Arkansas ranked just out of the preseason USA Today Top 25 Coaches’ Poll at number 29 with 64 votes.
First game opponent Southern California will come into Fayetteville tied for the third place ranking with Notre Dame. Ohio State begins the year ranked number one.
Six SEC schools were ranked in the top 25, including Auburn (6th), Florida (8th), LSU (9th), Georgia (14th), Tennessee (23rd) and Alabama (24th). South Carolina received 55 votes, ranking them just behind the Hogs at number 30.
A couple of things strike me about this…..1) It is really nice to get that many votes this early in the season after coming off a 4-7 year. Normally we would have to earn those votes by our performance on the field first. 2) How in the hell does Bama contine to get props after losing their starting QB and over half their starters from last year. I know, I know…..name team. Blah, Blah, Blah. Mark it down….they will be no better than 3-5 in league play. 3) And finally, it is good to see HDN is still a voter in the poll. I thought they might have kicked him out after he left West Virginia completely off his ballot one week last year.
Thanks for the comment, Sunshine. The Heisman Pundit also had a good take:
Can We Get A Revote?: "Are we in such a backward state, is our technology so clunky these days that this poll couldn't have been re-done to take into account the loss of Bomar?"
well, to be honest, it doesn't matter. I'm doing a thesis on the system of ratings as we speak. Although the AP is independent from the BCS, it is founded on journalists…….who sell papers. The BCS seems to be the television version of the AP and forces obligations upon teams. Follow the money and you'll see why certain programs always receive many votes.
Okahoma will always be rated highly because they give justification to Texas for their high rankings all of the time. Texas has a huge fan base and ranking them highly sells magazines and news papers, etc. Granted, it does assist in recruiting better quality players, but even those ratings are skewed in the same way. USC receives many votes every year no matter what happens, or who they lose. Why? Because they live in a state with the fifth largest economy on Earth without any other real football presence since the NFL left that city/area. So the media try to beef up a few of their PAC 10 foes to justify their rankings and sell more papers/magazines/commercials. Notre Dame, well, they are independent, but appeal to roughly 15-20% of Americans, who happen to be Catholic, and they think Jesus chooses sides in a game! Miami, Florida, Florida St. all reside in another large market. Ohio is the sixth most populous state in the country and Ohio State is ALWAYS ranked in the top 25. Do these teams deserve it? Some do to an extent, but when certain under-rated teams continually beat highly-rated teams, or walk toe to toe with them, you have to question the method being used to rank teams. You look at the population differences and economic differences in those teams' areas. Usually, they are perceived as a small market and everyone just ignores them. Arkansas has roughly 2.6 million people and California has over 40 million. California represents the Pac 10, so the West Coast will be watching in hopes USC beats Arkansas to futher verify the legitimacy of that conference. It's a great way to pull a massive audience. In contrast, Arkansas will represent not only the entire SEC, but also the under-rated programs in America. This audience will view the game as David Vs. Goliath. "If Arkansas can do it, so can we!" That sort of thinking. America loves a good underdog matchup (See Rocky I, II, III, IV, V & VI!)
Why do you think the South leads the country in annual attendance? We, here in the South, are continually made fun of for having inferior everything (so they think), and this is a great way to prove to those pretty boys we can hang with the best, and our fans want to watch us represent well. It's more than just a game here. It's about slapping down the egos of arrogant people.
My point is that preseason polls are stupid. They feed the minds of the masses what they want to hear. They ignore the "outcasts" or smaller markets, because they can't afford to double-speak. SO, ignore the numbers. The season hasn't even started.
WE NEED A PLAYOFF!