We have been talking preseason for some time now, but you know it’s officially here when the big preseason polls get released. Today, the USAToday Coaches Poll was released (note the absence of ESPN in the tag). The top five in order: OSU, Texas, USC, Notre Dame (tie) and Oklahoma. I personally feel that Texas and ND are overrated, and this will be huge for them as it’s hard to fall when you win or play other top competition early. Look at the effects of Miami/FSU recently vs that of say Miami/Va Tech or FSU/UF in the ’90’s. Obviously the Oklahoma votes were in prior to this week.

On to the important stuff though. The ACC placed 4 top 25 teams with FSU at 10, Miami at 11, Va Tech at 16 (and quarterback-less), and the Tigers at 18. BC is lurking around the chicken coup as Corso would say at 27, and USuCk getting some Spurrier love at 30. Ga Tech, Maryland and Duke all received votes as well. Duke? Votes? Do they think the football team is recruiting former lacrosse players or have some similarly related vendetta?

Not sure when the AP comes out but with under 30 days until they put it on the tee, it’s officially that time of year. Bring it on!

CollegeFootballNews has formed their All-America team, along with player rankings at each position. Here’s where Clemson shows up on the lists.

Running backs: 15 - James Davis
Receivers: 22 - Chansi Stuckey
Centers: 8 - Dustin Fry
Offensive Guards: 11 - Roman Fry
Defensive Ends: 2 - Gaines Adams
Linebackers: 15 - Anthony Waters
Kickers: 6 - Jad Dean

With the exception of young James Davis, all these guys are listed as seniors: sounds great for 2006. 2007, on the other hand…

Check out “Just College Football” over on the sidebar for a site that has the Tigers ranked at #13 coming into the season. Can’t be all that bad now can it! They are also doing previews of teams throughout the nation so keep an eye out for the rest of the ACC and the rest of your teams.

According to Southern Pigskin, Clemson ranks 5th in the ACC for uniforms. (Obviously we’re firmly in the grips of DT.)

And you know what? I couldn’t care less. I just needed to post something/anything.

Although, I do begin to question their football acumen with comments such as, “[w]hen Clemson goes purple and orange, we go for the remote.”

They choose what game to watch based not on the teams, the talent, the excitement, nor what may be at stake. No, they watch based on uniform combinations. Congratulations. Here’s some vagisil.

While checking the results from the previously mentioned Athlon poll, I found that they have published their season previews on line. So instead of purchasing another publication, go ahead and get your fix online. Now we have The Sporting News and Athlon’s picks accessible to the gnomes. I have Tiger Time on order and should have it in hand by early next week. The following are the links to the individual teams, converse as needed and if need be.

Boston College
Clemson
Duke
Florida State
Georgia Tech
Maryland
Miami
N.C. State
North Carolina
Virginia
Virginia Tech
Wake Forest

All ACC

CU Sporting News has a roundup of 12 different lists.

On Monday I went through the spring rankings for Clemson. It turns out, that there are other teams on those top-25 lists and some of them happen to be in the ACC. What do the “experts” have to say about the rest of the conference?

It’s worth noting, that all of the rankings, aside from CFN are post-spring. CFN published its rankings in January.

What stands out?

FSU is the only team to crack any top-10’s. Even then, they aren’t put up there consisently. I’m betting a lot of writers are wary of the ‘Noles after last season’s ugliness.

After a string of many good years, BC isn’t getting much credit. I’m thinking they, too, will overperform this year.

Miami’s a consistent top-20 pick. I’m sure they’ll be as talented as always in 2006. So far, it seems like Coker hasn’t been able to fully utilize that talent, and the luster is vanishing from that program. After getting mauled in the Peach Bowl last year, and replacing a bunch of coaches, I was initially surprised at the similarity in rankings given all the unknowns. I suppose the writers expect another really good, but not great season out of Miami. I really don’t know what to expect. But I’m still not sure that Coker is the guy to get Miami back to the national championship.

Virginia Tech, sort of like Florida State, has a lot of skew in its rankings. How the season plays out without Marcus Vick is anyone’s guess. He was a talented player and a major bonehead. Tech is no doubt glad to get rid of him.

All this can add up to be really good news for Clemson. The lane is open for them to make a run to the ACC title game. They just have to hit the hole.

(EDIT: If you are looking for pre-season ACC rankings (and not just Clemson rankings), you may also want to check out our post from May, or the CU Sporting News post from July. For some reason Google seems to like this post more than the others, although you’ll probably like the CU Sporting News post the most.)

With the countdown in double digits, and Spring practices over, it seems like a good time to compile some of the useful-for-nothing-but-fodder Spring rankings.

Ivan Maisel’s post-spring Top 25 (ESPN - May 22, 2006):

11. Sophomore tailback James Davis is a star ready to shine. Quarterback Charlie Whitehurst and his 40 starts are gone, but backup Will Proctor is ready to lead.

Southern Pigskin Post-Spring Top 25

17. Some are labeling the Tigers the pre-season favorite in the ACC. With running back James Davis and an aggressive defense back for 2006, that claim could prove accurate.

Athlon Preseason Top 25:

12 - Read the full team preview or listen to the 3 minute podcast.

Stewart Mandel: Spring Top 25 (SI.com - 4/25/2006):

14 - QB Will Proctor, taking over full-time for departed Charlie Whitehurst, steps into what could be a loaded and balanced offense. The Tigers also return seven starters from a defense that ranked in the top 25 last season, though they’ll miss DBs Tye Hill and Jamaal Fudge.

Dennis Dodd: Post-spring Top 25 (CBS Sporstline - 4/28/2006):

15. Clemson: Get past those games at Boston College, at Florida State and at Virginia Tech and you can envision Clemson winning the Atlantic. Can’t you?

Pre-spring: No. 17.

CFN Pre-preason rankings (1/24/2006):

25 - 2006 Clemson Preview