Gators check in at No. 23 in AP preseason poll

By Adam Silverstein
August 18, 2012

After spending an entire year out bowl contention due to sanctions from the NCAA, the USC Trojans earned the No. 1 spot in the Associated Press preseason top 25 poll released Saturday, which has the Florida Gators slotted in the bottom fifth of the rankings at No. 23.

USC received 25 of 59 possible first-place votes with Alabama (17), LSU (16), Oklahoma (1) and Oregon rounding out the top five.

Other Southeastern Conference teams ranked in the AP poll this preseason include 2011 SEC East champion Georgia (No. 6), South Carolina (No. 9), and Arkansas (No. 10). UF’s in-state rival Florida State also came in at No. 7. All four teams were also ranked in the same respective spots in the USA Today coaches’ preseason top 25 poll.

Florida began 2011 at No. 22 in the AP poll and No. 23 in the USA Today poll, which is the same ranking UF received this preseason.

The Gators concluded 2011 unranked after finishing 7-6 (3-5 SEC).

Florida is one of five unranked teams to receive recognition in the poll this preseason, joining USC (sanctioned), Texas, Ohio State and Louisville.

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2 Comments

BobG says:

August 18, 2012 at 1:01 pm

Why am I not surprised that AP picks USC number one? After all they named them as Mythical National Champs when LSU won the BCS. Never mind that USC had voluntarily become a part of the BCS.

It appears that USC is loaded, as usual. The are crowing out here about scooping up the running back from PSU–the rich get richer. It remains to be seen whether Kiffen can coach them to win all of the games they should win. Their history says no.

Mora is shaking things up at UCLA. He is under attack by west coast pundits for correctly pointing out that USC is located in a very dangerous part of LA, and that there have been multiple shooting within in blocks of the campus over the past couple of years. Clearly a racist statement to tell the truth in these times.

I hope that Champ’s Gators will be a pleasant surprise to us, and a shock to the Bulldogs and Gamecocks of the world.

Displaced Gator

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Mr2Bits says:

August 18, 2012 at 4:14 pm

Between USC and FSU, over-hyped things never change from year to year. The media has been sucking up to Barkley so much they have forgotten that the USC defense was ranked 49th last season. Looks like it will be another year of the media hype machine trying to drive FSU and or USC into a National Championship until both fall to a sub .500 team and reality sets in yet again.

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