When Oregon St. starts the season on Aug. 31 against Eastern Washington, the Beavers will be in the same #25 slot in the AP pre-season poll as they are in the USA Today Coaches' Sports Information Directors poll. In a remarkable show of consensus (or a massive copy and paste effort), the top 25 teams are the same ones in both polls, and only 6 teams are even in different slots. And that can be attributed to moving just 2 teams, with the other movement a matter of falling in line.
Alabama is the overwhelming #1, and Ohio St. #2, with Oregon and Stanford immediately behind them.
Just as in the USA Today poll, the rest of the ranked western teams are the same as well with Boise St. #19, UCLA #21, USC #24, and the Beavers rounding out the poll, with a solid margin over Michigan St.
Arizona St. got enough votes to be 30th overall, while Washington and Arizona got a small number of votes as well, with 17 and 3 points, respectively.
Here's the complete AP poll:
| Rank | Team | Record | Votes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama (58) | 0-0 | 1,498 |
| 2 | Ohio State (1) | 0-0 | 1,365 |
| 3 | Oregon | 0-0 | 1,335 |
| 4 | Stanford | 0-0 | 1,294 |
| 5 | Georgia (1) | 0-0 | 1,249 |
| 6 | South Carolina | 0-0 | 1,154 |
| 7 | Texas A&M | 0-0 | 1,104 |
| 8 | Clemson | 0-0 | 1,083 |
| 9 | Louisville | 0-0 | 1,042 |
| 10 | Florida | 0-0 | 894 |
| 11 | Florida State | 0-0 | 845 |
| 12 | LSU | 0-0 | 802 |
| 13 | Oklahoma State | 0-0 | 755 |
| 14 | Notre Dame | 0-0 | 748 |
| 15 | Texas | 0-0 | 677 |
| 16 | Oklahoma | 0-0 | 579 |
| 17 | Michigan | 0-0 | 531 |
| 18 | Nebraska | 0-0 | 382 |
| 19 | Boise State | 0-0 | 328 |
| 20 | TCU | 0-0 | 323 |
| 21 | UCLA | 0-0 | 286 |
| 22 | Northwestern | 0-0 | 199 |
| 23 | Wisconsin | 0-0 | 185 |
| 24 | USC | 0-0 | 134 |
| 25 | Oregon State | 0-0 | 129 |
| Others Receiving Votes: Michigan State 95, Baylor 92, Virginia Tech 86, Miami (FL) 85, Arizona State 53, Kansas State 43, Fresno State 36, Vanderbilt 19, Washington 17, Northern Illinois 16, Mississippi 11, Utah State 8, Georgia Tech 6, North Carolina 3, Arizona 3, Cincinnati 3, Penn State 2, Brigham Young 1 |
Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com