The preseason AP poll is out, and defending National Champion Florida St. is the near-unanimous #1 pick, garnering 57 of 60 first place votes, with 2 seconds and a 3rd, leaving the Seminoles just 4 points shy of running the poll table.
Alabama is ranked second, and Oklahoma 4th.
The Pac-12 is well represented, with 6 teams ranked. Oregon St. will play 5 of them in the regular season, 3 of them on the road.
Oregon is 3rd (the Tide, Ducks, and Sooners each garnered 1 of the 3 1st place votes that eluded Florida St.), UCLA is 7th., and Stanford just missed the top 10, landing at #11.
USC is 15th, and Arizona St. 19th,. with Washington rounding out the top 25.
Oregon St. was the only other conference team to get votes, as the Beavers received some combination of votes that resulted in 10 points. That was good enough to tie them with Boise St., their last opponent last Christmas Eve, for 41st.
In less than 2 weeks, the fun begins, and the rankings will rapidly get shuffled, as the wins and losses start to separate expectations from reality.
Oregon St. opens at home at 1 PM Sat., Aug. 30, against Portland St.
Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com
