Preseason Top 10? Don’t Get Too Comfy
Fantastic Flops
BCS-era teams that did poorly after being in the preseason AP top-10 .
Team/Year PresEasoN Rank Final
Record
LSU 1998 #9 4-7
Arizona 1999 #4 6-6
Ohio State 1999 #9 6-6
Alabama 2000 #3 3-8
Nebraska 2002 #10 7-7
Tennessee 2005 #3 5-6
Louisville 2007 #10 6-6
Auburn 2008 #10 5-7
Just because your school is starting out in college football’s preseason top 10 doesn’t mean it belongs there. In fact, there’s a fair chance it won’t finish anywhere near there. Of the 120 teams ranked in the Associated Press’s preseason top 10 since 1998, 21—nearly two per season—finished completely outside the final top-25 poll.
The biggest flop of the BCS era, hands down, was Alabama in 2000. Ranked third before the season, coach Mike DuBose’s Crimson Tide went 3-8, setting in motion the school’s blundering series of coaching moves (Dennis Franchione, Mike Price, Mike Shula) before the school finally landed Nick Saban.
WSJ.com
9/2/10
