« Preseason NCAA poll reflections »

The ESPN/USA Today Coaches preseason poll was released today, and there aren't many surprises. Here are a few thoughts:

• Nebraska is not ranked! They're 26th to start out. Doesn't sound like everyone agrees that Frank Solich should have been fired.
• Five MAC teams received votes. Toledo is 35th with 33 points, Bowling Green is 39th with 22 points, Miami U. is 41st with 21 points, Marshall is 45th with 13 points, and Northern Illinois is 49th with 10 points.
• The voters are 61 of the 117 D-IA head football coaches. From the MAC, BG's Gregg Brandon, WMU's Gary Darnell, Miami's Terry Hoeppner, Ball State's Brady Hoke, NIU's Joe Novak, UCF's George O'Leary and Marshall's Bob Pruett are voters. That's 7 of the 13 schools—I don't have the time to research if that's a record or not. I do find it funny that nobody might have voted for BG except Brandon, who could have put them 4th in the nation, and that would explain the 22 points.
• On second thought, that's kind of scary... a one-time coach for Notre Dame (George O'Leary) is now coaching in the MAC. Of course, he only coached Notre Dame for a week—in the offseason, thanks to his resumé.
• Arizona's new coach Mike Stoops is also one of the voters, and since this is his first time coaching, this is undeniably his first time voting. I'm not saying he voted for his own team, but last year's 2-10 UA Wildcats received a single point in the voting this year.
  

- posted by Suss @ 3:20 PM | Permanent Link To This Post