The preseason AP poll was released today and Arizona State falls into the “others receiving votes” category with 17 votes, giving Sparky an unofficial ranking of 36th nationally. Here’s the list from the writers:

1. USC
2. LSU
3. West Virginia
4. Texas
5. Michigan
6. Florida
7. Wisconsin
8. Oklaoma
9. Virginia Tech
10. Louisville
11. Ohio State
12. Cal
13. Georgia
14. UCLA
15. Tennessee
16. Rutgers
17. Penn State
18. Auburn
19. Florida State
20. Nebraska
21. Arkansas
22. TCU
23. Hawaii
24. Boise State
25. Texas A&M

Others receiving votes: Missouri 128, Georgia Tech 94, Boston College 75, Oregon 73, South Carolina 69, Miami 68, Alabama 66, Oregon St. 42, Wake Forest 40, South Florida 28, Arizona St. 17, Brigham Young 14, Southern Mississippi 12, Notre Dame 11, Virginia 7, Clemson 6, Oklahoma St. 3, Texas Tech 2, Houston 1, Kentucky 1, North Carolina St. 1, Purdue 1.

Upon further review, I need to revise my preseason to make up for the gross oversight of Wisconsin. I had the Badgers in a pool of teams for consideration and somehow skimmed over them. The original can be found elsewhere, but here’s the revised list:

1. USC
2. West Virginia
3. LSU
4. Michigan
5. Oklahoma
6. Texas
7. Virginia Tech
8. Arkansas
9. Louisville
10. Wisconsin
11. UCLA
12. South Carolina
13. Florida State
14. Tennessee
15. Ohio State
16. Cal
17. Penn State
18. Georgia
19. Boston College
20. Oklahoma State
21. Hawaii
22. Rutgers
23. Florida
24. Clemson
25. San Jose State

Sorry Duckies.

With more on ASU, it’s probably better for them to be on the outside looking in. The rankings mean nothing until the first BCS rankings are tabulated in week six, and even then they’re not that huge of a deal. Here’s how the Devils fared in the polls for the last ten years:

Year  Pre  Post  Record1997  NR    14    9-31998   8    NR    5-61999  25    NR    6-62000  NR    NR    6-62001  NR    NR    4-72002  NR    NR    6-62003  22    NR    5-72004  NR    19    9-32005  20    NR    7-52006  24    NR    7-6

You’ll have to ignore the dismal era of the Snyder/Koetter turnover where the Devils were ranked in neither poll for three straight seasons, but otherwise Arizona State has started five of the last ten seasons in the AP Top 25, never finishing there in any of them. Conversely, the only two times ASU has had Top 25 finishes since the magical 1996 season they were unranked in August, making the writers wrong wrong wrong about the Devils in seven of the last ten polls. I put this erroneous voting on YOU, east coast media bias.

The soft early schedule will aid the Sun Devils to climb the rankings as others drop games, but it will be on the team to stay there after October 27 when the schedule drastically increases in difficulty. If any of that matters to you.

Original post by Big Jon

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