The 2006 Composite Poll

Its not an exact science, but I took most of the reputable preview mags, combined them with trusted websites, merged it with the BlogPoll and put in my two cents to come up with the 2006 Composite Poll.

Pre-Season Mags: Lindy's, Athlon, Street&Smith's, Phil Steele, and the Sporting News.

Websites: ESPN (using Power 16 plus their 9 teams receiving votes), CBS Sportsline, USA Today, and Rivals.com

For brevity, let me just list the teams...

1. Ohio State (7) 263 pts.
2. Notre Dame (2) 248
3. Texas 240
4. Auburn 234
5. USC 231
6. West Virginia 220
7. Florida 191
7. LSU 191
9. Oklahoma (2) 171
10. California 168
11. Florida State 161
12. Louisville 155
13. Miami, FL 151
14. Michigan 134
15. Georgia 132
16. Iowa 107
17. Virginia Tech 103
18. Clemson 90
19. Penn State 66
20. Oregon 58
21. Nebraska 48
22. TCU 44
23. Tennessee 37
24. Arizona State 34
25. Texas Tech 31

Others: Utah 17, Alabama 16, Arkansas 13, Boise State 7, Boston College 6, UCLA 4, Purdue 2, South Carolina 2, Georgia Tech 1.

Some impressions:

- The results are skewed thanks to Rhett Bomar. Of the five preseason mags, only the Sporting News offered an update on the Sooners, moving them from 9th to 24th. If anything, consider the Sooners hold on the #9 position to be tenuous.

- Teams 1-18 are ranked in every poll, along with #21 Nebraska.

- All the talk of a wide open year resulted in only three votes for a national champion. Ohio State, Notre Dame, and Oklahoma were predicted to be champs.

- Teams 1-9 and #12 Louisville received Top 5 votes.

- California, Florida State, Miami, FL, and Virginia Tech all received Top 10 votes.

- Michigan, Georgia, Iowa, Clemson, and Nebraska are ranked, but did not garner one Top 10 vote.

- There seems to be huge divisions in the poll, points where there is a drop off to the next team. The Elite Six appear to be seperated with all receiving over 200 points. Its a 29 point drop off to the tie of LSU and Florida.

- Color LSU and Florida as the "prove it" teams as they are 29 points from the next team up and 20 points from the next team below. This probably has everything to do with both of these talented teams having murderous schedules.

- The next dip happens at #15 Georgia at 132 points to #16 Iowa at 107 points. Taking out Georgia's high and low ranking (10, Sporting News and 19, Street and Smith's), the Dawgs were consistently ranked: 11, 12, 13, 14, 14, 14, 15, 15, and 17. Michigan is along the same vein. You can keep Michigan's high ranking of 11 by two outlets - Lindy's and Phil Steele - and throw out the low 20th ranking from CBS SportsLine and Michigan was ranked 11, 11, 12, 12, 13, 14, 14, 14, 15, 15, and 17. Reasons? Georgia has a question at QB and Michigan is usually a safe bet.

- Penn State is getting reluctant support, basically waiting to see if JoePa needed to ride off into the sunset last year or are the Nittany Lions back to being dominant.

- Tennessee gets in after a 5-6 year and a lot back, but Alabama is not in and they only lose Croyle on offense. Interesting.

- For everyone telling the Irish to prepare for Georgia Tech, the polls certainly aren't showing the same respect for the Jackets. Only CBS Sportsline put them in at #25.

- By the polls' calculations, no outside team will enter the BCS as TCU is the highest and only non-Big Six team to be ranked at #22. Boise State and Utah received votes.

- Following that logic, your BCS is this...

Big Ten Champ: Ohio State
Notre Dame gets in
Big 12: Texas
SEC: Auburn
Pac-10: USC
Big East: West Virginia
ACC: Florida State

Then come the three at-large bids. I can see Oklahoma, California, and Louisville coming out. Each team could lose only once to the above conference champions and advance.

That would set these matchups. The Rose Bowl would pick the first at-large after losing Ohio State to the BCS game.

BCS - Notre Dame vs. Ohio State
Rose - USC vs. Oklahoma
Fiesta - Texas vs. California
Sugar - Auburn vs. Louisville
Orange - West Virginia vs. Florida State

Just a guess.

Enough talk... let's kick it off already!