The first USA Today/Coaches’ Top-25 poll of the 2010 season was released on August 6, with defending Bowl Championship Series national champion Alabama tabbed as the preseason favorite. The Crimson Tide received 55 of a possible 59 first-place votes. Ohio State, which is slated second to start the season, garnered the other four first-place nods. No. 3 Florida, No. 4 Texas, and No. 5 Boise State round out the preseason top five.
The USA Today/Coaches’ Poll, Harris Interactive Poll, and six computer rankings each constitute one-third of the BCS Standings, used to pair the top-two teams in the BCS National Championship Game. The BCS average is calculated by averaging the percentage of possible points for each team in each of the three segments of the BCS Standings. The average of the computer polls—Anderson & Hester, Richard Billingsley, The Colley Matrix, Kenneth Massey, Jeff Sagarin, and Peter Wolfe—is taken from four of the six polls after dropping the highest and lowest point totals. The first Harris Interactive Poll of 2010 will be released on October 10, while the first BCS Standings will be released on October 17.
Last year, No. 1 Alabama defeated No. 2 Texas, 37-21, in the Citi BCS National Championship Game at Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, Calif. The BCS National Championship Game is rotated each year between four BCS sites, which include Miami Gardens, Fla., New Orleans, La., and Glendale, Ariz. The Orange Bowl Committee last hosted the national title game in 2009, when No. 2 Florida dispatched No. 1 Oklahoma, 24-14, and will host it next in 2013 at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.
The 77th Orange Bowl will be played on January 3, 2011 at Sun Life Stadium, and, for the sixth consecutive season, will pit the champion of the Atlantic Coast Conference against a BCS At-Large qualifier. The ACC, which landed No. 6 Virginia Tech in the preseason top-10, leads all conferences with five top-20 teams, including No. 13 Miami, 2010 Orange Bowl participant and No. 17 Georgia Tech, No. 18 North Carolina, and No. 20 Florida State. At last month’s ACC Football Kickoff in Greensboro, N.C., media in attendance selected the Hokies to win the ACC Coastal division and defeat the predicted Atlantic division champion Seminoles in the sixth annual Dr Pepper ACC Championship Game on December 4 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.
Additionally, ACC Atlantic division contenders Clemson, the 2009 divisional champion, and Boston College, divisional winner in 2007 and 2008, received votes in the initial Coaches Poll. Boise State of the Western Athletic Conference, and No. 7 Texas Christian and No. 24 (tie) Utah of the Mountain West Conference are the only teams from non-automatic BCS qualifying conferences to be ranked inside the top-25.
The Orange Bowl, one of only five annual BCS games, will be televised by ESPN, as will each of the other BCS Bowl games.
Rank Team (first-place votes) Points
1. Alabama (55) 1,469
2. Ohio State (4) 1,392
3. Florida 1,245
4. Texas 1,240
5. Boise State 1,215
6. Virginia Tech 1,052
7. TCU 1,051
8. Oklahoma 1,035
9. Nebraska   1,001
10. Iowa   952
11. Oregon ;940
12. Wisconsin   778
13. Miami (FL) 728
14. Penn State 508
15. Pittsburgh   492
16. LSU 476
17. Georgia Tech 455
18. North Carolina 445
19. Arkansas 438
20. Florida State 374<o:p>
21. Georgia 312
22. Oregon State 263
23. Auburn   260
24. Utah   169
24. West Virginia 169
Others receiving votes: Cincinnati 135, Houston 76, Brigham Young 66, Arizona 65, Mississippi 48, Clemson 44, Stanford 41, Connecticut 40, Notre Dame 38, South Carolina 38, Washington 26, Missouri 23, Navy 12, Oklahoma State 11, Boston College 10, Michigan State 10, Arizona State 6, California 6, Texas Tech 5, South Florida 4, Texas A&M 3, Temple 2, Northwestern 2, Mississippi State 1, Nevada 1, Northern Illinois 1, Central Michigan 1, Southern Methodist 1.