Kirk’s poll is out and now so is mine. You have to understand this about Kirk. His father… an undersized defensive back was an Ohio State captain in ’61 for Woody Hayes. His dad then went on to become the secondary coach for Woody because he was too small to play pro ball.
Jim Herbstreit if he had chosen to stay at Ohio State could have very well become an associate head coach at Ohio State when Woody was fired for hitting that Clemson player on the sidelines in a Gator Bowl game.
Instead… Jim Herbstreit chose to pursue a private business opportunity at that juncture in his life.
Kirk as a high school phenom quarterback was the Parade 1st Team All-American QB his senior high school season. Oklahoma was actually on his short list as far as college destinations…just so you know. But Kirk chose his father’s beloved Buckeyes. The family is Buckeye crazy with a touch of Bo Schem Michigan crazy as well. Kirk was signed on by then first year Buckeye head coach John Cooper, who btw got his first head coaching job at Tulsa before getting the Arizona State job. Small world.
I need to wrap this up and get to my poll. Anyway…Kirk was basically a backup QB for the Buckeyes until his 5th year senior season when he won the starting QB job and became a team captain like his father. That team never got to the Rose Bowl and none of Kirk’s other teams at Ohio State did either.
But Kirk is a traditionalist. He loves Ohio State and he loves the vision of what the Rose Bowl once was… the Grand Daddy Bowl Game of them all with the killer parade in Pasadena. Which is amazing btw since we made the trip in 2003 when OU easily handled Mike Price’s Washington State Cougars by two touchdowns with Nate Hybl as OU’s quarterback.
The Rose Bowl is definitely a college football Bucket List especially since we made the coastal drive from Del Mar to the game in my big sister’s convertible. I have to say…making that drive with Bob in the car with a lit cigar is something I’ll never forget. If he had caught Chris, then thirteen, on fire…I would have had some explaining to do with my wife. There was literally never a dull moment with Bob. AS IN NEVER.
So to conclude…whenever I see Kirk’s polls…I know I’ll have to modify his takes on the Big Ten team and the PAC 12 team most likely thought to win those conferences because Kirk still lives somewhat in the traditional Rose Bowl era of college football… which was cool, but unfortunately doesn’t really exist any longer because of something known as the SEC.
Now…my 12 Team Power Poll
1 Georgia
2 Alabama (with pragmatic reluctance attached)
3 Oklahoma
4 Ohio State
5 Oregon (if you lose to Stanford don’t bitch about a head to head being canceled out)
6 Oklahoma State (this team will go as far as Spencer Sanders’ legs are allowed to take it at some point)
7 Cincy
8 Notre Dame
9 Texas A&M
10 Michigan State
11 Michigan
12 Ole Miss
On my bubble
13 Iowa State
14 Kentucky
15 Auburn
16 Baylor