The Amway Coaches Poll arrived today, and if you're all interested in hearing more about it and then sharing it with your friends in return, we've got you covered right here!
The pyramid scheme jokes for this are going to just write themselves, aren't they?
Preseason predictions were mixed between the Top Ten and Top Five for Auburn with a low of #9 in three predictions and a high of #1 in one prediction. The average placed Auburn at #6. So let's look at how things actually fell.
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Florida State at #1. No surprise, there. They return way too much and are the defending champions.
So first things first: Auburn lands at #5. There are questions about Auburn, sure. Will the defense improve? Can we count on "luck" in close games as much? I say yes it will, and what luck? The Miracle at Jordan-Hare may have been luck, but not much else was. Our own WarRoomEagle pointed out on Twitter yesterday that Auburn under Gus is 18-4 (16-1 since 2010) in one possession games and he was 4-0 at Arkansas State in one possession games. Maybe it's time for some acknowledgement that Gus is just a dang-good clutch coach. But his sample size as a head coach is still too small. If that bears out the same this year, I suspect it will start getting noticed. If nothing else you can rest assured we here at College and Magnolia will be screaming it from the mountain tops. Or at least the tallest rolling plain on these "rolling plains of Dixie."
A look at where Auburn fell wouldn't be complete without examining where Alabama is. Oh, look, they're ahead of us at #2. I'm sorry, but I just don't see it right now. I have zero doubt Alabama will be a very strong team by the season's end, but there are just too many questions surrounding their OL, DBs, and QB. They'll be fine. They'll be in the mix at the end, I'm sure. I just hate how preseason polls work. If you're ranking Alabama on where they stand right now in terms of what is known for sure about them, then ranking them this high just doesn't make much sense to me.
Five of the seven schools in the SEC West are in the Top 25. LSU at #13, Ole Miss at #19 and Texas A&M at #20. That's a pretty scary division, I'd say. As for the SEC East, South Carolina at #9, Georgia checks in at #12 and Missouri checks in at #... wait, what? No Missouri? That's a bit crazy in my opinion. Sure, they lost a good bit, but they still made it to the SECCG last year and made it a tough game for the majority of it.
So there's your preseason Amway Coaches Poll. Which this year means... well, not as much, really. The committee will make their decisions for the playoffs however they choose to make it. The polls will certainly play a part, but they won't be a deciding factor like they were in the BCS. Don't forget to tell all your friends about it and this review. For every friend you tell, it gets me an extra page view! And you get satisfaction in being the friend that provided the information to THEM. And then they tell two friends. And they tell two friends. And so on. And so on.