AP, coaches agree: Sooners are No. 1
Published: 8/20/2011 9:05 AM
Last Modified: 8/20/2011 9:26 AM
Oklahoma starts the college football preseason ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25.
It’s the 10th time the Sooners are No. 1 in the preseason poll, but the program’s first time since 2003 to open a season at the top.
Oklahoma received 36 of 60 first-place votes and got 1,464 poll points, just ahead of No. 2 Alabama, which got 17 first-place votes and 1,439 points.
No. 3 Oregon got four first-place votes, No. 4 LSU received one and No. 5 Boise State got two.
Florida State, the Sooners’ second opponent on Sept. 17 in Tallahassee, is No. 6. That’s Seminoles’ highest preseason ranking since 2004 when they opened No. 5.
The Sooners and Crimson Tide also rank No. 1 and No. 2 in the USA Today Coaches Top 25, released two weeks ago.
The coaches poll is one of three components in the Bowl Championship Rankings, which debut in October. The AP crowns its own champion and its top 25 is not part of the BCS system.
It’s the 98th time since the AP poll began in 1936 that the Sooners stand atop the Top 25, tops among all college football programs. Notre Dame is second at 95, and Ohio State is third at 94.
OU also leads the nation in all-time AP top five appearances. The Sooners have been in the top five for 372 weeks since the AP poll began in 1936. Ohio State is second at 310, while Nebraska is third at 296.
AP voters’ ballots were due over two weeks ago, so couldn’t account for the preseason broken toe that will cost star linebacker Travis Lewis eight weeks, or for the lingering cloud of uncertainty over defensive end Ronnell Lewis’ eligibility, two problems some observers say could derail Oklahoma’s chase for an eighth national title.
Since 1976, only five teams ranked No. 1 in the preseason have finished the year in the same spot.
-- John E. Hoover
Written by
John E. Hoover
Sports Columnist
