Top Ten start and the highest ranked team with five or more losses:
http://sportspolls.usatoday.com/ncaa/football/polls/coaches-poll/My take:
1. Ohio State. Voters only remember the finish. OSU was a pretty pedestrian team most of last season. Lost at home to VT, struggled with Penn State, Minnesota, Indiana and even Navy. But the win over an Alabama team that, frankly, wasn't nearly as good as its record indicated and then beating the perpetually overrated Oregon Fucks makes people think Urban and his team is invincible. It isn't. Despite playing a schedule that makes South Alabama jealous, this team won't finish unbeaten. It's sitting here after getting the same bounce Bob Stoops and OU got for beating "we didn't want to be here anyway" greatest team of all time, the heading-for-the-tunnel Tuscaloosa McCarrons two years ago. Will probably get the same result OU got after having smoke blown up its ass for bringing a reserve quarterback on the punish an overrated Bama team.
2. TCU. Eh. The Horny Frogs are always trying to crack the glass ceiling. Good defense and a good coach. After getting shafted a year ago, either TCU or Baylor will get a playoff shot if they don't fuck things up badly along the way. Will be TCU.
3. Alabama. Fuck's sake. Whatever. This team wasn't as good as it appeared a year ago and it won't get better. I keep waiting for the lazy/inept coaching to put this team in a bind its raw talent and depth can't overcome. It usually happens at least once (Ole Miss last year) and always should happen three or four times a season (Arkansas, MSU and even Auburn last year). At some point the wheels will fall off, the lockerroom will divide and this team will fracture due to the massive egos that abound. Will this be that year? Hopefully. Regardless third is too high.
4. Baylor. Nope. Both Baylor and TCU can't be in the Top Four. One has to fall and the Barely Bears are it.
5. Oregon. When their fans put their hands together and bellow "OOOOO" through them, I always thought that meant "Oregon." I know now that it means "Overrated." Easily the most overrated team of the last decade. Name a big stage and the Ducks have shit on it. Two national championship games in which the team looked outmanned. Every time it comes up against Stanford. No exception here. The Fucks will lose a game or two, still make the playoff round and whoever draws them will celebrate by beating their ass.
6. Michigan State. Sparty gets votes for being the sacrificial lamb for Ohio State a year ago. B1G officials demanded they lay down so Ohio State would have a shot at the Final Four and boy did they ever. They laid down like Roberto No Mas Duran. I wonder what they were promised? Does the rest of the league have to roll over and play dead for them this season? Wouldn't surprise me. Also wouldn't surprise me to see the Sparts as the B1G representative in the Final Four
7. Auburn. Feels okay. I can see how this team could be questioned. Should have beaten A&M. Should have beaten MSU. Should have beaten UA. Should have won the bowl game. Gave up and played dead at UGA thanks to an A&M hangover. Over the past two seasons the only thing this team lacked -- the ONLY thing -- is the ability to close out games and go for the kill. If Muschamp brings even a little of that to the defense? The sky's the limit. Seriously. If this team makes ONE extra defensive stop in all the games it lost over the last two seasons -- just a single series in each -- you're looking at a two-time defending national champion. That's the reality. This team may not have the on-paper talent of Alabama, say, but it has better coaching (assuming Muschamp can do anything at all on defense), better game management and better players at the skill positions.
8. Florida State. Jimbo Fisher is a mewling assclown. Grown to hate him with rancor. The program is off the rails in terms of discipline and accountability. It has no quarterback. It has questions all over the field. Eight is too high, except for the fact that the team plays in the equivalent of the 6A division of the Alabama High School Athletic Association. They'll float around the top ten but won't be worth a fiddling shit.
9. Georgia. This is the year Mark Richt, uhhhhh, loses some games he isn't supposed to and has the Bulldogs "that close" to competing. Again.
10. USC. Sympathy pick by people who remember the glory days of the 70s. Unless the Trojans are cheating like motherfuckers (see Alabama 2008-2015) they can't compete week in and week out.
11. Notre Dame. Too high. Fuck them.
12. Clemson. Fuck Dabo. But will end up higher than FSU.
13. LSU. Add a quarterback and this could be a much better team than people anticipate. Oops, they don't have one within 300 miles of Baton Rouge.
14. UCLA. No. Sorry.
15. Ole Miss. The fans will surround a bawling Hugh Freeze when the Ackbars rebound from a second loss to beat New Mexico State at Homecoming. After a narrow win over Memphis, the Black Bears will drop five straight. A banner will be hung anyway.
16. Arizona State. They play in the desert. No one will notice.
17. Georgia Tech. Too high.
18. Wisconsin. Who cares?
19. Oklahoma. Sympathy Stoops votes.
20. Arkansas. HAHAHHAHA. No.
21. Stanford. Will beat Oregon and climb to 12 before losing to teams nobody has ever heard of.
22. Missouri. Sympathy gay votes.
24. Boise State. Hey, remember when Boise beat Oklahoma that time? Let's keep them in the Top 25 forever!
25. Tennessee. Biggest. Joke. In. The. Poll.
Notable omissions:
Texas, Michigan, Nebraska, Miami, Penn State from the Prehistoric Division.
A&M, Mississippi State, Florida from the "Our coach is black and cool, yeah but we got Dak, McElwuss coached with Saban, dammit!" Division
and also:
Virginia "Beat OSU" Tech, South "Our coach is older than hell, but looks good and does not give a single fuck" Carolina, North "We got Chizik" Carolina and "Didn't You See What We Did to Manziel" Duke.