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Preseason rankings: Sometimes we know what we're talking about
Published: 1/27/2013 11:08 PM
Last Modified: 1/28/2013 10:37 AM

I read a fair number of complaints from college football fans who don't like preseason rankings.

I see them for what they are -- a good way to keep up the football discussion long before there are actual games on which to focus.

But in terms of accuracy, preseason college football predictions are a little like recruiting rankings -- they're hardly foolproof, but you would rather be ranked high than not at all.

For every come-from-nowhere success story like Notre Dame this season, you have an Alabama.

Take the World's preseason rankings as an example. In our August preseason section, 10 writers made predictions in eight different categories -- Big 12 champ, Conference USA East and West division and overall champ, the two BCS title game participants and BCS champion and the Heisman Trophy winner.

Of course, no one on our esteemed panel could predict the season by Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel. But otherwise our predictions weren't bad. Seven of the 10 members of the panel got at least three of the eight categories right.

And two of us went five of eight. (I shyly raise my hand when roll is called).

My winners were Oklahoma (hey, if Bob Stoops isn't too proud to claim it, than neither am I), Tulsa twice and Alabama twice. And my pick for Alabama's BCS opponent was Oregon, which finished the year ranked second. That's not too shabby.

My only true embarrassment was taking Southern Miss to win the East half of C-USA. Yes, that's the same USM that went winless and fired its first-year head coach. But in my defense, if I had known Central Florida wasn't going to face its NCAA postseason sanctions this year, I probably would have picked the Knights.

Now there was one member of our preseason panel who was an imperfect 0-for-8. I'll keep that identity secret to protect the guilty.

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204424 (2 weeks ago)

full proof? really?

Tulsa World Sports Editor Michael Peters (2 weeks ago)

It was late and I was medicated. I'll do better next time.

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The Editor's Desk

Tulsa World Sports Editor Michael Peters has nearly 20 years of daily newspaper experience. A 1993 graduate of Texas A&M, he worked at papers in Bryan-College Station, Texas, Beaumont, Texas, and Galveston, Texas, before joining the Houston Chronicle as High School Sports Editor in 2008. While in Houston, he coordinated coverage of the 2008 Texas Class 5A state football championships and the 2011 NCAA Men's Final Four.

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