News

The First Coaches Poll is Out

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Aug 3rd, 2018 · 9:42 AM EDT

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College ball is right around the corner.

I’m pumped. Saturdays are all about Premier League in the morning, then NCAA football for the next 12 hours, which gets really weird when Hawaii vs. San Jose State ends at 1:30 a.m. Then you wake up and realize it’s an NFL Sunday. Man, life is so easy.

Anyway, the first coaches poll came out this week and it’s the usual suspects at the top. Your Penn State Nittany Lions slide in at #9 overall (first place votes in parentheses):

1. Alabama (61)
2. Clemson (3)
3. Ohio State (1)
4. Georgia
5. Oklahoma
6. Washington
7. Wisconsin
8. Miami
9. Penn State
10. Auburn
11. Notre Dame
12. Michigan State
13. Stanford
14. Michigan
15. Southern Cal
16. TCU
17. disgusting team from Blacksburg, Virginia
18. Mississippi State
19. Florida State
20. West by God Virginia
21. Texas
22. Boise State
23. Central Florida
24. LSU
25. Oklahoma State

Looks pretty straightforward to me. The Big 10 is well represented in the top 15. Washington is the preseason PAC 12 favorite and Oklahoma is the only Big 12 team to crack the top ten. I don’t know how Penn State replaces Saquon Barkley and a couple of important receivers, but you do have Trace McSorley coming back behind an experienced offensive line.

Here are the other teams receiving votes:

• South Carolina 138
• Florida 135
• Oregon 105
• Utah 81
• Texas A&M 67
• Northwestern 67
• Kansas State 35
• Florida Atlantic 27
• Memphis 23
• Boston College 23
• NC State 22
• Arkansas State 19
• Troy 19
• Appalachian State 16
• San Diego State 15
• Kentucky 8
• Iowa State 8
• Iowa 8
• Washington State 7
• South Florida 6
• Duke 5
• Fresno State 4
• Louisville 3
• Arizona 2
• Houston 2
• Army 1
• Northern Illinois 1

Army? Northern Illinois? Okay..

Anyway, I’m interested to see what happens with Ohio State, now that Urban Meyer is on paid administrative leave. OSU is investigating Meyer after a former assistant’s ex-wife alleged that people around Meyer knew of domestic violence committed by that assistant three years ago. Meyer’s offensive coordinator is coaching the team for the time being.

Let’s end it with a poll: Does Urban coach against PSU on September 29th, or does he get canned before then?

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