Louisville ranks 27th in USA poll, Big East with zero in Top 25

The USA Today Coaches Poll was released this afternoon. For the second consecutive season, the Big East doesn’t have a team in the top 25. The highest ranked Big East team is Louisville at 27.

Louisville received only 18 total votes less than Washington, who was ranked one ahead of them at 26. They were only 20 votes behind Auburn, who came in at 25th. Cincinnati finished at 29th with 32 overall votes, USF at 34th with 12 overall votes, and Rutgers in 41st with 5 votes. The future of the Big East is represented in the polls, with Boise State in the top 25, and Houston, Southern Mississippi, and Central Florida all receiving votes.

LSU comes in ranked at number one. LSU didn’t contain the most first place votes, but the most overall votes pushed them over the top. LSU is followed by Alabama, Southern California, Oklahoma, and Oregon to round out the top 5.
Many people don’t believe in the preseason polls, claiming that they are a complete guess. Though since 4 out of the last 5 years the national champion has been ranked in the top 5 preseason. The only exception is Auburn in 2010.

This season in particular, the polls are a little premature. The student athletes at Penn State and Central Florida can still transfer to other schools and be able the play this year. The votes were received from the coaches before Penn State’s star running back Silas Reed transferred to Southern California.

Rank Team (first-place votes) Record Points Final 2011 rank

1. LSU (18)
13-1 1,403 2
2. Alabama (20)
12-1 1,399 1
3. Southern California (19)
10-2 1,388 NR
4. Oklahoma (1)
10-3 1,276 15
5. Oregon
12-2 1,258 4
6. Georgia
10-4 1,061 20
7. Florida State (1)
9-4 1,055 23
8. Michigan
11-2 1,023 9
9. South Carolina
11-2 981 8
10. Arkansas
11-2 948 5
11. West Virginia
10-3 833 18
12. Wisconsin
11-3 743 11
13. Michigan State
11-3 717 10
14. Clemson
10-4 598 22
15. Texas
8-5 549 NR
16. Nebraska
9-4 501 24
17. TCU
11-2 499 13
18. Stanford
11-2 497 7
19. Oklahoma State
12-1 476 3
20. Virginia Tech
11-3 461 17
21. Kansas State
10-3 398 16
22. Boise State
12-1 271 6
23. Florida
7-6 250 NR
24. Notre Dame
8-5 166 NR
25. Auburn
8-5 66 NR
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Others receiving votes (with 2011 records)
Washington (7-6) 64; Louisville (7-6) 46; Georgia Tech (8-5) 35; Cincinnati (10-3) 32; Texas A&M (7-6) 28; Baylor (10-3) 23; Utah (8-5) 22; Mississippi State (7-6) 21; South Florida (5-7) 12; N.C. State (8-5) 11; BYU (10-3) 10; Louisiana Tech (8-5) 10; Virginia (8-5) 9; Houston (13-1) 7; Southern Mississippi (12-2) 6; Central Florida (5-7) 5; Rutgers (9-4) 5; Florida International (8-5) 3; Missouri (8-5) 3; Tennessee (5-7) 3; Northern Illinois (11-3) 2; Texas Tech (5-7)