How do you rank?
I've been mentioning this week that it is hard to believe that college football is right around the corner. In just a few short weeks the faithful will be claiming their Saturday spot on the couch or at the bar to cheer on their favorite team.
I don't have a lot of hope for my Michigan State Spartans this year. They have a brand new coach and a lot of shake ups with the team in general. It's basically a completely new team after graduations, transfers (out and in), and whatever else you can think of.
I'll be pretty happy to see them finish the year with a winning record quite honestly. As is usually the case, the AP (Associated Press) has listed their ranking of the top 25 teams in the nation before the season has even started.
In case you aren't familiar with the AP Poll, according to Google:
"Each week 62 sports writers and broadcasters across the country are polled. They rank the teams individually and then those votes are combined to come up with the final top 25 list each week."
These voters aren't just average armchair quarterbacks off the street, they are folks who have been watching and covering football for a long time and they have a pretty good feel for what is what.
As I look at the current top 25 poll, I think the thing that stands out the most to me is that University of Michigan is just edging into the top 10. Being the national champion last year, you might think they should be higher in the poll.
That might be the case if they hadn't lost a good deal of talent over the summer including the coach who left for the NFL. It's not that I think he was talented, I don't really feel like anyone at U of M is talented, but losing your coach like that could make it difficult to repeat your success. I'm guessing that's what the AP writers are betting on as well.
Georgia takes there place back at the top of the rankings which doesn't shock me at all. I'm also not surprised that Ohio State slid into the #2 spot. Oregon is a bit of a shocker, but to be honest, I don't usually pay too much attention to Oregon anyway, so they could have been awesome the past few years and I never really would have known.
I am happy to see Alabama all the way down in the #5 spot and at #8 Penn State is edging out U of M who sits at #9.
Finally, Florida State claims the #10 spot currently. Florida State was looking kind of good last year, they just had some injuries and other stuff going on. If they can right the ship, they might still have a chance of gaining some ranks this year.
Besides the top 10, the Big 10 doesn't have much of a presence in the rankings right now. I have a feeling that will change over time. It's actually a bit hard to keep track of it all with the recent influx of teams to the conference.
Since the season hasn't even started yet, there is little doubt this list of 25 teams is going to look at least a little different come December. Fingers crossed Michigan State finds a way to claim a spot in that list. A decent bowl game with a new coach would be a big win for the Spartan faithful.
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