2010 Preseason College Football Rankings
ALL NEW: Be sure to go see our 2012 preseason college football rankings!
Check out our new projections for the 2011 college football preseason rankings!
*UPDATED ON 8/20/10: The USA Today Coaches Poll and now the AP Poll have been released: Others receiving votes: Cincinnati, Houston, BYU, Arizona, Ole Miss, Clemson, Stanford, Uconn, Notre Dame, South Carolina, Washington, Missouri, Navy, Oklahoma State, Boston College, Michigan State, Arizona State, Cal, Texas Tech, South Florida, Texas A&M, Northwestern, Temple, Central Michigan, Mississippi State, Nevada, Northern Illinois, SMU Others receiving votes: Cincinnati, Stanford, Utah, South Carolina, Houston, Uconn, Notre Dame, Missouri, BYU, Arizona, Clemson, Texas Tech, Navy, Washington, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Oklahoma State, Middle Tennessee, Central Michigan, Temple, UCF, Boston College, SMU
USA Today Poll
1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Florida
4. Texas
5. Boise State
6. Virginia Tech
7. TCU
8. Oklahoma
9. Nebraska
10. Iowa
11. Oregon
12. Wisconsin
13. Miami (FL)
14. Penn State
15. Pitt
16. LSU
17. Georgia Tech
18. North Carolina
19. Arkansas
20. Florida State
21. Georgia
22. Oregon State
23. Auburn
24. Utah
25. West Virginia
AP Poll
1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Boise State
4. Florida
5. Texas
6. TCU
7. Oklahoma
8. Nebraska
9. Iowa
10. Virginia Tech
11. Oregon
12. Wisconsin
13. Miami (FL)
14. USC
15. Pitt
16. Georgia Tech
17. Arkansas
18. North Carolina
19. Penn State
20. Florida State
21. LSU
22. Auburn
23. Georgia
24. Oregon State
25. West Virginia
It is that time of year again, where everyone is speculating about the 2010 preseason college football rankings. Just like we did for the 2009 preseason rankings, we are doing again this year for the college football preseason rankings 2010. I found nine different places posting what they think the rankings should be this year, and have once again added them up to get a good sense for what they will be this year when they are released in August by the AP Poll and USA Today Poll.
So here are the different rankings I could find this year:
National Champions
1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Boise State
4. Oregon
5. Texas
6. Florida
7. TCU
8. Iowa
9. Nebraska
10. Wisconsin
11. Georgia Tech
12. Southern California
13. Penn State
14. Virginia Tech
15. Miami FL
16. Oklahoma
17. Oregon State
18. Cincinnati
19. North Carolina
20. Arkansas
21. Louisiana State
22. Utah
23. Florida State
24. West Virginia
25. Georgia
Rivals
1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Oregon
4. Boise State
5. USC
6. TCU
7. Nebraska
8. Texas
9. Wisconsin
10. Florida
11. Virginia Tech
12. Oklahoma
13. Pittsburgh
14. Iowa
15. Georgia Tech
16. LSU
17. North Carolina
18. Miami
19. Connecticut
20. Oregon State
21. Houston
22. Utah
23. Arkansas
24. Penn State
25. Cincinnati
Bleacher Report
1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Boise State
4. Iowa
5. Oregon
6. Florida
7. Virginia Tech
8. LSU
9. Texas
10. Nebraska
11. Georgia Tech
12. Cincinnati
13. Penn State
14. Oklahoma
15. Wisconsin
16. Uconn
17. Miami (FL)
18. Arkansas
19. Oregon State
20. Texas Tech
21. TCU
22. Georgia
23. Stanford
24. North Carolina
25. Utah
Mark Schlabach
1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Boise State
4. Oregon
5. Texas
6. Virginia Tech
7. TCU
8. Nebraska
9. Iowa
10. Wisconsin
11. Florida
12. Oklahoma
13. Georgia Tech
14. Cincinnati
15. Pittsburgh
16. Arkansas
17. Miami (FL)
18. LSU
19. Penn State
20. USC
21. Florida State
22. Oregon State
23. Georgia
24. Stanford
25. Navy
Mercury News
1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Boise State
4. Oregon
5. Miami
6. Virginia Tech
7. Texas Christian
8. Iowa
9. Nebraska
10. USC
11. Georgia Tech
12. Arkansas
13. Wisconsin
14. Texas
15. Florida
16. Houston
17. Oklahoma
18. Tennessee
19. Oregon State
20. Missouri
21. South Carolina
22. North Carolina
23. Arizona
24. Michigan
25. West Virginia
College Football Saturday
1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Oregon
4. Boise State
5. Florida
6. TCU
7. Texas
8. Iowa
9. Virginia Tech
10. Miami
11. USC
12. Georgia Tech
13. LSU
14. Wisconsin
15. Oklahoma
16. Nebraska
17. Oregon State
18. South Carolina
19. Arkansas
20. West Virginia
21. Pitt
22. Georgia
23. Cincy
24. Auburn
25. Nevada
Scout
1. Alabama
2. Florida
3. Texas
4. Ohio State
5. Nebraska
6. Oklahoma
7. Virginia Tech
8. Boise State
9. Wisconsin
10. LSU
11. Oregon
12. Iowa
13. Penn State
14. North Carolina
15. USC
16. Georgia Tech
17. Miami
18. TCU
19. Auburn
20. Georgia
21. West Virginia
22. Florida State
23. Utah
24. Arkansas
25. BYU
Sports Illustrated
1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Boise State
4. Texas
5. Iowa
6. Oregon
7. TCU
8. Georgia Tech
9. Virginia Tech
10. Wisconsin
11. Florida
12. Penn State
13. Oklahoma
14. Miami (FL)
15. Nebraska
16. Pitt
17. Oregon State
18. North Carolina
19. Cincy
20. Cal
21. Houston
22. Georgia
23. LSU
24. BYU
25. Utah
670 the Score
1. Alabama
2. Boise State
3. Ohio State
4. Oregon
5. Texas
6. TCU
7. Virginia Tech
8. Florida
9. Iowa
10. Nebraska
11. USC
12. Wisconsin
13. Oregon State
14. Oklahoma
15. Arkansas
16. LSU
17. Miami
18. Georgia Tech
19. Pittsburgh
20. North Carolina
21. Penn State
22. California
23. Utah
24. Houston
25. Uconn
Not a bad list. So how did it turn out? Well, as you can guess, Alabama will be all but a unanimous number one pick. I’m a bit surprised Ohio State will be ahead of Boise State, but that is what seems to be the case here. So after combining all of those rankings from independents sources, our actual 2010 college football preseason rankings should look something like this:
1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Boise State
4. Oregon
5. Texas
6. Florida
7. Virginia Tech
8. Iowa
9. TCU
10. Nebraska
11. Wisconsin
12. Georgia Tech
13. Oklahoma
14. Miami
15. USC
16. LSU
17. Penn State
18. Oregon State
19. Arkansas
20. North Carolina
21. Pitt
22. Cincinnati
23. Georgia
24. Houston
25. Uconn
Others receiving votes: Utah, West Virginia, South Carolina, Florida State, Cal, Auburn, Tennessee, Missouri, Texas Tech, Stanford, Arizona, BYU, Michigan, Navy Midshipmen, Nevada
And there you have it, the future preseason rankings for the 2010 season of college football. Don’t believe me? We nailed 23 out of 25 last year with this formula. Our 22 and 25 turned out to be 28 and 31. So not bad at all. The two we missed we predicted to be 26 and 28. We got the top 5 exactly right and 14 out of the top 15. So you can pretty much take this to the bank, those teams will be ranked within one or two spots of where you see them.
So what do I think about this? There are some overrated and underrated teams for sure. The three most overrated teams are for sure Wisconsin, USC and Cincinnati. I would even say Virginia Tech, Florida and Arkansas are pretty overrated as well. Heck, I would say South Carolina is overrated and I have them at 28. The most underrated teams this year are definitely Uconn, North Carolina and Oregon State (check out our updated post on underrated teams). Uconn lost all of their games last year by 6 or less points. They might have the edge this year to be a 9 or 10 win team, especially with the Big East being a bit down.
I would expect North Carolina to end up being the pride of the ACC. They return pretty much the entire defense of last year, the defense that beat Miami and Virginia Tech. BYU doesn’t look like they will start the season ranked, but they picked up the top quarterback prospect this year in Jake Heaps. If he wins the starting job, the offense will probably only be better considering Max Hall was not good at all. They can prove it on the road at Florida State early.
It will be exciting to see how things turn out. I’m already not a fan of preseason rankings in college football, but they exist so we have to deal with them. This is my best guess as to how they will turn out in August when the real 2010 preseason college football rankings are released.
Comments
Regarding the comment made by “Someone” regarding those arrogant asses from Ann Arbor. Are you from another planet? “M……..” sports have been in the toilet for at least the past 4 years. Get a life, get real. How quickly you forget the U….v. Toledo game: Toledo 10 M…:9 is that a disgrace or what. I promise you that their descent into the black hole of college football obliviion is assured. This fall from “grace” is long overdue. They have had disingenuos inflated egos far too long. GO GREEN!
Ohh what the heck go georgia bulldogs may the better team when im behind alabama as well as long as one of the teams beat tenessee im good
Actually Boise State called TCU and asked if they could come down and then TCU invited them. It is a very innovative defense that utilizes players who are interchangeble at both linebacker, safety and corner. The three teams that are leading the way with this defense are TCU, Boise State and Nebraska. The Boise State coach’s actually one upped TCU by tweaking the defense even further, these guys know what they are doing! I like your website, I think it is the most accurate of all the preseason top 25 websites.
I live in the state of Alabama and i’m just going to throw this out there…Alabama football is being way overratted right now..mark my words.
LSU football underrated definatly.
just ready to see how the season is going to turn out.
GOOD LUCK
GO SEC!!
Sloppy Joe, You keep talking about Boise State beating Oregon and TCU. How about giving the TCU horny frogs some credit. They allowed the Boise State football coaches to come in and study their defense after the 2009 season,(who would have thought they would have to play them again in the 2010 bowl game). This is a defense designed to stop the spread offense’s that are the rage in college football. Nebraska has installed a version of this called the Peso. TCU even threw a barbecue for the Boise State coach’s. How is that for southern hospitality? I do respect Boise State and the new defense they have installed. I also respect Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State, Florida State, Nebraska, Virginia Tech and a lot of the other teams you like to diss. How many teams in college football would love to have the season Ohio State has year after year?
Playing in a bad conference does carry some pretty heavy advantages: the easier schedule allows for an easier route to the national title game. It’s totally unfair to call Boise State or Ohio State a joke team simply because they play in a subpar conference.
Just because a conference is mediocre (ACC, Big East, Big 10, basically any conference not called the SEC) doesn’t mean we should be judgmental of the few good teams in those conferences. Anyone remember when Southern Cal was going for a “three-peat?” They were the only really good team in the Pac-10 at the time, and they were rewarded with repeated trips to BCS games.
Not to beat a dead horse, but literally any form of playoff could solve this problem…
Boise St. and Ohio St. are a joke. Boise may win against “good” teams like Oregon and well that’s it. If either of those teams played in a big time conference, they wouldn’t win but 5 or 6 games a year. They’re both way overrated
First and foremost, Boise State is a joke. Joke schedule, joke conference and joke fans. Sorry, but it’s the truth.
Here’s something I found interesting. A friend of mine went to Penn State and complaining about the bowl matchups. Big 10 teams always (well, not always, but for the most part) playing teams rated higher than they were. So I took a look at the last ten years 2000-2009 and was surprised to see that 88% of the time, he was right.
I figure it must be because Big 10 schools have large fan bases that when you get a Boise State in bowl game, if you are going to get anyone to show up, you’ll need even a barely bowl eligible Big 10 school in order to fill the stadium.
BSU only has to play 2 games a year. If they were in a decent conference their lack of depth would show. Their cupcake walk is ridiculous. OSU, Iowa, PSU and UW deserve their rankings. Big Ten will dominate in the post season again in 2011!
Watch Temple University’s Football Program this year!! I see them in the top 25 by mid october. A preason ranking of 38 and a pretty easy schedule in the beginning (minus Penn State). They are going to turn some heads!!!
Mike, if ur trying to say the PAC 10 is the best conference, then u couldn’t be more wrong. They may have a better bowl record than the sec, but tell me what conference have the last FOUR national champs come from? Oh that’s right, the SEC.
I agree that Boise State has done well in big games, but why do you have to bash Ohio State? It is a big accomplishment to have a team playing well enough to compete for a national championship, year after year. There is a long time period between the last game the big Ten plays and the bowl game. I think in 2011 when they start the Big Ten league title game that the Big Ten will start playing better in national champion games. The time gap will be narrowed and the team will not be rusty.
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Auburn is under-rated! They’ll win the SEC and play for the BCS National Championship!!!