2017 Josh’s Preseason Poll

I hate the AP poll. I think it has silly swings of teams and doing a poll before any game is played clouds judgement.  For instance, MSU was 8th in the nation last year when Wisconsin beat them on the road.  UW soared through the rankings as a result, but MSU finished 3-9 (1-7) so was it really an impressive win?  As a result, I don’t do my poll until the first month of the season is in the books, but I’ll weigh in on what the poll right now.

Real AP Poll:

1. Alabama (52)
2. Ohio State (3)
3. Florida State (4)
4. USC (2)
5. Clemson
6. Penn State
7. Oklahoma
8. Washington – In the podcast, I have Washington beating USC for another Pac 12 title.  I think UW is underrated along its line and people are overestimating USC’s OL.
9. Wisconsin
10. Oklahoma State
11. Michigan
12. Auburn
13. LSU
14. Stanford
15. Georgia
16. Louisville
17. Florida
18. Miami
19. USF
20. Kansas State
21. Virginia Tech
22. West Virginia
23. Texas – Tech, WVU, and Texas are all highly flawed but also high super high ceilings.  I could see one or two of these teams climbing the polls as the season goes along but not all three.  Who will be the odd man out?  I think it is either VT or UT, but my gut says Texas.  You don’t just magically learn to play any defense.
24. Washington State
25. Tennessee – Why?  Oh, SECCCCCCCCCCCC

RV: TCU, Utah, Notre Dame, Boise State, NC State, Northwestern, Pitt, Oregon, Houston, Colorado, SDSU, UCLA, BYU, Appalachian State, Nebraska, Tulsa, Kentucky, Texas A&M, Michigan State

Josh’s Top 25:

N/A, I’ll wait until week four to formally introduce my poll but I would have had at least 20 of these teams ranked as well.  Here are a few gut reactions in bullet form:

• I’m unsure about Texas and Virginia Tech right now
• Tennessee also feels like a bit of a reach
• I really like this BYU team, you can see some of my opinion on them over at my Wisconsin preview
• I think Oregon is a very intriguing team if they can find some defense (a la Texas)
• It is nice to see Texas A&M unranked instead of their usual top 15, start 6-0, and get to 3rd in the nation before totally imploding.  If there is a team and a staff that deserves the wait and see treatment, it is the Aggies
• Colorado even receiving votes was a surprise to me.  They lost their fantastic DC, Jim Leavitt to Oregon as well as nine players from their killer defense move on from the program.  Oh, the Buffs also will have a new qb after their senior starter graduated.