Yep, I'm an AP voter
I feel like I should stand up in front of a room and say "Hello, my name is Jim Young and I ... am a voter in the AP football poll." Then everyone in the room would say "Hi, Jim" and I would begin my tale of woe.
Not that being an AP voter is some sort of addiction, but rather that I could probably use a support group. At the time, way, way back in early August, when I was offered the gig, I didn't think twice. It would be fun to be a pollster, I thought, to be a part of the process. Maybe interact with some fans from around the country.
Then I sat down to compile my preseason poll.
(As Bill Murray said in Stripes, 'And then, depression set in.')
Where to start? Where to end? What the heck to do in the middle? It was all so, overwhelming.
Here's the first problem you face when trying to construct a preseason poll. You have no results to work with. The results you do have are months old and are based on the performances of players who may or may not be at their schools now.
Problem No. 2 - Do you vote based on how you think team's will do record-wise, or how good they are as stand-along objects?
Here's my point. Let's take Auburn, a team I wrestled back and forth on for a long time in my poll. The Tigers are a perennial power in the SEC and there's no reason to think they won't be strong again this year. Their QB is back for his third year, they've got seven starters back on defense, including DE Quentin Groves - who is a terror - and they've still got Tommy Tuberville at the helm. So there's a lot to like. Definitely one of the 25 best teams in the country.
Then there's the schedule - a dicey early home against South Florida, a road game at Florida, a road game at Arkansas, a road game at LSU, a road game at Georgia. That's just brutal. I could easily see Auburn losing three of those games and wouldn't be shocked if they dropped four.
So, weighing what I thought of Auburn in a vacuum (pretty darned good) with what I thought of Auburn's likely final record (8-4 or 9-3) I put them at No. 23. I will now brace myself for the angry War Eagle emails that will fill my mailbox.
I had all sorts of debates like that while putting together this poll. Here are a few other highlights - or lowlights - of my first AP poll.
No. 4 Virginia Tech
I felt pretty good about my top three - USC, LSU and Texas. Then I hit a snag at No. 4. Eventually I went with the Hokies because I feel like, of all the other potential BCS conference champs out there not named USC, they've got the biggest gap between them and the rest of the conference. Which means, even if Tech drops its road game at LSU - no shame in that - I could see them finishing 11-1. Getting FSU and Miami and home helps as well. The wildcard here is the effect that the shootings over the summer might have on this team's psyche. I wasn't in any way qualified to make that sort of judgement, so I went with the team's makeup on paper.
No. 8 West Virginia
At the risk of incurring the wrath of my editor, Joe Sirera, who is a proud Mountaineer alum, I had the WVU a bit lower in my poll than most of the other voters. I love Steve Slaton and Pat White as much as the next guy and I think the offense won't skip a beat even though the Mountaineers lost their offensive line coach Rick Trickett to FSU. But I still remember Taylor Bennett slicing up the defense in the Gator Bowl and I'm not convinced that group is an elite unit. Gotta be strong on both sides of the ball to make my top five.
No. 9 Florida
The same goes for the Gators. I know that Florida's been killing in recruiting and that Tim Tebow has reportedly walked on water and fed the 5,000 but I still have reservations whenever a team is a) led by a quarterback starting for the first time and b) replacing 10 starters on defense. That's one of my standards rules of ranking. You can look it up.
No. 19 Georgia Tech
I might regret this one. Chan Gailey doesn't usually inspire much confidence in me - just confidence that the Yellow Jackets will somehow find a way to lose four or five games each year. And I've never seen a wide receiver affect a game as much as Calvin Johnson did before he left for the NFL. But, I have to think that Taylor Bennett is a big upgrade over Reggie Ball (why Chan, why? Four years ... ) and there are still several nice weapons on that offense, including RB Tashard Choice, WR James Johnson and four starting offensive linemen. And there's a lot of talent back on that defense, which is always nasty under Jon Tenuta, one of the best defensive coordinators in the business.
No. 25 South Carolina
Full disclosure. I grew up in South Carolina as a fan of the Gamecocks. The first thing Joe Sirera asked when he saw my poll was if I was doing South Carolina a favor, the same way Steve Spurrier always gives Duke a No. 25 vote in his preseason coaches' poll.
Believe me, I had to weigh my soft spot for South Carolina (motto "The Other USC") when I put them in. But I think there's a legitimate reason to have them in. They've got a lot of talent back (6 starters on offense, 10 on defense). They lost a ton of very close games (four by a touchdown or less) including a heartbreaker at Florida. Quarterback Blake Mitchell finally seemed to "get" Steve Spurrier's offense at the end of the year and put up some impressive numbers.
Normally I don't put much weight in a win the season before, but if you grew up in South Carolina, you know that the annual South Carolina-Clemson game is HUGE. The Gamecocks' victory of Clemson removed a major pyschological block.
Finally, Steve Spurrier's been busy telling anybody who will listen that South Carolina can compete for an SEC title THIS YEAR. Frankly, I think he's probably using this as a ploy, but he's pretty darned good at backing up his talk (just ask Tennessee).
So, after that convincing argument why not rank South Carolina higher, you ask? At Georgia, at LSU, at Tennessee, at Arkansas and at Florida. I wouldn't even wish that kind of schedule on ... Clemson.