
21. Texas A&M
22. Texas Tech
23. Fresno State
24. Louisville
25. Cal
NationalChamps.net
1. USC
2. Texas
3. LSU
4. Tennessee
5. Oklahoma
6. Michigan
7. Ohio State
8. Virginia Tech
9. Miami (Fla.)
10. Auburn
11. Iowa
12. Florida
13. Georgia
14. Boise State
15. Louisville
16. Florida State
17. Fresno State
18. Texas A&M
19. Purdue
20. Cal
21. Arizona State
22. Virginia
23. Pittsburgh
24. Colorado
25. Minnesota
Lindy’s
1. USC
2. Texas
3. Michigan
4. Florida
5. Oklahoma
6. Tennessee
7. Ohio State
8. Florida State
9. LSU
10. Virginia Tech
11. Louisville
12. Miami (Fla.)
13. Purdue
14. Georgia
15. Iowa
16. Texas A&M
17. Auburn
18. Oregon
19. Pittsburgh
20. Boston College
21. Texas Tech
22. Alabama
23. Fresno State
24. UCLA
25. Penn State
SI.com
1. USC
2. Texas
3. Tennessee
4. Ohio State
5. Florida
6. Virginia Tech
7. LSU
8. Iowa
9. Miami (Fla.)
10. Michigan
11. Oklahoma
12. Louisville
13. Auburn
14. Georgia
15. Fresno State
16. Arizona State
17. Boise State
18. Florida State
19. Purdue
20. Texas Tech
21. Pittsburgh
22. Cal
23. Bowling Green
24. Georgia Tech
25. Wyoming