2010 sj.com college football poll -- FINAL POLL now POSTED!!!

College football 2010: Time to tee it up (again)

By I SHOULD COCO
Human calculator

Before barking orders to sweat-drenched giants in the grueling heat of August, college football coaches have been known to swing a golf club or two at a spring or early summer golf tournament.

And it’s quite likely that the coaches — amid swarms of triple-figure-paying alumni, fans and other hangers on — might take a mulligan or two at the Podunk Country Club during the event.

Well, the 2010 college football season will amount to a mulligan for many coaches, teams and even players as they hope to put a forgettable 2009 campaign behind them.

Among those reloading on the tee:

Oklahoma — The Sooners lost their future No. 1 draft pick QB in their 2009 opener, then lost the game to BYU and went on to lose four more times last fall. But this year, Oklahoma reloads with big-play guys like Landry Jones and DeMarco Murray. Who knows, by January Sooner fans could be moaning once again about Bob Stoops’ inability to win a BCS game.

USC — Pete Carroll, Reggie Bush and his free car are long gone. NCAA sanctions will keep the Trojans from a bowl game. And four league losses knocked them from the Pac-10 throne last year. But never fear, women and men of Troy ... big-talking Lane Kiffin and big-armed Matt Barkley are here with a chip on their shoulder in 2010.

Michigan — Oh, who wouldn’t want to play a round of golf with Rich Rodriguez? He’d tout his innovative golf game, recruit a ringer from his previous country club as his men’s league partner, then whine about course rules as he shoots well over par. Wolverine fans are ready to boot him, his losing ways and (alleged) NCAA violations from Ann Arbor ... unless he finds a way to win. It’s amazing how quickly gloating alumni can forget about things.

Jeremiah Masoli — Sometimes a change of scenery can make all the difference to a golfer — or a quarterback/burglar booted from campus. Goodbye Oregon, hello grad school in Oxford. Both Masoli and fellow QB Nathan Stanley performed well in the Ole Miss weekend scrimmage, so who knows? Maybe Chip Kelly will miss guys like Masoli and LeGarrette Blount. And speaking of Blount ...

Byron Hout — The pride of Boise State’s defense hopes a move from defensive line to middle linebacker will give people a reason to remember him as more than a loud-mouthed punching bag. If nothing else, should the Broncos score another impressive Week 1 win, this year against Virginia Tech, Hout might remember to leave his helmet on as he exclaims, “How bout that ass-whooping?”

OK, enough trash talk in the clubhouse bar. Almost time to tee it up. Here’s how the SportsJournalists.com 2010 college football poll voters think things will play out:

SportsJournalists.com COLLEGE FOOTBALL POLL
8/23/10
RK. TEAM (1st) PTS Last
1. Alabama (22) 716 1
2. Ohio St. (3) 672 5
3. Boise St. (3) 640 2
4. Texas (1) 618 4
5. Florida 586 3
6. Texas Christian 565 6
7. Iowa 519 7
8. Virginia Tech 497 10
9. Nebraska 479 15
10. Oklahoma 477 —
11. Oregon 432 11
12. Wisconsin 382 17
13. Miami 356 19
14. Pittsburgh 336 14
15. Penn St. 303 9
16. Georgia Tech 299 13
17. Louisiana St. 190 18
18. North Carolina 186 —
19. Arkansas 168 —
20. Southern Cal 167 22
21. Florida St. 137 —
22. Oregon St. 129 —
23. Cincinnati 96 8
24. Utah 81 16
25. West Virginia 78 —
(tie) Georgia 78 —
Also receiving votes: Auburn 46, Stanford 25, BYU 24, Houston 21, UConn 21, Notre Dame 19, Washington 17, Navy 16, Central Michigan 12, Oklahoma St. 9, Arizona 7, Texas Tech 5, Mississippi 5, Clemson 4, Temple 3, South Carolina 3, Middle Tennessee St. 3, Fresno St. 2, Nevada 1, Missouri 1, Minnesota 1.

The SportsJournalists.com college football poll committee: I Should Coco (tabulator), KY Sportswriter, Della9250, McNuggets Man, Crusoes, Joe Schmoe, Evil ... Thy Name is Orville Redenbacher, Dragon Steamboat, Mystery Meat II, Huggy, Ben Hecht, WS, AgatePage, Piotr Rasputin, Oz, Layman, Wendell Gee, Hank Scorpio, TrooperBari, Precious Roy, Boom 70, beanpole, Madhavok, sportsguydave, slappy4428, dparker85, Songbird, Suicide Squeezer, Starman.

 

Re: 2010 SportsJournalists.com college football poll

Way to tee it off, Coco!

 

Re: 2010 SportsJournalists.com college football poll

Minnesota? When did Zeke come back?

 

Re: 2010 SportsJournalists.com college football poll

Nice job, Coco. Any way we can start the season...NOW!?!?!

 

Re: 2010 SportsJournalists.com college football poll

Nice work. I'm not feeling the love for Boise State as much as I feel like I normally would for a little guy, though. We'll see how it goes, but I think the Va Tech game has the potential to be a disaster for the Broncos.

 

Re: 2010 SportsJournalists.com college football poll

Besides a little love for the Gophers, I enjoyed seeing three WAC teams receive votes. Of course, the three teams picked (Boise St., Fresno St., Nevada) are all leaving the conference after this season, so we'll have to enjoy the dynasty while we can

 

Re: 2010 SportsJournalists.com college football poll

Great work Coco. Hard to picture Byron Hout in any other way but going down liked a ton of bricks.

 

Re: 2010 SportsJournalists.com college football poll

A little low for the 'Canes I think. But very solid poll.

 

Re: 2010 SportsJournalists.com college football poll

This is the Year of The Mighty Gopher!

Lane Kiffin may have played his high school ball in Minnesota, but come September 18 at TCF Bank Stadium he will be shown no mercy!

 

Re: 2010 SportsJournalists.com college football poll

Love seeing these polls come out. I've been ready for football for months, which -- no coincidentally -- is how long the Royals and Pirates have been out of contention.

Nice start, I Should Coco.

 

Re: 2010 SportsJournalists.com college football poll

When da U starts off 1-4 and Randy Shannon is getting run out of town, this ranking will look way too high.

 

Re: 2010 SportsJournalists.com college football poll

He will, however, be shown that the scoreboard on the visitors side can indeed reach triple digits...