The Consensus Preaseason Poll

Defending national champ USC is No. 1, of course. But see where the Nittany Lions and their Big Ten brethren rank when all of the recent ratings are combined.

Welcome back to our ongoing listing of preseason polls for the upcoming college football season. We will maintain this list and add to it every time a new preseason list is released right up through the release of the preseason Associated Press media poll and the USA Today coaches poll.

Each year, it is my mission in life to produce an ongoing consensus preseason top 25 for college football. The premise is simple: We use the published polls on web sites and in magazines as “votes” in our own consensus poll. Teams ranked No. 1 get 25 points and so on down to one point for those ranked 25th.

Today, we add the preseason top 25 polls from Football Action, Street & Smith’s and Phil Steele’s College Football, as published in their preseason annuals.

So far, we have as many as 13 preseason polls. They are Athlon, TSN, CBSSportsLine.com, SI.com, CollegeFootballNews.com, Lindy’s, NationalChamps.net, Scout.com, Football Action, Street & Smith’s, Steele and two polls from ESPN.com (Ivan Maisel and Pat Forde).

And so far, those preseason prognosticators are unanimous in their selection of two-time defending national champion USC as the No. 1 pick. Keep in mind, a third-straight national title for the Trojans would be unprecedented since the inception of the Associated Press poll in 1936. (It does not seem that anybody will have the guts to pick somebody other than USC to win it all?)

A year ago, our final consensus poll contained 14 different polls. USC was the preseason No. 1 on all but three. CBSSportsLine.com and The Sporting News each picked Georgia, while Phil Steele’s College Football picked Oklahoma. Nine of the 14 polls correctly picked the final 1-2 match-up of USC and Oklahoma at the Orange Bowl.

The initial Preseason Consensus Poll was published on May 25. At that point, just 10 voting points separated No. 4 Ohio State from defending co-Big Ten champions Michigan and Iowa. When we updated the poll June 5, the order was the same but only seven voting points separate the conference’s top three teams.

But this update notes several changes: Michigan moves past Ohio State for the fourth overall spot. Oklahoma slides by Iowa to become No. 6. LSU leapfrogs Florida and Virginia Tech to become No. 8.

Using this poll as a guide, USC would be tops in the Pac-10, Texas would edge Oklahoma in the Big 12, Tennessee would win the SEC over LSU, Michigan would nip OSU in the Big Ten, Virginia Tech would edge out Miami (Fla.) in the ACC and Louisville would be tops in the Big East.

The WAC would be a battle between Fresno State and Boise State. Bowling Green and Miami (Ohio) would be the class of the MAC and Wyoming and Utah would be tops in the Mountain West.

Looking at possible bowl match-ups, you might see: Rose (USC-Texas), Sugar (Tennessee-Ohio State), Fiesta (Michigan-Oklahoma), Orange (Virginia Tech-Louisville), Capital One (Iowa-LSU rematch) and Outback (Purdue-Florida).

If you see a published poll that we are missing, please send a link or the list to [e-mail]

Here is a look at the updated Preseason Consensus Poll on June 14:

Preseason Consensus Poll

(First-Place votes; last year’s record in parentheses)

1. USC (13; 13-0) 325 points

2. Texas (11-1) 295 points 3. Tennessee (10-3) 267 points 4. Michigan (9-3) 255 points 5. Ohio State (8-4) 245 points 6. Oklahoma (12-1) 244 points 7. Iowa (10-2) 235 points 8. LSU (9-3) 233 points 9. Virginia Tech (10-3) 230 points 9. Florida (7-5) 230 points 11. Miami (Fla.) (9-3) 218 points 12. Louisville (11-1) 179 points 13. Florida State (9-3) 165 points 14. Georgia (10-2) 162 points 15. Auburn (13-0) 125 points 16. Purdue (7-5) 122 points 17. Texas A&M (7-5) 94 points 18. Fresno State (9-3) 84 points 19. Arizona State (9-3) 75 points 19. Boise State (11-1) 75 points 21. Cal (10-2) 49 points 22. Texas Tech (8-4) 46 points 23. Pittsburgh (8-4) 37 points 24. Boston College (9-3) 35 points 25. Georgia Tech (7-5) 29 points 26. Alabama (6-6) 26 points 27. Bowling Green (9-3) 22 points 28. Oregon (5-6) 16 points 28. Virginia (8-4) 16 points 30. Wisconsin (9-3) 12 points 31. Nebraska (5-6) 10 points 31. N.C. State (5-6) 10 points 33. Penn State (4-7) 8 points 33. Minnesota (7-5) 8 points 35. Wyoming (7-5) 6 points 35. Iowa State (7-5) 6 points 37. Colorado (8-5) 4 points 38. Utah (12-0) 3 points 38. Miami (Ohio) (8-5) 3 points 40. UCLA (6-6) 2 points 40. UTEP (8-4) 2 points

Athlon Sports

1. USC

2. Tennessee 3. Iowa 4. Oklahoma 5. Florida State 6. Texas 7. Michigan 8. Louisville 9. LSU 10. Virginia Tech 11. Miami (Fla.) 12. Ohio State 13. Florida 14. Georgia 15. Purdue 16. Alabama 17. Boston College 18. Boise State 19. Arizona State 20. Auburn 21. Texas Tech 22. Virginia 23. Pittsburgh 24. UTEP 25. Georgia Tech

The Sporting News

1. USC

2. Tennessee 3. Ohio State 4. Virginia Tech 5. Texas 6. LSU 7. Miami (Fla.) 8. Michigan 9. Oklahoma 10. Iowa 11. Florida 12. Florida State 13. Georgia 14. Texas A&M 15. Cal 16. Auburn 17. Purdue 18. Georgia Tech 19. Louisville 20. Boise State 21. Bowling Green 22. Iowa State 23. Virginia 24. Arizona State 25. Utah

ESPN.com (Ivan Maisel)

1. USC

2. Texas 3. Michigan 4. Iowa 5. Florida 6. Virginia Tech 7. Auburn 8. Miami (Fla.) 9. Oklahoma 10. Tennessee 11. Ohio State 12. Louisville 13. Texas A&M 14. Florida State 15. Georgia 16. Nebraska 17. Arizona State 18. LSU 19. Boise State 20. Wisconsin 21. Cal 22. Wyoming 23. Alabama 24. Georgia Tech 25. Bowling Green

ESPN.com (Pat Forde)

1. USC

2. Michigan 3. Texas 4. Tennessee 5. Iowa 6. Oklahoma 7. Ohio State 8. Florida 9. Miami (Fla.) 10. Louisville 11. LSU 12. Florida State 13. Virginia Tech 14. Georgia 15. Boise State 16. Texas Tech 17. Auburn 18. Texas A&M 19. Fresno State 20. Arizona State 21. Bowling Green 22. Cal 23. Pittsburgh 24. Iowa State 25. Wyoming

Scout.com

1. USC

2. Texas 3. Ohio State 4. Tennessee 5. Oklahoma 6. Michigan 7. LSU 8. Florida 9. Iowa 10. Miami (Fla.) 11. Virginia Tech 12. Louisville 13. Florida State 14. Georgia 15. Arizona State 16. Texas A&M 17. Texas Tech 18. Fresno State 19. Auburn 20. Wisconsin 21. Boston College 22. Purdue 23. Pittsburgh 24. Alabama 25. Cal

CBSSportsLine.com

1. USC

2. Iowa 3. Tennessee 4. Texas 5. Ohio State 6. Virginia Tech 7. Oklahoma 8. Florida 9. Michigan 10. Louisville 11. LSU 12. Miami (Fla.) 13. Georgia 14. Florida State 15. Fresno State 16. Arizona State 17. Pittsburgh 18. Texas A&M 19. Purdue 20. Boston College 21. Auburn 22. Texas Tech 23. Boise State 24. Colorado 25. Utah

Collegefootballnews.com

1. USC

2. Tennessee 3. Iowa 4. Ohio State 5. Virginia Tech 6. Texas 7. Miami (Fla.) 8. LSU 9. Florida 10. Oklahoma 11. Arizona State 12. Georgia 13. Michigan 14. Purdue 15. Florida State 16. Georgia Tech 17. Boston College 18. Auburn 19. Minnesota 20. Alabama 21. Texas A&M 22. Texas Tech 23. Fresno State 24. Louisville 25. Cal

NationalChamps.net

1. USC

2. Texas 3. LSU 4. Tennessee 5. Oklahoma 6. Michigan 7. Ohio State 8. Virginia Tech 9. Miami (Fla.) 10. Auburn 11. Iowa 12. Florida 13. Georgia 14. Boise State 15. Louisville 16. Florida State 17. Fresno State 18. Texas A&M 19. Purdue 20. Cal 21. Arizona State 22. Virginia 23. Pittsburgh 24. Colorado 25. Minnesota

Lindy’s

1. USC

2. Texas 3. Michigan 4. Florida 5. Oklahoma 6. Tennessee 7. Ohio State 8. Florida State 9. LSU 10. Virginia Tech 11. Louisville 12. Miami (Fla.) 13. Purdue 14. Georgia 15. Iowa 16. Texas A&M 17. Auburn 18. Oregon 19. Pittsburgh 20. Boston College 21. Texas Tech 22. Alabama 23. Fresno State 24. UCLA 25. Penn State

SI.com

1. USC

2. Texas 3. Tennessee 4. Ohio State 5. Florida 6. Virginia Tech 7. LSU 8. Iowa 9. Miami (Fla.) 10. Michigan 11. Oklahoma 12. Louisville 13. Auburn 14. Georgia 15. Fresno State 16. Arizona State 17. Boise State 18. Florida State 19. Purdue 20. Texas Tech 21. Pittsburgh 22. Cal 23. Bowling Green 24. Georgia Tech 25. Wyoming

Street & Smith’s

1. USC

2. Texas 3. Tennessee 4. Oklahoma 5. Michigan 6. LSU 7. Virginia Tech 8. Miami (Fla.) 9. Florida 10. Purdue 11. Georgia 12. Ohio State 13. Iowa 14. Auburn 15. Louisville 16. Boise State 17. Texas A&M 18. Florida State 19. Fresno State 20. Cal 21. Virginia 22. Oregon 23. Pittsburgh 24. Texas Tech 25. Utah

Phil Steele’s College Football

1. USC

2. LSU 3. Purdue 4. Louisville 5. Texas 6. Miami (Fla.) 7. Michigan 8. Oklahoma 9. Ohio State 10. Georgia 11. Florida 12. Virginia Tech 13. Florida State 14. Iowa 15. Tennessee 16. N.C. State 17. Auburn 18. Texas A&M 19. Penn State 20. Cal 21. Texas Tech 22. Oregon 23. Miami (Ohio) 24. Fresno State 25. Alabama

Football Action

1. USC 2. Texas 3. Tennessee 4. Michigan 5. Florida 6. Iowa 7. Louisville 8. LSU 9. Ohio State 10. Virginia Tech 11. Oklahoma 12. Miami (Fla.) 13. Purdue 14. Fresno State 15. Florida State 16. Arizona State 17. Boise State 18. Bowling Green 19. Georgia 20. Georgia Tech 21. Texas Tech 22. Cal 23. Texas A&M 24. Auburn 25. Pittsburgh