The AP Top 25 for the upcoming 2006 college football season was recently released. There were a few surprises, but it was solid overall. The rankings, which we’ll go over in a moment, will likely change after the first week. Two of the big teams in this standings, Ohio State and Texas, will square off in week two on September 9. Last year’s meeting between these two teams was monumental and perhaps decided the national championship. If Texas had lost that game, most of the country wouldn’t be as familiar with Vince Young.
Still, the 2006 NFL Draft took a lot out of the Ohio State Buckeyes. Are they really the number one team? How about Notre-Dame? Is it time to get in your car? Will they bring back the glory days gone by? Here’s the current AP top 25 for college football.
1. State of Ohio
2. Our Lady
3. Texas
4.Auburn
5. West Virginia
6.USC
7.Florida
8.USL
9.California
10.Oklahoma
11. State of Florida
12.Miami
13. Louisville
14.Michigan
15. Georgia
16.Iowa
17.Virginia Tech
18.Clemson
19. State of Pennsylvania
20.Nebraska
21. Oregon
22. UTC
23. Tennessee
24. State of Arizona
25.Texas Tech
My only complaint is that Miami is on the list lower than the state of Florida. Miami is clearly the better team. Once the season starts, this will be one of the listing places that changes. Also, I’m not that excited about Texas. They’re riding a lot of excitement from last season, including voting excitement. They lost their field general in Vince Young and that’s going to hurt. We’ll find out just how real they are in week two when the Ohio State Buckeyes come to town.
Why is USC in sixth place? They lost key players and replacements are largely untested. Once again, this is preseason respect since they entered the championship game last season. USC’s first test comes in its second game on September 16 against Nebraska. That’s a home game for USC. USC averaged 49.1 points per game last season, but that’s going to drop.
The preseason Top 25 is basically a bunch of guesses using last year’s performances as a guide. There’s a good chance that 80% of these teams will move after their first few games. Some won’t even be in the Top 25 in the second week. College football is going to be exciting from the start. It is very possible that we end up with a Notre Dame vs. Ohio State Championship Game.