The first edition of the Coaches poll is out and Notre Dame cracked the Top 25 at #23. The month of September will show if ND belongs in the Top 25, but at least it's nice ND gets the benefit of the doubt starting out. As pointed out below, ND and UNC are the only two teams in the Top 25 that ended the 2008 season without any Coaches poll votes.
Here is where our 2009 opponents stand:
4. Southern Cal
27. Michigan State
30. Pittsburgh
40. Nevada
49. Boston College
53. Navy
57. Michigan
The first thing that jumps out is Southern Cal is the only Notre Dame opponent in the Top 25 going into the season. MSU and Pitt are close, but overall the Coaches (or the assistants that filled out their ballots) don't think much of the teams facing ND in 2009. Another interesting note: when was the last time Navy (2 votes) received more pre-season votes than Michigan (1 vote)? Did Charlie vote for Navy? Did Charlie vote for Michigan?
As usual, we took a look at the final Coaches poll
from last year and compared it to this year's first to see the big gainers and the big losers in terms of votes received.
biggest gainers
| team
| 09
| 08 final
| diff
| | 9 | LSU
| 917 | 65 | +852 | 12
| Cal | 711 | 116 | +595 | | 11 | Ok. State | 861 | 480 | +381 | | 15 | Georgia Tech
| 559 | 219 | +340 | | 20 | UNC | 293 | 0
| +293 | 7
| Virginia Tech | 1,020 | 740 | +280 | | 10 | Ole Miss
| 889 | 620 | +269 | | 6 | Ohio State
| 1,126 | 874 | +252 | | 23 | Notre Dame
| 194 | 0 | +194 | | 22 | Nebraska
| 236 | 62 | +174 | | biggest losers
| team
| 09
| 08 final
| diff
| 18
| Utah
| 404 | 1,375
| -971 |
| Texas Tech | 114 | 867
| -753 | 17
| TCU | 461 | 1,114
| -653 |
| Missouri
| 44 | 549
| -505 |
| Cincinnati
| 90 | 493
| -403 | | 14 | Oregon | 694 | 1,011
| -317 | 16
| Boise St.
| 542 | 809
| -267 | 25
| Oregon St.
| 165 | 407
| -242 | 13
| Georgia | 707 | 904
| -197 | 8
| Penn State
| 988 | 1,091
| -103 |
|
One thing that jumps out and isn't terribly surprising is that gainers side is full of BCS conference teams that usually get the benefit of the doubt while many of the non-BCS teams and other non-traditional powers that had great seasons last year will have to prove themselves all over again in 2009. Who are your picks for overrated and underrated?
