This season a small panel of college football writers on Examiner.com will be putting together a weekly college football power ranking. With the start of the season set for this weekend, the Oklahoma Sooners are our clear team to beat, receiving all five first-place votes in our preseason power rankings.
Before we reveal the rest of the power rankings, here is a look at our panel of voters for this season, with each voter's role and Twitter address so you can follow their coverage on Twitter this season as well.
Kevin McGuire
National College Football Examiner (@KevinOnCFB)
Stephen Francis
Dallas Sports Examiner (@MrSteveFrancis)
Schimri Yoyo
Big East Examiner (@BigEastXMNR)
Troy Hyde
Iowa Hawkeyes Examiner (@HawkeyeExaminer)
Rich Kurtzman
Colorado State University Athletics Examiner (@richkurt)
Sean Jackson
Ohio State Buckeyes Examiner (@SeanJackson614)
Below is the first power ranking, as determined by a ballot from the above writers. First place votes receive 10 points, second place votes receive nine points all the way down to one point for a tenth place vote. This week's poll included two ties in the rankings, so the power rankings actually include 12 teams.
Rank – Scool (First-place votes) – Total points
- Oklahoma (5) – 50 points
- Alabama – 44
- Oregon – 39
- Stanford – 27
- Boise State – 26
LSU – 26 - Florida State – 19
- Nebraska – 14
- South Carolina – 12
- Wisconsin – 9
- TCU – 7
Oklahoma State – 7
On the outside looking in: Texas A&M (five votes)
The Sooners have landed on top of the AP, USA Today Coaches and The FWAA polls so it was no real surprise to see the Sooners land the top spot in our initial batch of power rankings. And seeing the Crimson Tide right behind them, receiving every second place vote available except for one, was also not a tremendous surprise. Alabama is number two in the major polls as well.
While Texas A&M is receiving a fair amount of national hype, and not just because of their impending move to the SEC, the Aggies fail to crack our power rankings, falling just a couple points shy. Collectively, we have 12 teams ahead of the Aggies.
The Big Ten favorites according to many, Nebraska and Wisconsin, each appear in the top ten with or without ties in the standings. On the west coast, Pac 12 favorites Oregon and Stanford are side-by-side within the top five, which seems to tell the story of the conference's strength this season.
Annual BCS buster hopefuls Boise State and TCU, now conference rivals in the Mountain West Conference, are each in our top ten, although Boise State is in the top five (tied with LSU) while the defending Rose Bowl champions are on the edge of our rankings and are ranked only because of a tie. Can both teams stay in the top ten until they square off with each other in Boise later this season?
Here is what some of the staff had to say…
Yoyo: I believe that Texas A&M and Oklahoma State are slightly over-valued. I would have Oklahoma State as 11 and A&M as 12.
Francis: My absence of LSU is because of the uncertainty of their legal situation with two of the players. If they don't play, it could completely change what happens for their season.
That is what we say, now voice your opinions. In the comments section below, please leave us your top ten, or tell us who we have ranked too high or too low. We'll include some of your thoughts in a later post.
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