The Return of the Blog Poll

The Blog Poll rears it's ugly head again on Aug. 22. For the second straight year, 'tis a great honor for me to serve my fellow bloggers and college football junkies as a mere cog in this endeavor.

Below is my tentative preseason Blog Poll ballot. I won't cast the real ballot until Sunday evening (Aug. 19), so I am quite open to persuasion here...

1	Southern Cal
2	Texas
3	LSU
4	West Virginia
5	Michigan
6	Wisconsin
7	Oklahoma
8	Florida
9	Louisville
10	Georgia Tech
11	Virginia Tech
12	California
13	Ohio State
14	Florida State
15	Hawaii
16	Oregon
17	Arkansas
18	Rutgers
19	Nebraska
20	Missouri
21	TCU
22	Penn State
23	South Carolina
24	UCLA
25	Wake Forest

Initial thoughts....

--Zero points for originality regarding my #1 pick.

--I really like those Longhorns, and it's just too perfect and storybook for their QB to have the name of Colt McCoy.

--Wisconsin is the ACCFR Official Darkhorse National Title Contender. OK, so they went 12-1 last year (not exactly "darkhorse" material), but nobody's talking about them this summer.

--Aside from Ramblin' Racket, I trust that no one else will have the Jackets anywhere near the Top 10. Shoot, I'm betting that half the pollsters won't have Georgia Tech in their Top 25. Fools.

--Florida State may be too high. Sure, being a Seminole alum, I'll likely always be a bit biased, but I put them at #14 by default. I couldn't think of another team that should be better.

--Hawaii is probably too high, but they'll have one-loss at most and that offense should be holy-frickin-poi incredible.

--I could see Arkansas going anywhere from 10-2 to 4-8. The hillbilly upheaval in Fayetteville this offseason has been almost Shakespearean, but Darren McFadden alone should be good enough for bowl eligibility.

--Rutgers, Nebraska, Missouri, Penn State...meh. 8-4, all of you.

--Wake Forest is every bit a Top 25 program this year. Just watch.