September 18, 2005
USA Today Coaches Poll - Week 4
The USA TODAY Coaches Top 25 college football poll, with number of first-place votes in parentheses, record, and total points:
1. USC (60) 2-0 1,548
2. Texas (2) 3-0 1,483
3. LSU 1-0 1,364
4. Virginia Tech 3-0 1,350
5. Florida 3-0 1,292
6. Georgia 3-0 1,240
7. Florida State 3-0 1,180
8. Louisville 2-0 1,035
9. Ohio State 2-1 972
10. Purdue 2-0 909
11. Tennessee 1-1 863
12. Miami 1-1 852
13. Michigan 2-1 736
14. California 3-0 722
15. Georgia Tech 3-0 654
16. Texas Tech 2-0 523
17. Arizona State 2-1 395
18. Notre Dame 2-1 385
19. Virginia 2-0 358
20. Alabama 3-0 340
21. Iowa 2-1 277
22. Michigan State 3-0 256
23. UCLA 3-0 232
24. Wisconsin 3-0 205
25. Boston College 2-1 163
Dropped out
No. 17 Oklahoma (1-2, lost to then-unranked UCLA 41-24), No. 23 Clemson (2-1, lost to then-No. 13 Miami, Fla. 36-30 3OT), No. 25 Fresno State (1-1, lost to Oregon 37-34).
Others receiving votes
Oregon (3-0) 152; Minnesota (3-0) 130; Auburn (2-1) 117; Clemson (2-1) 87; Iowa State (2-0) 87; Penn State (3-0) 49; West Virginia (3-0) 44; Colorado (2-0) 37; North Carolina State (1-1) 25; Texas A&M (1-1) 22; Toledo (3-0) 15; New Mexico (3-0) 9; Utah (2-1) 9; Texas-El Paso (2-0) 8; Vanderbilt (3-0) 8; Fresno State (1-1) 7; Oklahoma (1-2) 4; Bowling Green (1-1) 3; Wyoming (2-1) 2; Air Force (2-1) 1.
The USA TODAY Board of Coaches is made up of 62 head coaches at Division I-A institutions. All are members of the American Football Coaches Association. The board for the 2005 season: Barry Alvarez, Wisconsin; Chuck Amato, N.C. State, Gary Barnett, Colorado; Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech; Mike Bellotti, Oregon; Phil Bennett, SMU; Jack Bicknell, Louisiana Tech; Larry Blakeney, Troy; Bobby Bowden, Florida State; Tommy Bowden, Clemson; Jeff Bower, Southern Miss; Gregg Brandon, Bowling Green; Art Briles, Houston; Rich Brooks, Kentucky; Mack Brown, Texas; Watson Brown, UAB; John Bunting, North Carolina; Lloyd Carr, Michigan; Larry Coker, Miami (Fla.); Sylvester Croom, Mississippi State; Darrell Dickey, North Texas; Bill Doba, Washington State; Randy Edsall, Connecticut; Dennis Franchione, Texas A&M; Phillip Fulmer, Tennessee; Joe Glenn, Wyoming; Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State; Walt Harris, Stanford; Ken Hatfield, Rice; Dan Hawkins, Boise State; Pat Hill, Fresno State; Terry Hoeppner, Indiana; Brady Hoke, Ball State; Skip Holtz, East Carolina; Brian Kelly, Central Michigan; Rocky Long, New Mexico; Sonny Lubick, Colorado State; Dan McCarney, Iowa State; Andy McCollum, Middle Tennessee; Shane Montgomery, Miami (Ohio); Joe Novak, Northern Illinois; Houston Nutt, Arkansas; Tom O'Brien, Boston College; Gary Patterson, TCU; Bobby Petrino, Louisville; Mark Richt, Georgia; Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia; Greg Schiano, Rutgers; Howard Schnellenberger, Florida Atlantic; John L. Smith, Michigan State; Frank Solich, Ohio; Steve Spurrier, South Carolina; Bob Stoops, Oklahoma; Jeff Tedford, California; Joe Tiller, Purdue; Dick Tomey, San Jose State; Jim Tressel, Ohio State; Tommy Tuberville, Auburn; Bobby Wallace, Temple; Randy Walker, Northwestern; Charlie Weis, Notre Dame; Tyrone Willingham, Washington.
The AFCA prohibits coaches from voting for schools on major NCAA probation.
Comments:
brownsrodeo88 said:
posted on September 18, 2005 9:10 PM — 152.163.100.139 — link — abuse?
So since Notre Dame beat No. 8 Michigan, Notre Dame should be around no. 8ish. Therefore since Michigan State beat Notre Dame, they should be top 10!!!!!111!!1
The people who vote on this pole know alot more than you so "spare us the babble."
Cumberland Ave said:
posted on September 18, 2005 11:24 PM — 24.215.202.246 — link — abuse?
Hey guys,
I think it is more important to look at a team's defense than its offense.
Tennessee and Florida have very good defenses. I think their offenses will come around with time.
In the case of the Vols, one must remember that UT has a new offensive line and Ainge has not played a full game since last Nov.
I doubt that UCLA, Michigan State and Wisconsin have defenses as good as Tennessee's.
Poor special teams play, a questionable reversal of a call and inefficient offense cost Tennessee a win over Florida.
My questions about the ranking of other teams pertain to Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, Boston College and Clemson.
Georgia is 3-0 and beat South Carolina 17-15. Alabama is 3-0 and beat South Carolina 37-14. Yet Georgia is ranked #6 and Alabama is ranked #20. Alabama's Brodie Croyle is a better QB than Georgia's D.J. Shockley. Alabama also has better running backs than Georgia. Their respective defenses appear to be on par.
Texas is overrated, but the Longhorns have an easy schedule so they will probably go undefeated in a weak Big 12 conference this year.
Ohio State struggled with San Diego State.
Michigan State (3-0) should be ranked slightly ahead of Ohio State and Notre Dame and all three should be ranked well ahead of Michigan.
Iowa does not deserve to be in the Top 25 because they lost to unranked Iowa State.
Clemson should be ranked ahead of Boston College.
West Virginia should be ranked because they beat Maryland by a larger margin than did Clemson.
West Virginia will have their day to shine when they play Virginia Tech and Louisville.
I don't think Purdue plays Michigan and Ohio State this year. If that is correct, that will pose problems for Purdue in the polls.
SoCal, Texas and Louisville may all go undefeated. Louisville obviously has a weak schedule. By year's end, people will begin to see the weakness of Texas' schedule in the Big 12.
It's fun for fans to debate polls, but they really won't be very accurate until much later in the season.
posted on September 19, 2005 1:27 AM — 70.162.5.208 — link — abuse?Josh McClain said:
Ahh, the good old "They know more than you so shut your pie hole" argument. One of my favorites.
Tell me, I see Jim Tressel and Bob Stoops are both voters. Can you tell me when exactly they found the time to fit in watching each others games on Saturday?
Would have been a little difficult as both were playing on the same time on Saturday. Maybe because they know more than me, they could figure out how to be in two places at once, coaching their own team on one hand while watching the others game to make an objective vote on the other hand.
Was it coaches who knew more than me who deceptively pushed Mack Brown's Texas into the BCS last year?
But hey, some folks know more than I, so i'll just smile, bend over and take whatever they give me.
Rod Farley said:
posted on September 19, 2005 10:14 AM — 206.51.158.213 — link — abuse?
Despite all the arguments of who votes when and whose Defense is better than whose Offense is completely irrelevant to what I believe is the biggest point that Josh makes. It is completely ridiculous to have preseason rankings or even rankings until halfway through the year. Some of these highly touted schools get the benefit of the doubt when others cant catch a break.
Please note that all comments are subject to the Fanblogs Comment Policy.
Josh McClain said:
posted on September 18, 2005 8:09 PM — 130.13.109.75 — link — abuse?Example No. 41345 of why Coaches and media folk are possibly the worst individuals to vote for College Football polls. Especially early in the season.
Michigan State beats Notre Dame - guess who is still ranked higher. The AP has the same problem. Iowa State thumps Iowa, guess who is still ranked, and guess who isn't.
Tennessee, who's scored a grand total of 23 points in 1 loss and 1 should've been a loss, while UCLA, Michigan State and Wisconsin could have three of the most potent offenses in football combining for nine wins, all are a solid 10 spots behind the Vols.
Spare me the babble about its who you think will beat someone else and so on.
College Football should not have any polls until at least week six. Year after year, it's a continual embarrassment.