Pre-Season Coaches Poll reflects Balance of College Football

Have you seen this year’s College Football pre-season Coaches Poll? Aside from the rankings of the individual teams, something else struck me. It’s been evident for a number of years that the Power 5 conferences are fairly close to each other in terms of relative strength. Sure I can accept if you say the SEC is the nation’s #1 football conference. What I have problem with is if one tries to argue it is head and shoulders above the rest of the country.

In fact I have a problem if anyone tries to argue that one conference is by a wide margin better than another.

The coaches poll seems to reflect that balance. No power 5 conference has more than 6 top 25 teams or fewer than 4. It wasn’t but 1 year ago the SEC had a ridiculous 10 teams ranked in the AP’s week 1 poll.  Hopefully this is the start of a trend of a more balanced analysis of the college football teams. Especially with the advent of the College Football Playoff rankings, don’t think for a minute that early pre-season rankings don’t play some role in how teams are evaluated especially in the early to mid-portion of the year.

Here's the ACC teams that made the Top 25 courtesy USA Today.

2. Clemson (14-1)

Points: 1,524 (7). Previous ranking: 2. Opens: Sept. 3 at Auburn (ESPN, 9). Outlook: The 2015 national runner-up Tigers have a lot of pieces back; QB Deshaun Watson enters 2016 as the Heisman frontrunner.

4. Florida State (10-3)

Points: 1,351 (1). Previous ranking: 14. Opens: Sept. 5 vs. No. 12 Mississippi in Orlando (ESPN, 8). Outlook: The Seminoles look to reclaim the ACC throne; there are a lot of playmakers on offense, but there could be QB competition in camp.

20. North Carolina (11-3)

Points: 422. Previous ranking: 15. Opens: Sept. 3 vs. No. 16 Georgia in Atlanta (ESPN, 5:30). Outlook: The Tar Heels finished strong last season and now enter 2016 as the ACC Coastal favorites, but Mitch Trubisky must deliver as Marquise Williams' QB successor.

23. Louisville (8-5)

Points: 331. Previous ranking: not ranked. Opens: Sept. 1 vs. Charlotte (Fox, 7). Opens: The ACC Atlantic is a tough neighborhood, but QB Lamar Jackson and the young Cardinals grew up quickly in 2015.

ORV: Miami, Pitt, Duke