2003 Preseason Consensus

See the "notes" file for information on the preseason consensus. See the "2003 accuracy" file for a comparison between 2003 preseason predictions and final conference standings.

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National rankings
Atlantic Coast Conference Predictions
Big East Conference Predictions
Big Ten Conference Predictions
Big XII Conference Predictions
Conference USA Predictions
Mid-American Conference Predictions
Mountain West Conference Predictions
Pacific 10 Conference Predictions
Southeastern Conference Predictions
Sun Belt Conference Predictions
Western Athletic Conference Predictions

National Top 25

Rank	Team	Total Points	Athlon	Street & Smith	Sporting News	Phil Steele	Coll. F'ball News	Lindy	F'ball Action	Jim Feist	ATS Cons.	Game Plan	CPA Rnk	CNN/ SI
1	Oklahoma	349	1	1	3	2	4	1	2	1	4	1	1	2
2	Ohio State	340	3	5	2	1	1	3	1	2	5	4	4	1
3	Miami-Florida	329	2	2	5	7	2	2	3	6	3	6	2	3
4	Texas	319	7	3	8	3	3	7	4	8	1	2	3	4
5	Auburn	289	5	7	1	15	5	6	6	5	8	5	11	9
6	Kansas State	288	4	6	7	14	9	5	7	4	13	3	5	7
7	Michigan	278	10	4	4	4	16	4	8	-	2	7	6	13
8	Virginia Tech	263	14	10	15	6	6	14	5	3	7	9	14	6
9	Pittsburgh	233	9	9	19	5	8	12	11	-	9	16	13	12
10	Georgia	230	8	13	11	17	11	13	12	10	25	8	9	5
11	Southern Cal	219	6	15	6	10	7	8	-	9	-	13	7	10
12	Washington	212	12	8	9	9	-	17	10	-	11	11	12	14
13	Tennessee	190	24	12	16	8	12	9	-	-	6	22	15	16
14	Louisiana State	184	18	20	13	11	14	11	17	-	23	17	8	20
15	Florida State	179	15	16	14	13	25	18	14	-	-	10	10	11
16	N. C. State	176	11	17	23	16	15	19	9	7	24	-	16	8
17	Maryland	174	17	11	17	18	10	10	-	-	18	20	17	18
18	Notre Dame	156	22	22	20	19	19	15	16	-	12	19	19	17
19	Virginia	145	23	18	10	-	17	21	13	-	14	-	18	15
20	Purdue	140	19	-	12	20	23	16	18	-	10	12	24	-
21	Wisconsin	127	13	19	25	21	13	-	20	-	15	-	22	19
22	Oklahoma State	70	-	21	22	-	-	-	-	-	19	18	-	25
23t	Alabama	67	21	25	-	-	22	25	-	-	-	15	-	-
23t	Florida	67	20	-	-	-	21	-	-	-	16	-	20	-
25t	Arizona State	64	-	14	-	-	-	23	-	-	-	21	-	22
25t	Nebraska	64	-	-	-	12	-	-	-	-	-	14	23	-

Others receiving votes:

Rank	Team	Total Points	Athlon	Street & Smith	Sporting News	Phil Steele	Coll. F'ball News	Lindy	F'ball Action	Jim Feist	ATS Cons.	Game Plan	CPA Rnk	CNN/ SI
27	Oregon State	59	16	-	-	-	18	-	15	-	-	-	-	-
28	Texas Christian	54	-	-	24	25	-	24	19	-	-	24	-	-
29t	Arkansas	52	-	-	-	23	-	-	-	-	17	-	21	-
29t	Colorado State	52	-	23	18	-	-	20	-	-	-	-	-	-
31	Penn State	51	-	-	-	24	-	-	-	-	20	-	25	24
32t	Colorado	38	-	-	-	-	-	22	-	-	22	-	-	-
32t	Texas A&M	38	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	23	-	21
34	Missouri	33	25	-	-	-	24	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
35	UCLA	31	-	-	-	-	20	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
36t	Fresno State	30	-	-	21	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
36t	West Virginia	30	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	21	-	-	-
38	Mississippi	29	-	-	-	22	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
39	Oregon	28	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	23
40	Minnesota	27	-	24	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
41	Southern Miss	26	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	25	-	-
42	unranked	20	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

Notes:

Football Action predicted only a national top twenty (unranked = 5 points)

Jim Feist predicted only a national top ten (unranked = 15 points)

Conference predictions

Atlantic Coast

Rank	Team	Total Points	Athlon	Street & Smith	Sporting News	Phil Steele	Coll. F'ball News	Lindy	F'ball Action	Jim Feist	ATS Cons.	Game Plan	CPA Rnk	CNN/ SI
1	Florida State	22½	2	2	2	1	2	2	3	3	1½	1	1	2
2t	Maryland	29½	3	1	3	3	2	1	2	2	3½	2	3	4
2t	N.C. State	29½	1	3	4	2	2	3	4	1	3½	3	2	1
4	Virginia	38½	4	4	1	4	4	4	1	4	1½	4	4	3
5t	Clemson	70½	5	5	6	6	6	6	6	6	7½	6	6	5
5t	Georgia Tech	70½	7	6	7	5	5	7	5	5	5½	5	5	8
7	Wake Forest	85½	6	8	8	9	7	5	7	7	5½	8	8	7
8	North Carolina	90	8	7	5	7	8	8	8	8	9	9	7	6
9	Duke	103½	9	9	9	8	9	9	9	9	7½	7	9	9

Notes:

College Football News predicted a three-way tie between Florida State, North Carolina State, and Maryland for first/second/third place in the ACC.

ATS Consultants predicted a tie between Florida State and Virginia first/second place in the ACC.

ATS Consultants predicted a tie between Maryland and North Carolina State third/fourth place in the ACC.

ATS Consultants predicted a tie between Georgia Tech and Wake Forest fifth/sixth place in the ACC.

ATS Consultants predicted a tie between Clemson and Duke seventh/eighth place in the ACC.

Big East

Rank	Team	Total Points	Athlon	Street & Smith	Sporting News	Phil Steele	Coll. F'ball News	Lindy	F'ball Action	Jim Feist	ATS Cons.	Game Plan	CPA Rnk	CNN/ SI
1	Miami-Florida	18	1	1	1	3	2	1	1	2	2	1	1	2
2	Virginia Tech	26	3	3	2	2	2	3	2	1	2	2	3	1
3	Pittsburgh	28	2	2	3	1	2	2	3	3	2	3	2	3
4	Boston College	56	5	5	5	5	4	5	5	4	5	4	4	5
5	West Virginia	58	4	4	4	6	6	4	4	6	4	5	5	6
6	Syracuse	66	6	6	6	4	5	6	6	5	6	6	6	4
7	Temple	87	8	7	7	7	7	8	7	7	8	7	7	7
8	Rutgers	93	7	8	8	8	8	7	8	8	7	8	8	8

Notes:

College Football News predicted a three-way tie between Miami-Florida, Pittsburgh, and Virginia Tech first/second/third place in the Big East.

ATS Consultants predicted a three-way tie between Miami-Florida, Pittsburgh, and Virginia Tech for first/second/third place in the Big East.

Big Ten

Rank	Team	Total Points	Athlon	Street & Smith	Sporting News	Phil Steele	Coll. F'ball News	Lindy	F'ball Action	Jim Feist	ATS Cons.	Game Plan	CPA Rnk	CNN/ SI
1	Ohio State	16	1	2	1	1	2	1	1	1	3	1	1	1
2	Michigan	22	2	1	2	2	1	2	3	2	1	2	2	2
3	Wisconsin	46	3	3	4	4	3	4	8	3	3	4	3	4
4	Purdue	46½	4	7	3	3	4½	3	5	4	3	3	4	3
5	Penn State	69½	5	6	5	5	7½	6	4	8	5	5	5	8
6	Iowa	71½	7	5	6	8	6	5	2	6	6½	7	6	7
7	Minnesota	74½	6	4	7	7	4½	7	7	5	8	6	7	6
8	Illinois	87	8	9	8	6	7½	8	6	7	6½	8	8	5
9	Michigan State	112½	9	10	9	10	9½	9	9	9	9½	9	9½	10
10	Northwestern	120	11	8	11	9	9½	10	11	10	11	11	9½	9
11	Indiana	125½	10	11	10	11	11	11	10	11	9½	10	10	11

Notes:

College Football News predicted a tie between Minnesota and Purdue for fourth/fifth place in the Big Ten.

College Football News predicted a tie between Illinois and Penn State for seventh/eighth place in the Big Ten.

College Football News predicted a tie between Michigan State and Northwestern for ninth/tenth place in the Big Ten.

ATS Consultants predicted a three-way tie between Ohio State, Purdue, and Wisconsin for second/third/fourth place in the Big Ten.

ATS Consultants predicted a tie between Iowa and Illinois sixth/seventh place in the Big Ten.

ATS Consultants predicted a tie between Indiana and Michigan State ninth/tenth place in the Big Ten.

Steve Wrathell's CPA Rankings predicted a tie between Michigan State and Northwestern for ninth/tenth place in the Big Ten.

Big 12

Rank	Team	Total Points	Athlon	Street & Smith	Sporting News	Phil Steele	Coll. F'ball News	Lindy	F'ball Action	Jim Feist	ATS Cons.	Game Plan	CPA Rnk	CNN/ SI
North
1	Kansas State	14½	1	1	1	2	1	1	2	1	1½	1	1	1
2	Nebraska	29½	4	2	3	1	4	3	1	2	3½	2	2	2
3	Colorado	33½	3	3	2	3	2	2	3	3	1½	4	3	4
4	Missouri	43½	2	5	4	4	3	4	4	4	3½	3	4	3
5	Iowa State	59	5	4	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5
6	Kansas	72	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6
South
1	Oklahoma	14	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	2	1	1	1
2	Texas	22	2	2	2	2	1	2	2	2	1	2	2	2
3	Oklahoma St.	38½	3	3	3	3	4	3	3	4	3½	3	3	3
4	Texas A&M	47½	4	4	4	5	3	4	4	3	3½	4	5	4
5	Texas Tech	58	5	5	5	4	5	5	5	5	5	5	4	5
6	Baylor	72	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6

Notes:

ATS Consultants predicted a tie between Kansas State and Colorado for first/second place in the Big XII North.

ATS Consultants predicted a tie between Nebraska and Missouri for third/fourth place in the Big XII North.

ATS Consultants predicted a tie between Oklahoma State and Texas A&M for third/fourth place in the Big XII South.

Conference USA

Rank	Team	Total Points	Athlon	Street & Smith	Sporting News	Phil Steele	Coll. F'ball News	Lindy	F'ball Action	Jim Feist	ATS Cons.	Game Plan	CPA Rnk	CNN/ SI
1	Texas Christian	18½	2	1	1	1	2	1	1	2	2½	2	1	2
2	Southern Miss	25½	1	2	2	2	1	2	4	1	6½	1	2	1
3	Cincinnati	50½	6	4	3	4	4	4	2	5	2½	5	4	7
4	Tulane	56½	4	6	7	3	4	3	5	3	6½	6	6	3
5	Louisville	59½	7	3	5	6	4	5	3	4	6½	7	5	4
6	South Florida	67½	3	5	4	7	9	6	11	7	2½	4	3	6
7t	Memphis	87½	5	7	9	5	6	9	9	10	6½	3	8	10
7t	UAB	87½	8	8	6	9	8	8	6	8	2½	8	8	8
9	East Carolina	93½	9	9	8	8	7	7	7	6	9½	10	8	5
10	Houston	114½	10	10	10	10	10	10	8	9	9½	9	10	9
11	Army	131	11	11	11	11	11	11	10	11	11	11	11	11

Notes:

College Football News predicted a three-way tie between Cincinnati, Louisville, and Tulane for third/fourth/fifth place in CUSA.

Football Action omitted newcomer South Florida from CUSA.

ATS Consultants predicted a four-way tie between Texas Christian, Cincinnati, South Florida, and UAB for first/second/third/fourth place in CUSA.

ATS Consultants predicted a four-way tie between Southern Mississippi, Tulane, Louisville, and Memphis for fifth/sixth/seventh/eighth place in CUSA.

ATS Consultants predicted a tie between East Carolina and Houston for ninth/tenth place in CUSA.

Steve Wrathell's CPA Rankings predicted a three-way tie between East Carolina, UAB, and Memphis for seventh/eighth/ninth place in the Big Ten.

Mid-American

Rank	Team	Total Points	Athlon	Street & Smith	Sporting News	Phil Steele	Coll. F'ball News	Lindy	F'ball Action	Jim Feist	ATS Cons.	Game Plan	CPA Rnk	CNN/ SI
East
1	Miami-Ohio	24	2	1	2	2	2	3	4	1	1	3	2	1
2t	Central Florida	25	1	4	3	1	1	2	2	3	3	1	1	3
2t	Marshall	25	3	2	1	3	3	1	1	2	2	2	3	2
4	Akron	46½	4	3	4	4	4	4	3	4	4½	4	4	4
5	Ohio U.	66	5	5	6	6	5	6	5	5	7	5	5	6
6	Kent	67½	6	7	5	5	6	5	6	6	4½	6	6	5
7	Buffalo	82	7	6	7	7	7	7	7	7	6	7	7	7
West
1	N. Illinois	18	2	1	1	1	2	3	1	1	1	3	1	1
2	Toledo	29	1	2	3	2	3	2	3	4	2	2	2	3
3	Bowling Green	30½	4	4	2	4	1	1	2	2	4½	1	3	2
4	Western Michigan	45	3	3	5	3	5	4	4	3	3	4	4	4
5	Ball State	62½	6	6	4	5	4	6	5	5	4½	6	5	6
6	Central Michigan	69	5	5	6	6	6	5	6	6	6	5	6	7
7	Eastern Michigan	82	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	5

Notes:

ATS Consultants predicted a tie between Akron and Kent for fourth/fifth place in the MAC East.

ATS Consultants predicted a tie between Bowling Green and Ball State for fourth/fifth place in the MAC West.

Mountain West

Rank	Team	Total Points	Athlon	Street & Smith	Sporting News	Phil Steele	Coll. F'ball News	Lindy	F'ball Action	Jim Feist	ATS Cons.	Game Plan	CPA Rnk	CNN/ SI
1	Colorado St.	14½	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	1½	1	1	2
2	New Mexico	29½	2	3	2	2	1	2	5	2	3½	4	2	1
3	Brigham Young	41½	3	5	4	3	4	3	4	4	3½	2	3	3
4	Air Force	42½	4	2	3	4	6	4	2	5	1½	3	4	4
5	Utah	66	6	7	5	6	4	7	6	3	5½	5	5	6½
6	UNLV	67½	5	6	7	5	4	6	3	6	7½	7	6	5
7	San Diego St.	76	8	4	6	7	7	5	7	7	5½	6	7	6½
8	Wyoming	94½	7	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	7½	8	8	8

Notes:

College Football News predicted a three-way tie between Brigham Young, UNLV, and Utah for third/fourth/fifth place in the Mountain West.

ATS Consultants predicted a tie between Colorado State and Air Force for first/second place in the Mountain West.

ATS Consultants predicted a tie between New Mexico and Brigham Young for third/fourth place in the Mountain West.

ATS Consultants predicted a tie between Utah and San Diego State for fifth/sixth place in the Mountain West.

ATS Consultants predicted a tie between UNLV and Wyoming for seventh/eighth place in the Mountain West.

CNN/SI predicted a tie between Utah and San Diego State for sixth/seventh place in the Mountain West.

Pacific 10

Rank	Team	Total Points	Athlon	Street & Smith	Sporting News	Phil Steele	Coll. F'ball News	Lindy	F'ball Action	Jim Feist	ATS Cons.	Game Plan	CPA Rnk	CNN/ SI
1	Southern Cal	20	1	3	1	2	1	1	3	1	2	2	1	2
2	Washington	26	2	1	2	1	3	2	4	3	1	1	2	4
3	Arizona State	41	4	2	3	5	5	3	2	2	4	5	5	1
4	Oregon State	44½	3	4	4	4	5	4	1	5	4	3	3½	4
5	UCLA	59½	5	6	5	3	2	5	6	4	7	7	3½	6
6	Oregon	67	6	7	7	7	5	6	5	6	4	4	6	4
7	Washington St.	81	7	5	6	6	7	7	10	7	6	6	7	7
8	California	100½	8	9	8	8	9	9	7	8	10	8	8½	8
9	Stanford	106	9	8	9	9	8	8	9	10	8½	10	8½	9
10	Arizona	114½	10	10	10	10	10	10	8	9	8½	9	10	10

Notes:

College Football News predicted a three-way tie between Arizona State, Oregon, and Oregon State for fourth/fifth/sixth place in the Pac-10.

ATS Consultants predicted a three-way tie between Arizona State, Oregon State, and Oregon, for third/fourth/fifth place in the Pac-10.

ATS Consultants predicted a tie between Stanford and Arizona for eighth/ninth place in the Pac-10.

Steve Wrathell's CPA Rankings predicted a tie between Oregon State and UCLA for third/fourth place in the Pac-10.

Steve Wrathell's CPA Rankings predicted a tie between Cal and Stanford for eighth/ninth place in the Pac-10.

CNN/SI predicted a three-way tie between Oregon, Oregon State, and Washington for third/fourth/fifth place in the Pac-10.

Southeastern

Rank	Team	Total Points	Athlon	Street & Smith	Sporting News	Phil Steele	Coll. F'ball News	Lindy	F'ball Action	Jim Feist	ATS Cons.	Game Plan	CPA Rnk	CNN/ SI
East
1	Tennessee	19	3	1	2	1	2	1	1	2	1	2	2	1
2	Georgia	22	1	2	1	2	3	2	3	1	3	1	1	2
3	Florida	31	2	3	3	3	1	3	2	3	2	3	3	3
4	South Carolina	52	5	4	4	4	4	4	5	4	4	5	4	5
5	Kentucky	56	4	5	5	5	5	5	4	5	5	4	5	4
6	Vanderbilt	72	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6
West
1	Auburn	15	1	1	1	2½	1	1	1	1	1½	1	2	1
2	Louisiana St.	27	2	2	2	1	2	2	3	2	4	3	1	3
3	Arkansas	41	4	4	5	2½	5	4	2	3	1½	5	3	2
4	Alabama	43	3	3	3	5	3	3	4	4	4	2	4	5
5	Mississippi	54	5	5	4	4	4	5	5	5	4	4	5	4
6	Mississippi St.	72	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6

Notes:

Phil Steele predicted a tie between Auburn and Arkansas for second/third place in the SEC West.

ATS Consultants predicted a tie between Auburn and Arkansas for first/second place in the SEC West.

ATS Consultants predicted a tie between Louisiana State, Alabama, and Mississippi, for third/fourth/fifth place in the SEC West.

Sun Belt

Rank	Team	Total Points	Athlon	Street & Smith	Sporting News	Phil Steele	Coll. F'ball News	Lindy	F'ball Action	Jim Feist	ATS Cons.	Game Plan	CPA Rnk	CNN/ SI
1	North Texas	15	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	3	1	1	1
2	New Mexico St.	32	2	2	3	3	3	2	3	3	3	2	3	3
3	Middle Tennessee	36	3	6	2	2	2	3	5	2	1	4	2	4
4	Arkansas State	44	4	4	5	4	4	4	1	5	3	3	5	2
5	Louisiana-Lafay.	64	5	3	4	5	5	5	6	4	7½	8	5	6½
6t	Idaho	79½	6	7	8	6	8	8	4	6	7½	5	7½	6½
6t	Utah State	79½	7	5	7	8	6½	6	8	7	5	7	5	8
8	Louisiana-Monroe	82	8	8	6	7	6½	7	7	8	6	6	7½	5

Notes:

College Football News predicted a tie between Louisiana-Monroe and Utah State for sixth/seventh place in the Sun Belt conference.

ATS Consultants predicted a three-way tie between North Texas, New Mexico State, and Arkansas State, for second/third/fourth place in the Sun Belt conference.

ATS Consultants predicted a tie between Idaho and Louisiana-Lafayette for seventh/eighth place in the Sun Belt conference.

Steve Wrathell's CPA Rankings predicted a three-way tie between Arkansas State, Louisiana-Lafayette, and Utah State for fourth/fifth/sixth place in the Sun Belt conference.

Steve Wrathell's CPA Rankings predicted a tie between Louisiana-Monroe and Idaho for seventh/eighth place in the Sun Belt conference.

CNN/SI predicted a tie between Idaho and Louisiana-Lafayette for sixth/seventh place in the Sun Belt.

Western Athletic

Rank	Team	Total Points	Athlon	Street & Smith	Sporting News	Phil Steele	Coll. F'ball News	Lindy	F'ball Action	Jim Feist	ATS Cons.	Game Plan	CPA Rnk	CNN/ SI
1	Fresno State	19½	1	2	1	2	1	2	2	1	2½	2	1	2
2	Hawaii	22	3	1	2	1	2	1	3	3	1	1	3	1
3	Boise State	30½	2	3	3	3	3	3	1	2	2½	3	2	3
4	Nevada	58½	5	4	6	4	5	4	4	7	5	5	5½	4
5	Louisiana Tech	66½	6	5	5	7	6	6	8	4	5	4	5½	5
6	San Jose St.	67	4	6	4	5	4	7	5	6	7	8	4	7
7	S. Methodist	81	7	7	7	8	8	5	6	8	5	6	8	6
8	Rice	88½	8	8	8	6	7	8	7	5	9½	7	7	8
9	Texas-El Paso	112	9	10	10	9	9	9	9	9	9½	10	9½	9
10	Tulsa	114½	10	9	9	10	10	10	10	10	8	9	9½	10

Notes:

ATS Consultants predicted a tie between Fresno State and Boise State for second/third place in the WAC.

ATS Consultants predicted a three-way tie between Nevada, Louisiana Tech, and Southern Methodist, for fourth/fifth/sixth place in the WAC.

ATS Consultants predicted a tie between Rice and Texas-El Paso for ninth/tenth place in the WAC.

Steve Wrathell's CPA Rankings predicted a tie between Louisiana Tech and Nevada for fifth/sixth place in the WAC.

Steve Wrathell's CPA Rankings predicted a tie between Texas-El Paso and Tulsa for ninth/tenth place in the WAC.