With the BCS National Championship between Auburn and Oregon being played last night, the 2010 college football season has officially come to a close. That means that fans won't get to see any college football until spring ball starts up, and actual games are eight months away. It also means that for the final time until the preseason discussion rolls around in August, the new college football polls have been released.
The final college football polls of the 2010 season obviously have Auburn ranked No. 1. The Tigers aren't a unanimous No. 1 even after beating Oregon in the BCS National Championship, though, as TCU received one first-place vote in the USA Today Coaches Poll and three first-place votes in the AP Top 25. Oregon came in third and Stanford and Ohio State rounded out the top five in both polls.
For the Michigan State Spartans, losing by a score of 49-7 to Alabama in the Capital One Bowl ended up costing them seven spots in both polls. Michigan State went into the game ranked seventh and finished 14th after the drubbing delivered by Alabama. Nevada, which finished 13-1, is ranked 13th in the USA Today Coaches Poll, one spot ahead of MSU. Virginia Tech is 15th, one spot back of the Spartans.
Wisconsin comes in tied for eighth with LSU in the USA Today Coaches Poll. The Badgers, along with the Spartans and Buckeyes, are the only three Big Ten teams ranked in the final college football polls of the 2010 season. Iowa is in the others receiving votes category, but with an 8-5 record the Hawkeyes weren't even really close to being in the top 25.
Predictions about what next season's preseason polls will look like undoubtedly will get started in the coming weeks, but considering some teams don't even have a head coach yet (cough ... Michigan ... cough), all discussion will be a bit premature. Until we know which players are for sure headed to the NFL, how the 2011 recruiting classes end up and how things look in spring practice, this is the last time I even want to think about college football polls until at least July. (I will admit, that's partly because I'm sick of talking about MSU's ranking with Michigan nowhere to be found. Hopefully in 2011 that will change, although Michigan will need to find a coach first.)