Previous (1995) Next (1997) What's the Consensus? Preseason Home Up (consensus index)

1996 Preseason Consensus


See the "notes" file for information on the preseason consensus. See the "1996 accuracy" file for a comparison between 1996 preseason predictions and final conference standings.

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National Top 25

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy's Athlon Inside
Sports
F'ball
Action
Bob
Griese
TSN Phil
Steele
Game
Plan
Street
& Smith
Prev.
Sports
Sports
Illus.
Line-
Masters
College
Sports
F'ball
Blitz!
Mark
Gunn
Jeff
Allen
Mike
Wynn
F'ball
News
ESPN Jim
Feist
ATS
Cons.
1 Nebraska 598 1 2 5 4 1 2 3 2 1 5 3 2 1 2 4 5 2 3 1 3 1
2 Florida State 596 2 4 1 2 2 1 2 3 4 6 8 1 2 1 1 2 4 2 3 2 2
3 Tennessee 582 4 1 2 3 4 4 6 5 3 3 1 6 3 5 3 1 5 1 2 1 6
4 Florida 572 5 6 4 1 3 3 5 4 2 4 2 4 4 3 7 6 1 4 4 4 3
5 Colorado 548 10 5 3 5 6 5 11 1 5 2 4 5 5 4 2 3 7 6 5 5 4
6 Notre Dame 529 3 3 6 7 5 7 1 8 11 12 5 3 6 6 5 9 3 5 6 6 5
7 Texas 444 11 9 12 9 9 9 16 9 6 11 10 8 8 13 8 - 10 9 8 8 8
8 Southern Cal 424 7 8 10 6 11 6 19 15 8 13 9 11 15 11 16 7 16 10 7 7 15
9 Ohio State 410 6 13 11 10 8 14 7 6 13 7 - 19 9 15 6 - 6 8 10 - 10
10 Syracuse 401 9 14 8 8 7 13 9 10 17 14 6 16 7 8 13 8 - 7 9 - 20
11 Miami-Florida 399 8 19 23 14 10 8 4 7 10 1 16 7 10 14 10 - - 14 13 10 7
12 Penn State 391 12 12 7 11 16 12 18 14 7 16 13 9 11 12 18 4 18 11 11 - 12
13 Texas A&M 359 13 16 21 13 17 16 8 11 15 18 17 10 14 10 9 - 17 12 12 - 11
14 Michigan 323 18 7 16 19 13 23 14 16 9 8 14 12 20 7 11 - - 13 14 - -
15 Alabama 294 15 17 22 18 15 22 15 13 14 9 - 14 23 9 12 - - 15 16 - 14
16 Auburn 265 21 21 - 12 22 10 21 17 25 17 24 17 16 19 17 10 11 20 15 - 24
17 Virginia Tech 262 - 11 14 20 14 19 20 18 22 10 22 22 12 16 22 - - 17 20 - 16
18 Kansas State 239 17 - 9 21 - 21 - 12 18 22 11 18 - 20 19 - 12 19 19 - 18
19 Iowa 227 22 - 17 17 - 11 10 22 - 23 15 15 17 - 21 - 13 21 22 - 22
20 Northwestern 214 16 20 13 15 18 25 - - - - 7 24 22 18 - - 15 16 17 9 -
21 Louisiana St 206 14 - 19 22 25 18 12 23 12 - 12 - - 24 20 - - 18 18 - 21
22 Arizona State 181 19 24 24 25 19 15 13 - - 19 25 - 13 - - - - 22 21 - 13
23 N. Carolina 150 23 - 18 24 24 - 17 20 - 25 - 13 - - 15 - - 23 - - 19
24 Washington 146 - 15 - 16 21 - - - 19 - - - 25 17 - - 8 - 25 - 17
25 Virginia 125 24 - 15 - - 17 - - 16 - 19 - - 21 25 - - 24 23 - -

Others receiving votes:

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy's Athlon Inside
Sports
F'ball
Action
Bob
Griese
TSN Phil
Steele
Game
Plan
Street
& Smith
Prev.
Sports
Sports
Illus.
Line-
Masters
College
Sports
F'ball
Blitz!
Mark
Gunn
Jeff
Allen
Mike
Wynn
F'ball
News
ESPN Jim
Feist
ATS
Cons.
26 Texas Tech 122 - - - 23 20 - - - - 15 20 - 18 22 - - 14 - 24 - -
27 Clemson 115 - 10 - - 23 24 25 - 20 21 - 21 19 - - - - - - - -
28 Wisconsin 106 - 18 - - - - 23 - - 20 - - - - - - 9 - - - 9
29 Oregon 87 - - - - - 20 - 19 - - 21 - 21 23 - - - 25 - - -
30 E. Carolina 78 - 23 - - - - - - 23 24 - 25 24 - - - 19 - - - -
31 Georgia 73 - - - - - - 24 21 - - - - - - 24 - 20 - - - 23
32 Kansas 72 - - - - 12 - - - 21 - 18 - - - - - - - - - -
33 San Diego St. 69 - - - - - - 22 25 24 - - 20 - - - - - - - - 25
34 Utah 62 20 25 - - - - - 24 - - 23 - - - - - - - - - -
35 BYU 50 25 - - - - - - - - - - 23 - 25 - - - - - - -
36 Wyoming 47 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 14 - - - - - -
37 Georgia Tech 45 - 22 25 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
38 Stanford 41 - - 20 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
39 Arizona 38 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 23 - - - - - -
40 unranked 30 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Conference predictions

Atlantic Coast

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy's Athlon C&PF
N'wkly
F'ball
Action
Bob
Griese
TSN Phil
Steele
Game
Plan
Street
& Smith
Prev.
Sports
Sports
Illus.
Line-
Masters
College
Sports
W.S.G.
Illus.
Jeff
Allen
Mark
Gunn
F'ball
News
ESPN Jim
Feist
ATS
Cons.
1 Florida State 20 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
2 Virginia 59 3 5 4 2 4 2 3 3 2 2 2 4 3 2 3 3 3 2 2 5
3 North Carolina 64 2 6 3 5 3 4 2 2 4 3 4 2 4 3 4 2 2 4 3 2
4 Clemson 72 4 2 2 4 2 3 4 5 3 5 3 3 2 5 2 6 5 5 4 3
5 Georgia Tech 97 6 3 5 3 5 5 6 4 6 4 5 7 6 4 5 4 4 6 5 4
6 Maryland 112 5 4 7 6 6 6 5 6 5 6 6 6 5 6 6 5 7 3 6 6
7 North Carolina St 137 7 7 6 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 5 7 7 8 7 6 7 7 7
8 Duke 161 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 9 8 8 8 8 8 8 7 8 8 8 8 9
9 Wake Forest 178 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 8 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 8

Big East

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy's Athlon C&PF
N'wkly
F'ball
Action
Bob
Griese
TSN Phil
Steele
Game
Plan
Street
& Smith
Prev.
Sports
Sports
Illus.
Line-
Masters
College
Sports
W.S.G.
Illus.
Jeff
Allen
Mark
Gunn
F'ball
News
ESPN Jim
Feist
ATS
Cons.
1 Miami-Florida 32 1 3 2 3 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 2 1 1
2 Syracuse 33 2 2 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 1 1 2 1 3 1 2 1 1 2 3
3 Virginia Tech 55 3 1 3 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 3 3 3 3 3 2
4 West Virginia 83 5 4 5 4 4 4 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
5 Boston College 99 4 5 4 5 5 5 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 5 5
6 Pittsburgh 124 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 7 6 6 6 6 8 6 7 5 6 7
7 Temple 145 7 8 7 8 7 7 7 7 7 8 7 7 7 8 7 7 8 7 8 6
8 Rutgers 149 8 7 8 7 8 8 8 8 8 6 8 8 8 7 6 8 5 8 7 8

Big Ten

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy's Athlon C&PF
N'wkly
F'ball
Action
Bob
Griese
TSN Phil
Steele
Game
Plan
Street
& Smith
Prev.
Sports
Sports
Illus.
Line-
Masters
College
Sports
W.S.G.
Illus.
Jeff
Allen
Mark
Gunn
F'ball
News
ESPN Jim
Feist
ATS
Cons.
1 Ohio State 38 1 3 2 1 1 3 1 1 2 3 5 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 2
2 Penn State 53 2 2 5 5 3 2 4 2 1 2 2 1 2 3 3 3 2 2 4 3
3 Michigan 59 4 1 4 3 2 4 3 3 3 1 3 2 4 2 4 2 3 3 2 6
4 Iowa 83 5 7 3 4 5 1 2 4 4 5 4 3 3 5 5 4 5 5 5 4
5 Northwestern 84 3 5 1 2 4 5 6 7 5 4 1 5 5 6 2 9 4 4 1 5
6 Wisconsin 124 6 4 8 7 8 8 5 5 6 6 8 6 11 4 6 5 7 6 7 1
7 Michigan State 140 7 6 6 6 6 6 7 8 7 7 7 8 9 7 9 7 6 7 6 8
8 Purdue 161 9 10 7 8 9 7 10 6 8 8 6 9 7 8 8 6 8 9 8 10
9 Illinois 172 10 8 9 9 7 10 9 9 9 9 9 7 8 9 7 8 9 10 9 7
10 Indiana 200 8 11 11 11 10 9 8 10 11 10 11 10 10 10 11 10 11 8 11 9
11 Minnesota 206 11 9 10 10 11 11 11 11 10 11 10 11 6 11 10 11 10 11 10 11

Big 12

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy's Athlon C&PF
N'wkly
F'ball
Action
Bob
Griese
TSN Phil
Steele
Game
Plan
Street
& Smith
Prev.
Sports
Sports
Illus.
Line-
Masters
College
Sports
W.S.G.
Illus.
Jeff
Allen
Mark
Gunn
F'ball
News
ESPN Jim
Feist
ATS
Cons.
North
1 Nebraska 23 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1
2 Colorado 37 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 2
3 Kansas State 65 3 4 3 3 4 3 4 3 3 3 3 3 4 3 4 3 3 3 3 3
4 Kansas 75 4 3 4 4 3 4 3 4 4 4 4 4 3 4 3 4 4 4 4 4
5 Iowa State 106 6 5 5 5 5 6 6 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 5 6 5 6 5 5
6 Missouri 114 5 6 6 6 6 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 6 5 6 5 6 6
South
1 Texas 23 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1
2 Texas A&M 37 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2
3 Texas Tech 67 3 3 4 4 3 4 6 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 3 3 3 3 3 3
4 Baylor 77 4 4 3 3 4 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 4 5 4 4 5 4
5t Oklahoma 108 5 5 6 6 6 5 5 6 6 6 5 5 6 5 5 6 5 5 4 6
5t Oklahoma State 108 6 6 5 5 5 6 4 5 5 5 6 6 5 6 6 4 6 6 6 5

Big West

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy's Athlon C&PF
N'wkly
F'ball
Action
Bob
Griese
TSN Phil
Steele
Game
Plan
Street
& Smith
Prev.
Sports
Sports
Illus.
Line-
Masters
College
Sports
W.S.G.
Illus.
Jeff
Allen
Mark
Gunn
F'ball
News
ESPN Jim
Feist
ATS
Cons.
1 Nevada 21 1 2 - 2 1 2 - 3 1 2 1 - 1 - - - 2 1 - 2
2 Utah State 26 3 1 - 1 2 1 - 1 3 4 4 - 2 - - - 1 2 - 1
3 New Mexico State 47 4 3 - 3 6 5 - 5 4 1 2 - 5 - - - 3 3 - 3
4 Idaho 49 2 6 - 5 3 3 - 2 2 3 6 - 3 - - - 6 4 - 4
5t Boise State 65 6 5 - 6 4 4 - 4 5 5 5 - 4 - - - 5 6 - 6
5t North Texas 65 5 4 - 4 5 6 - 6 6 6 3 - 6 - - - 4 5 - 5

Conference USA

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy's Athlon C&PF
N'wkly
F'ball
Action
Bob
Griese
TSN Phil
Steele
Game
Plan
Street
& Smith
Prev.
Sports
Sports
Illus.
Line-
Masters
College
Sports
W.S.G.
Illus.
Jeff
Allen
Mark
Gunn
F'ball
News
ESPN Jim
Feist
ATS
Cons.
1 Cincinnati 32 1 1 2 2 3 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 3
2 Louisville 39 2 2 1 1 2 2 4 2 1 2 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 4 1 1
3 Southern Miss 55 3 3 3 3 1 3 5 3 3 3 3 2 2 4 3 2 3 1 3 2
4 Houston 90 5 4 5 5 5 5 3 5 6 4 4 4 6 5 4 4 4 3 5 4
5 Memphis 98 4 5 4 4 4 4 6 6 4 5 5 5 5 6 5 6 5 5 4 6
6 Tulane 106 6 6 6 6 6 6 2 4 5 6 6 6 4 3 6 5 6 6 6 5

Mid-American

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy's Athlon C&PF
N'wkly
F'ball
Action
Bob
Griese
TSN Phil
Steele
Game
Plan
Street
& Smith
Prev.
Sports
Sports
Illus.
Line-
Masters
College
Sports
W.S.G.
Illus.
Jeff
Allen
Mark
Gunn
F'ball
News
ESPN Jim
Feist
ATS
Cons.
1t Miami-Ohio 22 2 1 - 2 2 1 - 1 2 2 1 - 3 - - - 2 1 - 2
1t Toledo 22 1 2 - 1 1 4 - 2 1 1 2 - 1 - - - 1 2 - 3
3 Ball State 35 3 3 - 3 3 2 - 3 3 3 3 - 2 - - - 3 3 - 1
4 Eastern Michigan 63 4 6 - 6 4 3 - 6 5 4 4 - 5 - - - 4 6 - 6
5 Bowling Green 64 5 5 - 4 5 5 - 4 6 5 5 - 4 - - - 6 5 - 5
6 Central Michigan 73 6 4 - 5 7 7 - 5 7 6 7 - 6 - - - 5 4 - 4
7 Western Michigan 86 7 7 - 7 6 6 - 7 4 8 6 - 7 - - - 7 7 - 7
8 Akron 114 9 10 - 8 8 8 - 8 10 9 9 - 8 - - - 9 9 - 9
9 Ohio U. 116 8 8 - 10 9 10 - 9 8 7 10 - 9 - - - 10 10 - 8
10 Kent 120 10 9 - 9 10 9 - 10 9 10 8 - 10 - - - 8 8 - 10

Pacific 10

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy's Athlon C&PF
N'wkly
F'ball
Action
Bob
Griese
TSN Phil
Steele
Game
Plan
Street
& Smith
Prev.
Sports
Sports
Illus.
Line-
Masters
College
Sports
W.S.G.
Illus.
Jeff
Allen
Mark
Gunn
F'ball
News
ESPN Jim
Feist
ATS
Cons.
1 Southern Cal 25 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 2
2 Arizona State 58 2 3 4 4 2 2 1 4 3 1 3 7 1 3 3 4 2 2 6 1
3 Washington 67 4 2 2 2 3 4 5 6 2 4 4 3 4 2 2 5 5 3 2 3
4 Oregon 76 3 6 3 3 4 3 8 2 4 6 2 2 3 6 4 3 3 4 3 4
5 Arizona 113 8 5 7 7 7 6 4 3 5 7 5 5 7 5 5 2 7 6 7 5
6 Stanford 114 5 4 5 5 6 5 6 7 7 2 7 6 5 7 6 9 6 5 5 6
7 UCLA 122 6 7 6 6 5 7 7 5 6 5 8 4 8 4 8 6 4 7 4 9
8 California 159 9 9 9 8 8 8 3 9 8 8 6 8 6 9 9 8 9 9 8 8
9 Washington State 166 7 8 8 9 9 9 9 8 9 9 9 9 9 8 7 7 8 8 9 7
10 Oregon State 200 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10

Southeastern

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy's Athlon C&PF
N'wkly
F'ball
Action
Bob
Griese
TSN Phil
Steele
Game
Plan
Street
& Smith
Prev.
Sports
Sports
Illus.
Line-
Masters
College
Sports
W.S.G.
Illus.
Jeff
Allen
Mark
Gunn
F'ball
News
ESPN Jim
Feist
ATS
Cons.
East
1 Tennessee 29 1 1 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2
2 Florida 31 2 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1
3 Georgia 60 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
4 South Carolina 90 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 4 4 5 5 4 5 5 6 4 4 5 5
5 Kentucky 93 5 6 5 5 5 5 4 4 5 5 4 4 5 4 4 4 6 5 4 4
6 Vanderbilt 117 6 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 5 6 6 6
West
1 Alabama 35 2 1 2 2 1 3 2 1 2 2 3 1 2 1 4 1 1 2 1 1
2 Auburn 40 3 2 1 1 2 1 3 2 3 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 3 1 4 3
3 LSU 48 1 3 3 3 3 2 1 3 1 3 1 3 3 3 3 3 2 3 2 2
4 Arkansas 82 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 4 4 4 4 5 5 4 2 4 4 5 3 5
5 Mississippi St 104 6 5 6 6 5 5 4 5 6 5 5 6 4 5 6 5 5 6 5 4
6 Mississippi 111 5 6 5 5 6 6 6 6 5 6 6 4 6 6 5 6 6 4 6 6

Western Athletic

Rank Team Total
Points
Lindy's Athlon C&PF
N'wkly
F'ball
Action
Bob
Griese
TSN Phil
Steele
Game
Plan
Street
& Smith
Prev.
Sports
Sports
Illus.
Line-
Masters
College
Sports
W.S.G.
Illus.
Jeff
Allen
Mark
Gunn
F'ball
News
ESPN Jim
Feist
ATS
Cons.
Mountain
1 Utah 27 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1
2 Brigham Young 33 2 2 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2
3 TCU 80 4 3 3 4 3 6 5 5 4 3 4 4 3 5 3 6 3 4 3 5
4 Tulsa 90 3 4 4 6 4 3 7 3 3 6 3 3 4 4 6 4 4 7 5 7
5 New Mexico 103 7 6 6 3 5 7 3 4 5 4 7 6 6 3 5 3 5 5 7 6
6 Rice 108 6 5 5 5 6 5 6 6 7 5 6 5 5 6 4 5 7 6 4 4
7 SMU 123 5 7 7 7 7 4 4 7 8 7 5 7 7 8 8 7 6 3 6 3
8 Texas-El Paso 156 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 6 8 8 8 8 7 7 8 8 8 8 8
Pacific
1 San Diego State 23 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1
2 Wyoming 48 2 2 2 4 5 2 2 2 2 3 2 3 3 2 3 1 2 2 2 2
3 Colorado State 72 3 5 5 3 4 5 5 3 3 2 4 2 5 3 2 3 4 4 3 4
4 Air Force 76 4 3 3 2 2 4 3 5 5 4 1 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 4 5
5 Fresno State 81 5 4 4 5 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 2 5 5 4 3 3 5 3
6 Hawaii 125 6 6 6 6 6 6 7 6 6 8 6 6 8 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
7 San Jose State 145 8 7 7 7 7 7 8 7 8 7 8 7 7 7 8 7 7 7 7 7
8 Nevada-Las Vegas 150 7 8 8 8 8 8 6 8 7 6 7 8 6 8 7 8 8 8 8 8

Previous (1995) Next (1997) What's the Consensus? Preseason Home Up (consensus index)