Rank	Team
1	Florida
2	Southern Cal
3	Texas
4	Oklahoma
5	Penn State
6	Ohio State
7	LSU
8	California
9	Georgia
10	Oklahoma State
11	Mississippi
12	Alabama
13	Brigham Young
14	Virginia Tech
15	Boise State
16	Oregon
17	North Carolina
18	TCU
19	Florida State
20	Notre Dame
21	Illinois
22	Georgia Tech
23	Pittsburgh
24	Nebraska
25	West Virginia

------

It’s amazing to think that in just under one year, this blog went from being an unread, half-cocked project between two self-important pseudo-intellectual college kids, to a slightly-read, half-cocked venture between three self-important pseudo-intellectual college graduates. My, how we’ve grown.

And it’s to my amazement that TheUConnBlog was asked to participate in the CBSSports.com College Football Blogpoll, run by Brian Cook over at MGoBlog. We’re one of three UConn blogs taking part this season, which seems way out of whack given, you know, UConn’s neophyte status and everything.

But hey, I’m not going to complain, or anything. I’m sure New Englanders (myself not included) appreciate a good college footballing as much as the next person, and frankly, I expect to see the winner of the Harvard-Yale match propel themselves up to the top spot come Novembertime.

Anyway, here’s what that means, for the uninitiated:

BlogPoll rules require us to post a first-draft ballot each Monday by noon. Hopefully, I’ll have my ballot up here Monday afternoon for your perusal and violent critique. You’ll have the opportunity to insult my mother/change my mind on any given team. Then, a final ballot is submitted by Wednesday morning, which you can view on CBSSports.com.

What you see above is TheUConnBlog’s Week Zero ballot. I’ll be honest, I’ve long considered preseason polls a waste of time, although at least this preseason poll isn’t eliminating national championship contenders from the narrative while everyone is 0-0 (sorry, Auburn in 2004). Frankly, we might as well rank the teams alphabetically to start each season (Go Air Force!). Who really knows anything at this point? And so the results emerge as some concoction of one part "last year’s results" and two parts "this summer’s press clippings."

Now, I’ve been reading up on these teams all summer, and I think I have a decent idea of how good every team seems to be. And I feel pretty confident about my No. 1 pick. I also feel confident that at least one or two of my top 10 will finish out of the top 20 (does that count as confidence?).

So the moral of the story is: this ballot will probably look really different once Sept. 7 rolls around and we actually have some tangible data to work with. When the season starts, I’ll try to slowly filter out preseason expectations and replace it with results. We’ll see how that works.

For now, I present my ballot with just a few notes:

1. I still like USC ahead of the two-headed Big 12 South hydra for now, with the caveat that the Trojans are starting a true freshman at QB. Although at SC, it’s a true freshman with 7-to-10 future NFL talents around him. If Barkley struggles, USC might be 3-2 (Ohio State and California, whom Phil Steele has me convinced will have a big year) heading into South Bend on Oct. 17.
2. I think Oklahoma State and Mississippi are full of ‘fraud preseason top 25 team’ potential (also known as Notre Dame syndrome). Consensus says they’ll be good (although the BlogPoll voters have them rated lower than the media and coaches), but neither will likely challenge for a division title. That may not be fair (given how good OU/Texas and LSU/Alabama figure to be), but there it is. While OSU is tested early and often (starting with Georgia on Saturday), we won’t really know how good Mississippi is (they draw the dregs of the SEC East).
3. Notre Dame checks in at No. 20. I promise not to overreact after the Irish start the season 5-0, because they will be crushed by any really good teams, per the usual.
4. Until Cablevision of North Jersey steps up and gets ESPNU (or ESPN360.com), I’m stuck missing a whole bunch of games. On the plus side, I do get CBS College Sports and their Mountain West package, so I can now properly appreciate the absurdity of the MWC having no shot at a national championship under the current system.
5. And on that note - man, the ACC and Big East are awful, in the sense that none of their teams look more appetizing than the fifth-best SEC team. By the end of filling the ballot out, I actually felt bad enough to toss WVU a sympathy No. 25 vote so that John Marinatto wouldn’t have his pride wounded.

So that’s my first shot at the Top 25. Comments and suggestions are encouraged, and we’ll be all systems go on Sept. 7.