Here’s a fun fact…
Posted on | August 17, 2009 | No Comments
Here’s a fun fact…
I got to thinking as I was doing my preseason predictions and power rankings. You may call this the Ole Miss justification if you feel so inclined. But there is something to it.
Every year that the SEC managed to get 4 or more teams in the top 15 of either of the two major preseason top 25 polls this decade? With one exception, at least one team would end up unranked this decade.
You want me to break this down? I will.
2000: The Alabama Crimson Tide, coming off of an SEC Championship, started the year ranked as the #3 team in the country and had several first place votes. They would go on to finish 3-8. And ironically get ranked in the preseason polls in 2000.
2001: The SEC only had three teams ranked in the Top 15. And only two were in the coaches poll. This year doesn’t count.
2002: Tennessee started the year #4 in the country (with first place votes). They lost to Florida (who would fall from a Top 7 preseason spot to out of the top 25.) in week 4. They would end the year unranked, losing 30-3 to Maryland in the Peach Bowl. LSU also went from a 14/13 (AP/coaches) ranking out of the top 25.
2003: Somebody thought Auburn would make a fine choice for a preseason 1st place team, most people thought they’d be a solid pick at #6. They were dead by week 3. USC and Georgia Tech proved them flawed.
2004: The joy of Zooking strikes Florida again. They were #11 in the AP poll, #10 in the Coaches. They would finish out of the AP rankings.
2005: This is why Phillip Fulmer lasting three more seasons was a stunning turn of events. Because for the second time you have Fulmer with a 1st place vote garnering top 5 team in the country (#3) and it would turn out to be this giant ball of unranked. This time with a twist. They would go 5-6. Fulmer could have been disappeared here and nobody would have complained.
2006: Mark Richt does his Ron Zook impression by turning his 14th ranked team in the coaches poll into something that would be unranked in one poll. If not the other.
2007: The one exception. Every team that started in the top 15 actually managed to stick in the Top 15. But that was the craziest flippin’ year of college football ever. Ever.
2008: Now we all remember LSU falling from #6 in the coaches poll to out of the Top 25. But have we forgotten Auburn? They were a top 10 team that had more trouble scoring than me. (See, that’s called self-deprication.)
2009: Some team in the SEC West probably makes this happen again. Or Georgia. Maybe both.
Related posts:
- 2009 SEC Coaches Southpark Style, Pic
- Phillip Fulmer is BACK… on CBS
- Which SEC coaches seat is the hottest right now?
- Bill James wants us to Boycott the BCS
- SEC Football Preseason Predictions and Power Rankings, 2009
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