If you’re an Ohio State fan looking for another reason to believe this season, I have some bad news.
I do not think the mighty Buckeyes are the best team in the country.
I also have some great news.
I do not think the mighty Buckeyes are the best team in the country.
This is my 10th season as one of the 62 voters in the Associated Press Top 25 poll and just once has the team I voted No. 1 in the preseason gone on to win the national title.
In 2017, I decided to live a little and picked … Alabama, and, lo and behold, the beach ball I tossed out of a boat landed in the ocean. Alabama won the championship.
This year, I have Georgia atop my ballot, just ahead of Ohio State.
Will a broken clock prove right twice a century?
Easy as it might seem to pick the winner in a sport with such limited parity — maybe four teams have a real chance in a given year — probably not. (In fairness, we’re all a little Nostradam rusty after a long offseason. Since Southern California went wire to wire in 2004, the ‘17 Crimson Tide are the only preseason AP No. 1 to win the big trophy.)