Everyone’s favorite Coaches Poll ballots are here!

The public ones, of course.

And they’re chock full of all the bias/self-interest/conflicts of interest we’ve come to know and love:

  • Nick Saban wasn’t taking any chances.  He ranked Oklahoma State fourth, behind LSU, his beloved Tide and Stanford.
  • Speaking of Stanford, David Shaw did the same thing.
  • Tommy Tuberville put ‘Bama third – whether for historical reasons or for conference solidarity, I don’t know.
  • Steve Spurrier shoved Boise State down to eleventh, while ranking his team eighth.
  • Les Miles went with the rematch.
  • All six SEC coaches voting picked Alabama #2.  And if you now count Gary Pinkel as an SEC head coach, make it seven.

On the Georgia front, just a few notes:

  • NC State’s Tom O’Brien voted Georgia seventh.  Hunh?
  • Bronco Mendenhall was the only coach to leave Georgia off his ballot.  I guess he had to make room for his BYU vote.
  • The only SEC coach to vote Georgia lower than its #18 finish?  Nick Saban, at #20.
  • Mark Richt’s picks look pretty conventional.  He didn’t cast a vote for any school which didn’t wind up in the coaches top 25.

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UPDATE:  Holee crap on a stick.  Dave Braine is a Harris Poll voter.

51 Comments

Filed under College Football, Mumme Poll

51 responses to “Everyone’s favorite Coaches Poll ballots are here!

  1. AintNothinFiner

    And so begins my irrational disdain for Bronco Mendenhall.

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    • Cojones

      Hell, Tressel routinely put us at 20 or lower when we were in the top 10. That was one of the biggest revelations when publication of the voters began. Almost to a man, Big10 coaches used to place all SEC teams well down the list to help themselves go up the list. They really used to be a bunch of home…. uuuh..”Mendenhalls”.

      Like

  2. Brandon

    Tom O’Brien is just flicking the bird at Spencer Hall and the EDSBS gatah crowd for calling him the Notorious T.O.B.

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  3. Go Dawgs!

    Wow. Steve Spurrier put Georgia behind Clemson on his ballot? He whipped Clemson’s ass a week ago, which may have clouded his memory of the fact that Georgia had his team on the ropes earlier this year, and very easily could have (should have?) beaten him. That field goal margin of victory sure does look huge, doesn’t it, Spurrier? Ass.

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  4. Turd Ferguson

    I wonder if Gary Pinkel smiled as he voted Oklahoma State #4.

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  5. Careful Brad

    Aw, James Franklin really does like us. #10

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  6. Comin' Down The Track

    With a still not 100% rehabilitated Marcus Lattimore in the second game of the 2012 campaign, can we not dispatch with the Gamepenises with extreme prejudice for once.? Please?
    Gah, they’re almost as bad as the N.A.T.S. only there’s more of them and they’re from South Carolina!

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  7. Ben

    Coaches polls are BS. I don’t want my coach watching tons of other games, and they can’t be objective at all.

    Also, Saban, Finebaum, and Alabama deserve each other.

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  8. Krautdawg

    Saban’s clearly jealous that we could’ve had 21 points against LSU (a) from passing the ball and (b) without a running back — he prefers running Richardson & Lacy until just past LSU’s 30-yard line, thank you. Or because our freshman WR knew when not to lob the trick pass. It’s also possible he’s punishing any team whose kicker misses a FG.

    As for Spurrier, that hate don’t die, do it? Perhaps I’ll live long enough to learn whatever we did to him in that locker room in the 60s.

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    • Cojones

      I’ll reopen part of his wound by saying that Bill Stanfill plowed him into the ground 3 times for their only loss the year he won the Heisman. That has a way of making a person old and cranky before his time. Maybe Bill should invite him to golf with him at Radium Springs as balm for his old and twisted mi…body.

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  9. UGLYDAWG

    Coaches poll..now that’s and objective bunch. Spurrier is such a child.
    Les voting Bama #2 is telling. Did he not want any of OSU? Why would he want a rematch with Alabama?
    The only way to make the whole BCS/ Bowl process fair is to computerize everything and take all the talking heads and ax-grinders out of it. Most human beings cannot be fair and objective, esp. when it comes to sports.

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    • Cojones

      Perhaps he did it because it was rumored he didn’t want to play Bama again, saw the inevitable handwriting on the wall and deprived Bama of Bulletin Board material. I think that was a bright approach. Les did it because he isn’t stu….uuuh….a dum…..uuuuh….an idi…..uuuuuh…..because he wanted to, you know.

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    • Sort of +1; though the prospect of a 100% digitally orchestrated selection process ushers in a lot of spooky Orwell.

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  10. Go Dawgs!

    Hey, I like ol’ Dave Braine. He had the guts to tell it to Tech fans exactly like it is. They still bring up his “8 wins” rant every time they eclipse that total (which has happened a whopping four times since the 2001 season). They forget that he pointed out that the possibility existed that they could win more than that on occasion, but the best you could hope for year-in and year-out at Tech was 7-8 wins. And he’s right. Suck it, nerds.

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  11. Will Trane

    Those are recruiting votes.
    O’Brien and Franklin are good coaches. So I place a little stock in their vote. Spurrier’s votes goes against what he has said from time to time about the Dawgs. But my complaint is why is his team higher. First, they did not win the EAST title. Second, no one drops Arkansas after their losses to #1 and # 2. Somewhat confused about CMR’s votes.

    Thought the Dawgs played as tough as Bama for a half. Anytime you shut down a team like an LSU or a team ranked as high as they have been all season…well, that shows me a very good team [players and coahces]. The game with LSU was a hellva alot closer than that score. That is what I look at. If Georgia had any rushing offense, that game would have been very tight to end.
    Time to play the SECCG somewhere in the southeast other than Atlanta. Atlanta / metro Atlanta is such a disappointment to south Georgia alums and supporters. Plus, it is an ACC site.

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    • Russ

      Being a native Atlantan, I was embarrassed that the Dome couldn’t figure out how to work a clock. That was a joke.

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    • Babyfarts McGeezax

      Atlanta is arguably the capitol of college football in the country and barring the issues with the clock this year, has been a great game atmosphere the five times I’ve been to an SECCG.

      The only place you could realistically move the game would be Jerry World.

      Like

      • Go Dawgs!

        The Superdome folks have said in the past that they’d like to have a crack at the game, and New Orleans is SEC country. Still, I’d prefer to keep the game in the Georgia Dome. It’s driving distance for most of the SEC, and a major airline hub for any of the other teams who have trouble getting there.

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        • Mayor of Dawgtown

          Texas is now SEC country and the Dallas Airport is a hub, too. Do I want the SECCG moved? Hell no! Does this mean the Dome needs to get better as a venue because there is a viable option now. Absolutely.

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          • Go Dawgs!

            Sure, it’s a viable option. I’m just saying that the Superdome has always been a viable option, too. The Georgia Dome does need to step up their game a bit, but I love having the game there and hope it won’t move.

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      • I love the moniker, man. What’s the deal there?

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    • Jim from Duluth

      Yeah, and UGA’s record in the Ga. Dome reflects that attitude .. now 4-5 all time. (FWIW – LSU is now 9-1 all time in the Ga. Dome.) I’ve always thought we should make a point to play well in Atlanta .. and make the techmites like it. Our only saving grace is GT is 0-4 all time in the Chick-fil-a/Peach (0-2 in the Dome and 0-2 in the old Atlanta-Fulton Co. mess).

      Jim

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  12. Babyfarts McGeezax

    Derrick Mayes’s ballot is a comedy of errors

    UGA – unranked with Lousiville, Notre Dame and Rutgers ranked ahead.

    HA

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  13. truck

    Interesting that former Notre Dame WR Derrick Mayes is also a Harris Poll voter. He left the Dawgs completely off his ballot, yet voted Auburn 18th. What the hell is he smoking?

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  14. Will Trane

    Sorta about the voting. I would have ranked UGA no lowere than 14th…maybe as high as 12. Why? Their performance against LSU, plus coaches game plan, and the injuries to RBs…all that coupled with riding a 10 game winning strike & EAST title.
    Mainly due to this. LSU… no first downs in a half of play…11 yards of total offense…237 total for a game…a punt return score which was allowed but was fumble before crossin the line and out of the endzone. If those 7 points do not go up, the game would have changed. All that being factored in, explain how a # 1 team allows an opponent to run 85 plays against you. That number has to be a record against a number 1 team and top defense. My title game…Bama and OSU. Then LSU and Boise. Those are my top 4.

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  15. Macallanlover

    Have to agree to LSU fans, why not their Dome occasionally? No reason to not include that on a rotating basis, especially with A&M and Mizzou coming in. Atlanta was fortunate to have such good weather Saturday but even with that, there is no place for the CFB atmosphere in the CiTay.

    Since I have vowed to never return to NOLA, unless there are very compelling reasons, I just might be selling out on my priciples to get some of that wonderful food they serve. Best cuisine in the US, need to export more of their cooks to other locales around the country. Nearly all the cajun/creole restaurants I visit are just pretenders.

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  16. Anon

    So the outside possibility of potential playoff creep has people completely against a playoff, but the absolute reality of batshit poll voters having a real say in the system is okay?

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  17. Red Blackman

    Lester Miles votes Georgia 10th.

    Word up, Lester. You know the deal.

    Like

    • Cojones

      I’ll take Les’s evaluation of a good team. I think he may have wanted them in a bigger bowl because he feels confident that this team can whup some foreign ass. His vote and manners kinda took a little sting out of the jealous sister’s act.

      Like

      • Go Dawgs!

        I like Les Miles and I like his team. I sat in the heart of LSU’s territory at the Dome on Saturday, and I was treated with a great deal of respect. I had a great football conversation with the people around me the entire game, even during the first half when I stood to cheer (loudly) when Georgia did something good. I liked LSU fans before the game, but after that experience they’re right on par with the Kentucky folks as my favorite other-than-Georgia SEC fans. And I think Les Miles knows that he played an underrated team on Saturday in the Georgia Dome, and I think he’s got a little something left for Alabama. I really do. Alabama won just about everything except the scoreboard in Game of the Century I, but I think Miles and Co. are going to take it to them now that it’s not in Tuscaloosa.

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      • Red Blackman

        Yes sir, I like ol Lester.

        His smile during the post halftime interview made me a little nervous….for good reason.

        He knows he has the best team in America. Those hidden points they find are amazing to behold. The 2011 Tigers might be on par with some of those Miami teams that crushed their opponents at will. Best all around team I’ve seen since Florida 08.

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  18. Peteydawg

    Well USC hasn’t done anything in its Entire history. Looking across the river into SC always makes me feel better about being a Uga fan. Let that moron in a visor rank us wherever… Where’d dabo put USC? 150th?

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  19. Irwin R. Fletcher

    Got to love the ‘national championship’ process.

    Derrick Mayes votes Auburn at 18…18!!!!…oh, and left Georgia off of his ballot.

    Oh…and he had Okie State at #6…(which is frankly fine with me except for the fact that clearly this voters ‘methodology’ is completely FUBAR’d)

    Ladies and gentlemen, you’re national championship process. At least the sanctity of the regular season is being protected. I almost wish we’d get rid of this representative form of government and go straight to a opinion poll on ‘sportsnation’ to decide the national championship game.

    Like

    • Irwin R. Fletcher

      And I’ll take a 10 minute major penalty for all of the awful punctuation in that post…

      I’m ashamed.

      Like