(Simply unaware of the origin of this particular photo)

The Preseason Blog Poll, the only national poll really worth paying attention to prior to November, was released today.  Much to my surprise, Georgia was ranked #1, and by a wider margin than the ESPN or AP polls.

1 Georgia  (+6 from the TB rankings.  Only two of 78 voters ranked Georgia 7th or lower.)
2 Ohio State  (-1 from the TB rankings)
3 Southern Cal  (-2)
4 Oklahoma   (-1)
5 Florida   (-1)
6 Missouri  (+3)
7 LSU   (-2)
8 Clemson  (0)
9 West Virginia (-3)
10 Auburn  (+7, only 2 of 78 voters ranked Auburn 17th or lower)
11 Texas  (+3)
12 Texas Tech  (-2)
13 Wisconsin  (+2)
14 Virginia Tech  (+4)
15 Kansas  (+9)
16 Arizona State  (+5, only 9 of 78 voters ranked ASU 21st or lower)
17 Tennessee  (+5, only 7 of 78 voters ranked UT 17th or lower)
18 Oregon  (-2)
19 South Florida  (-6)
20 Brigham Young  (-9, only 4 of 78 voters ranked BYU 11th or higher)
21 Penn State  (-9)
22 Illinois  (+4, NR in TB rankings)
23 Wake Forest (+3, NR in TB rankings)
24 Alabama (-4, only 8 of 78 voters ranked Bama 20th or higher)
25 Utah  (+1, NR in TB rankings)

Florida State (-7) did not make the Blog Poll, nor Steve Spurrier (-3) or Boise State (-1).  Only two of 78 voters put FSU 19th or higher. 

Despite the fact that 22 of the 25 teams ranked in the Blog Poll were in the TB rankings, the TB rankings would’ve finished just outside the top 5 for Mr. Bold, with a 3.75 standard deviation.  Clemson is the only team with a zero deviation, the team whose placement at 8th makes me more uncomfortable than anything else in the TB poll. 

I would have been either first or second in the Straight Bangin Award, which floors me.  Really, my thinking was that while the Bulldogs have a top 5 talent pool, from a “power” perspective the team should be, like Missouri, behind teams like Oklahoma, Ohio State, USC, and Florida, who have all won the title or been in the MNC game in recent years, while Georgia has rarely appeared in the MNC picture since Herschel graduated.  Add what the consensus finds to be the most difficult schedule since Poland’s schedule in 1939, and a preseason ranking in the second ten sounds about right to me.

Everything changes after week 1 anyway.