Comparing the Pre-Season Polls

Way back in January, before the Ocho went on an unplanned temporary hiatus, I put up my pre-pre-season top 8. Now, most of the other polls have come out, the spring games have happened, and we can see how my top 8 stacks up against everyone else's.

So, here are the JoePa Uber Alles Top 8 Pre-Pre-Season picks.
1. Ohio State
2. LSU
3. West Virginia
4. Texas
5. USC
6. Oklahoma
7. Notre Dame
8. Florida

Now, in comparison, here are some other top eights that have appeared since then, with links attached:

Stewart Mandel of SI.com

1. Ohio State
2. Texas
3. ND
4. WVU
5. LSU
6. Oklahoma
7. USC
8. Cal (Incidentally, Mandel had Florida as his number 11, while I don't mention Cal at all)

Dennis Dodd of CBS Sportsline.com

1. Ohio State
2. WVU
3. Auburn (mentioned in my 8 next teams, in no particular order)
4. LSU
5. Oklahoma
6. Texas
7. Notre Dame
8. USC (Florida comes in as his number 9)

Ivan Maisel at ESPN.com

1. Ohio State
2. Oklahoma
3. WVU
4. Texas
5. Florida State (mentioned in my next 8 list)
6. USC
7. Cal (again, I didn't mention the Golden Bears)
8. Notre Dame (Florida and LSU come in at 12 and not mentioned. UTEP is his 23, but no LSU? Wow.)

Okay, so what do we gather from all this? Every poll has Ohio State at number one. 6 of the 8 teams I picked as my top eight are in every poll listed here. So, this means one of three things:
1. My picks are about as good as those of sportswriters and professionals, and are a result of having spent years watching and commenting on college football as an amateur
2. Sportswriters' picks are about as bad as mine, despite their supposed better experience as professionals.
3. All of us jump on certain teams' bandwagons, and the preseason polls reflect those bandwagons more than giving any sort of reliable indicator of expected finish in the upcoming college football season.

Figure it out yourselves, and remember, college football starts on September 2. Only 88 more days to go.