The long national nightmare is almost over

The Associated Press came out with their pre-season Top 25 college football poll yesterday. Here's how it shakes down:

1. Alabama (defending BCS champs)

2. Ohio State (QB Tyrell Pryor's break-out season?)

3. Boise St. (Much love for the little guys)

4. Florida (Let's see how the Florida program fares post-Tebow)

5. Texas

6. TCU

7. Oklahoma

8. Nebraska

9. Iowa (after a mild slump 2-3 years ago, Coach Ferentz has got the Hawkeyes rolling again)

10. Virginia Tech (always seem a little overrated in our mind)

11. Oregon (before former QB Jeremiah Masoli transferred to Ole Miss, the Ducks were considered a top 5 team)

12. Wisconsin

13. Miami

14. USC (lowest pre-season ranking in years. Last time they were ranked outside of the top 10 was 2002, now-departed Pete Carroll's second season)

15. Pittsburgh

16. Georgia Tech

17. Arkansas

18. North Carolina

19. Penn State

20. Florida State

21. LSU

22. Auburn

23. Georgia (college football guru Phil Steele has the 'Dawgs as his sleeper for the BCS title)

24. Oregon State

25. West Virginia


By conference:

SEC: 6
ACC: 5
Big 10: 4
Pac 10: 3
Big 12: 3
Big East: 2
WAC: 1
Mountain West: 1 Mild surprise here, in that both BYU and Utan have built top-25 caliber programs in the last 4-5 years.