Posted by ESPN.com's Ted Miller
If the coaches are correct, we'll have Georgia and USC squaring off in Miami on Jan. 8, which would be great fun.
Of course, both face big tests early: Ohio State visits USC on Sept. 13 and Georgia visits Arizona State on Sept. 20. That's a lot of Pac-10 front-and-center, with much of the college football nation probably rooting for the Buckeyes and Trojans to achieve mutually assured destruction.
SEC media, by the way, picked Florida to win the Eastern Division over the Bulldogs, whom they play on Nov. 1 in a game it's difficult to believe won't have national title implications.
The top 5 to me seems strong (3. Ohio State; 4. Oklahoma; 5. Florida). I'd say the odds are fairly good that the two teams that eventually emerge will be from that group, though I'd throw No. 7 Missouri in there, too, with a dark horse nod to Texas Tech, despite its cowardly nonconference schedule.
The placement of other Pac-10 teams was not unreasonable, with Arizona State at No. 16 and Oregon at No. 20. The Sun Devils likely were hurt by their performance against Texas in the Holiday Bowl and big questions about their offensive line.
My suggestion: Beat Georgia. That would boost the ranking.
I picked Oregon second in the Pac-10, so I'd have them higher, but a preseason top-20 ranking for a team replacing its starting quarterback, tailback and a pair of defensive tackles isn't so bad.
California, Oregon State, UCLA and Arizona each received votes, meaning seven Pac-10 teams rated among the nation's top-52 in the coaches' minds.
For what that's worth.
Ted Miller has been covering college football since 1997, starting with Auburn and then heading West to Washington and the Pac-10. His columns for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer won first place in 2007 APSE Best Writing contest. The Atlanta native and University of Richmond graduate presently lives with his wife in Scottsdale, Ariz.
