Picture Me Blog Poll'in: Preseason, B2 edition

DISCLAIMER: TOGTM did not make the cut to be in the official Blogpoll as run by Mgoblog. Never deterred, we decided nonetheless to go ahead and publish a poll, just to see how wrong we can be.

This preseason poll is garbage, as there is absolutely nothing to distinguish the middle 20 teams. As such, my polling philosophy is to rank teams that I feel have a good chance at winning a conference, running through their schedule relatively unscathed, or having a shot to be in the BCS picture when it's all said and done. We'll start with the top 5:

1) Ohio State
2) Oklahoma
3) USC
4) Georgia
5) Florida

Ohio State is the most talented team on paper. They return nearly everyone sans Gholston, made it to the title game last year, and have the best coach in the game at the helm. I sincerely believe that anyone not putting OSU as their #1 is letting recent collapses in title games influence their decision. Oklahoma should plow through their schedule, and with Sam Bradford at QB throwing behind an experienced O-line, they get the nod as the number 2 team. Right behind them goes USC, which is really moot because depending on the outcome of the USC vs. OSU game, this is going to get all shifty-like. Georgia seems to be the flavor of the month, but recent injuries and a general disdain for consensus has them at number 4. Florida goes off at number 5, ACL's be damned. Basically, I expect that at least one of the title game participants will come from this group. Whoever gets through unscathed will probably be at least #2 by the end of the season. Even the loser of the USC v. OSU tilt will probably have a shot at #2 if they get through the rest of their schedule.

6) Missouri
7) Clemson
8) Penn State
9) USF
10) WVU

Chase Daniels is for real, and the Big XII North sucks. Missouri has the potential to contend for the Big XII title, and gets the nod at 6. Clemson...eh...I'm not too high on any team from the ACC this year, and have serious doubts as to whether one has enough mustard to run the table. I think that on paper (which is all we have right now) Clemson is the most talented, but I still think they get beat by Wake on a Thursday night game, and VaTech if they make it to the championship game. Under the philosophy of "who has a legit shot at winning a conference" I go with Penn State at 8. I think this year's Penn State team has the ability to be rather 2005-ish. They have a lot of player returning, but (as Champ will point out in a later post) not a lot of returing talent. However, their offensive line looks good, and if Jaypa can bottle even a little of the juji juice that worked for Robinson the last time they ran the spread, they should be contending for the Big Ten title. USF will win the Big East until WVU proves to me that they can beat them. Speaking of which, WVU rounds out the top ten. I'm not buying Stewart's stewardship. Either USF or WVU will be there as the Big East champ this year - the poll will sort itself out.

11) LSU
12) Texas
13) Virginia Tech
14) Auburn
15) BYU

I don't have much to say about LSU other than I really, really hope they lose to App. State in the opener. Texas will probably flirt with the top 10 until they lose to Oklahoma, and will probably end up hovering just outside the top ten for the season. Colt McCoy is good enough to win a few that they shouldn't. Virginia Tech should win the Coastal division. Always a good defense and good special teams. Auburn is as vanilla as they come. They should compete in the SEC West, and may even knock off LSU for a spot in the SEC title game. BYU is here because they're talented, play in a weak conference, and will probably be this year's version of Hawaii.

16) Utah
17) Tennessee
18) Texas Tech
19) Wisconsin
20) Wake Forest

I've got Utah at 16 for the exact same reason I've got BYU at 15. One of these two teams will be good enough to crash a BCS bowl. Tennessee falls into the same catagory as Texas Tech: Show me. The defense should be good in Knoxville, but I need to see it before they go higher. Texas Tech seems to be a chic pick, but they're experiencing some backlash lately. They're good enough to be middle-ranked, but, like Tenn., I need to see some proof of goodness before I move them into the top 15. Wisconsin could be as good as Penn State this year - and really could be ranked anywhere in the miasma that is 10-20. All Wake Forest has done recently is played really, really solid football with guys that were largely passed over by SEC and ACC monsters. They've done it for 2 years running now, and I don't see why they should slow their roll here.

21) Cal
22) Michigan
23) Oregon
24) Central Michigan
25) Michigan State

Cal? See: Michigan State. Michigan is a wildcard deserving of rank, not deserving of anything higher. If they dismantle Utah, I'll put them in the top 20; if they get smoked, out they go. Oregon was average last year without Dixon. They don't have Dixon this year (I stole that from Champ, who will ridicule me in his post). Central should rule the MAC, unless you believe Jason Whitlock, who says that Ball State's gonna crash a BCS bowl. Michigan State gets the nod at 25 - but it's moot, as the loser of Cal v. MSU gets dropped for South Carolina after the first game of the season. Oh, and Kansas isn't on this poll. That's not a mistake.