Here is the official Thinking Bulldog Preseason Poll for your enjoyment:

Rank		Prediction	Power	Delta
1	Southern Cal	1	2	0
2	Ohio State	4	1	+2
3	Oklahoma	2	4	+1
4	Florida	6	3	-2
5	LSU	3	9	+7
6	West Virginia	5	8	+3
7	Georgia	8	5	-2
8	Clemson	7	7	0
9	Missouri	10	6	-3
10	Texas Tech	11	12	0
11	Brigham Young	9	16	+3
12	Penn State	12	15	+12
13	South Florida	14	14	+8
14	Texas	18	11	-7
15	Wisconsin	17	13	0
16	Oregon	13	21	+10*
17	Auburn	24	10	-4
18	Virginia Tech	19	18	+1
19	Florida State	15	26	+7*
20	Alabama	16	26	+6*
21	Arizona State	22	20	-10
22	Tennessee	26	17	-2
23	Steve Spurrier	21	24	+3*
24	Pittsburgh	26	19	-6
25	Boise State	20	26	+1*

Dropped Out:  Illinois (16), Kansas (17), Fresno State (22), Connecticut (23), Wake Forest (25).

“Delta” is the change from the May 16 Thinking Bulldog Pre-Pre-Season Poll, which I am now ashamed of (Oregon State?!  Virginia?), as I will be ashamed of this one in the coming weeks.

Not wanting to get into the (exceptionally monotonous) debate over “resume” ranking vs. “power polls”, Ithis poll is a combination of a “power” prediction, that being a comparison of the relative strengths of Team A vs. Team B based upon my shallow knowledge of the college football landscape, and another poll of the predicted outcome of the season prior to the bowls.  So as you can see, I think Ohio State has the best team right now, but I think ultimately USC will enter the BCSC Game against #2 Oklahoma.

The predictive poll was an interesting excercise, because what I did was look at each conference and give my best guess as to the records and conference rankings of each team, then I plugged the teams into the top 25 in accordance with where you will usually find that team.  For example, you see that Oregon is 21st in the power rankings, but 13th in the prediction guess.  That’s because you will usually find the PAC 10 #2 team in the high teens, around and about where you’ll find the Big 10 #2 team (Penn State, in my estimation (thank you Phil Steele)) and the SEC West #2 (Alabama (surprise!) in my estimation).  Much more on this later.

The brutal schedule and heavy loss of personnel took Illinois out of the mix, and I already regret dropping Pittsburgh as much as I did.  Because there should be room in the Top 25 for the #3 team from the Big East.

What we need is a defensible place to start, and this seems to me as good a place to start as any.  So, big changes from May.  I made a point not to look at the May poll when assembling this one.  Recall when I discussed the Pre-Preseason Thinking Bulldog Poll, I expressed skepticism as to the ability of Auburn and Tennessee to increase their offensive productions via installing the ”spread” offense, and I still stand by that assertion.  LSU gets a big jump because I decided, when it’s all said and done, they’ll repeat as SEC Champs.  Evidently I am now buying into the Penn State and South Florida business.

Recall in May I announced that I was not buying into FSU and Bama this year…well thank Phil Steele for FSU’s inclusion, and to a lesser extent the inclusion of Steve Spurrier.  As for Bama, I think they will be the annual team in the SEC that surpasses expectations, at Auburn’s expense, simply because of all the talk of the Tide being a year away.  Teams that are “a year away” are prime time sleeper teams.  FSU has such a favorable schedule that I think a good season is in the making if their talent gels, but I still give the Atlantic to Clem’s Son.