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USA Today preseason football poll

Bill Sullivan — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:44:13 +0000

Who is on the fast track to the 2009 college football national championship? Preseason polls don’t guarantee anything once the games begin, but they can make sure a team doesn’t have to move up too far to stay in the conversation.

Here’s the way the horses will line up at starting gate according to the coaches who vote in the USA Today poll, with first-place votes included:

1. Florida (53)
2. Texas (4)
3. Oklahoma (1)
4. Southern California (1)
5. Alabama
6. Ohio State
7. Virginia Tech
8. Penn State
9. LSU
10. Mississippi
11. Oklahoma State
12. California
13. Georgia
14. Oregon
15. Georgia Tech
16. Boise State
17. TCU
18. Utah
19. Florida State
20. North Carolina
21. Iowa
22. Nebraska
23. Notre Dame
24. Brigham Young
25. Oregon State

To see the entire poll, visit USA Today.com

BCS standings

Bill Sullivan — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 21:41:48 +0000

Oklahoma and Florida finished 1-2 in the final Bowl Championship Series standings, earning the right to meet in the BCS national championship game Jan. 8 in Miami.

OU finished No. 1 with a final score of .9757, edging out Florida’s .9479. Texas (.9298) finished third despite a regular season win over the Sooners.

The number is achieved by combining the results of the USA Today coaches’ poll, the Harris Interactive poll, and six computer rankings.

Here are the final regular season top 10:

1. Oklahoma: .9757

2. Florida: .9479

3. Texas: .9298

4. Alabama: .8443

5. Southern California: .8208

6. Utah: .7846

7. Texas Tech: .7840

8. Penn State: .7387

9. Boise State: .6980

10. Ohio State: .6354

NCAA Attendance Leaders

Bill Sullivan — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:25:49 +0000

College football stadiums are getting bigger every day, and there’s a good reason for that: More and more people want to get in on the action.

You know all about “The Big House” in Ann Arbor, “The Horseshoe” in Columbus, “The Swamp” in Florida and the Tennessee Navy docking for the big game in Knoxville. But who are the other top draws around the nation?

Here’s a list of the 2007 home attendance leaders, with average per game:

1. Michigan: 110,264

2. Penn State: 108,917

3. Ohio State: 105,110

4. Tennessee: 103,918

5. Georgia: 92,746

6. LSU: 92,619

7. Alabama: 92,138

8. Florida: 90,388

9. Southern California: 87,476

10. Texas: 85,144

Note: With the expansion of Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium to a capacity of more than 98,000 for 2008, UT is likely to move into the top five after numbers are crunched at the end of the current season.

Source: NCAA.org

Top College Football Teams

Bill Sullivan — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:20:13 +0000

With so much at stake in college football these days, it’s small wonder no one seems to stay at the top for very long. Players and coaches come and go, and the cost of remaining among the best of the best rises annually.

That makes sustained excellence as a good measuring stick as any in determining the true powers over any length of time. These are the teams who have produced the best overall record from 1998-2007:

10. Tennessee, 93-34 (.732) — A perfect season en route to the 1998 national championships helps these numbers.

9. Michigan, 93-32 (.744) — Three Rose Bowls and an Orange over that 10-year span.

8. USC, 93-32 (.744) — The Trojans haven’t been quite the same since losing the 2006 Rose Bowl and the national championship to Texas, but they’re still pretty good.

7. Miami, 95-30 (.760) — Losing 13 times over the past two seasons moved the Hurricanes down the list.

6. Georgia, 99-30 (.767) — Despite plenty of success, that national title remains elusive.

5. Virginia Tech, 99-29 (.773) — Frank Beamer’s Hokies are one of the nation’s best-kept secrets.

4. Ohio State, 98-27 (.784) — The Buckeyes have caught no shortage of flak for recent BCS Championship game failures, but, hey, at least they get that far.

3. Oklahoma, 102-27 (.785) — “Big Game Bob” Stoops has been stinking it up in the bowl games lately, but winning the Big 12 on a regular basis is nothing to sneeze at.

2. Texas, 103-25 (.805) — Going 25-1 over the 2004 and ‘05 seasons (and winning the national title in the second year) boosted a program that spends too many bowl seasons in San Diego and Dallas.

1. Boise State, 102-24 (.809) — The boys from Boise have more than that bowl win over Oklahoma on their resume.

To read more about these, visit FOX Sports.

Most College World Series Champions

Bill Sullivan — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 18:42:23 +0000

Each June, the best of the best in college baseball descend on Omaha, Neb., for the city’s signature event: The College World Series, where the NCAA’s Division I national champion is crowned.

While the CWS debuted in Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1947, it moved to Omaha in 1950 and has been there ever since. The playoff series drew a total of 17,805 fans that first year. With ESPN adopting the event in 1980 and providing extensive coverage, interest has grown steadily, with attendance in 2007 topping 300,000.

Which schools have won the most CWS tiles over the years? One has ruled the most rings, but others have enjoyed June in Nebraska as well, including 2008 winner Fresno State, which won its first title with an unlikely run that ended in a memorable upset of Georgia.

Here’s the list:

Southern California — 12 (1948, ‘58, ‘61, ‘63, ‘68, ‘70, ‘71, ‘72, ‘73, ‘74, ‘78, ‘98)

Texas — 6 (1949, ‘50, ‘75, ‘83, 2002, ‘05)

Arizona State — 5 (1965, ‘67, ‘69, ‘77, ‘81)

LSU — 5 (1991, 93, ‘96, ‘97, 2000)

Cal State Fullerton — 4 (1979, ‘84, ‘95, 2004)

Miami (Fla.) — 4 (1982, ‘85, ‘99, 2001)

Arizona — 3 (1976, ‘80, ‘86)

Minnesota — 3 (1956, ‘60, ‘84)

Source: NCAA.com