USA Today Ranks K-State #26 In The Nation

Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-USA TODAY Sports

The USA Today Preseason poll is out, and K-State is the first team on the outside looking in with the most votes received outside the top 25. Coming in at #26 with 113 points, the Wildcats were edged out by Oregon State with 135 points.

So, K-State is unranked. Again. How appropos. I swear I didn’t plan this (I’ve done a poor job of keeping my thumb on the pulse of the greater NCAA football world recently, and seriously, who releases a poll Thursday afternoon?), but this pairs perfectly with what we published at noon today. Using a study from pollspeak, K-State has been the seventh most underrated team over the past five years and our article (found here) discussed how the team has been successful in climbing the polls. This preseason prediction just gives the program one more opportunity to go from unranked to recognized as among the best in the nation.

The Big 12 failed to place a team in the top ten, should should be of no surprise – there’s no clear frontrunner in the conference and the league’s teams are expected to beat the snot out of each other all season long. Alabama drew the top spot which should surprise no one, receiving 58 of 62 first place votes. The Tide are followed by Ohio State, Oregon, Stanford, and Georgia. Oklahoma State, Texas, and Oklahoma are the first teams to appear at #14, #15, and #16, respectively. TCU appears at #20, while Baylor received votes and came in at #29. That’s six teams separated by 15 spots in the polls. Make sure your helmets are secured nice and tight this fall, because it’s going to be a battle every single week.