My Preseason Poll

Having been asked to be one of the voters for the fan poll at collegerivals.org, I had to turn in my preseason poll.

Now, let me make myself clear. I don't like preseason polls. The main reason I don't like them is too many poeple use them as their basis for regular season polls, and to me it's impossible to pick the best team preseason. One key injury, or a key player being dismissed (ask Oklahoma) and everything changes. And we've all seen how every year there are some horrible picks and horrible ommissions.

I will be basing my picks from about the 3rd week on from a computer rating system I've mentioned in the past. It takes a few weeks to really start accumulating any real numbers as it's all based totally on the season at hand.

So, my basis for this preseason poll is just the exact opposite than the ideal I want to go on. It's based on last year. I worked out a really goofy 'contender' system using some of the same idea as teh whole heavyweight concept. You can tell by some of my higher picks that it's not at all a real good method -- though maybe no worse than anything else out there? The way it works is simple... each week of play, after all games are over, i start with the #25 team and move up. If that team beats a higher ranked team, it moves up and takes the rank of the team it beats. If a team loses, it drops below the 5 teams immediately below it (unless one of those 5 teams was also beaten, then it only drops to just above that team). If an unranked team beats a ranked team, the unranked team assumes the ranked team's rank, the ranked team drops 5 positions. Everyone from that position down moves down a notch.

There's nothing scientific or arguable about the method, it's just... a method. (some would say the same of the BCS).... But it's objective. I started with the BCS ratings from a few years back and just moved forward week by week til I came up with this.

Here's my poll:

1. Texas
2. West Virginia
3. Texas Christian
4. Washignton State
5. Kansas
6. Virginia Tech
7. USC
8. Utah
9. Georgia
10. Washington
11. LSU
12. Arizona State
13. Iowa State
14. Nebraska
15. Georgia Tech
16. Wisconsin
17. Tulsa
18. Miami
19. Missouri
20. Baylor
21. Arizona
22. Florida
23. Clemson
24. Auburn
25. Alabama