Aug. 2, 2002
By The Associated Press
South Carolina was voted No. 22 in the USA Today/ESPN coaches preseason poll released Thursday.
Miami, college football’s defending national champion, begins the 2002 season the same way it ended the 2001 season, ranked No. 1 in the country.
The Associated Press media preseason poll will be released Aug. 10.
The Hurricanes, who completed a 12-0 season with a 37-14 win over
Nebraska in the Rose Bowl, easily outdistanced No. 2 Texas and No. 3 Oklahoma
in voting by 61 head coaches.
Miami had 34 first-place votes and 1,444 points. Texas (11-2) had nine
first-place votes and 1,399 points, edging Big 12 rival Oklahoma
(11-2) by two points. The Sooners had 11 first-place votes and 1,397 points.
Rounding out the top 10: Florida State, Tennessee, Colorado, Florida,
Nebraska, Washington and Michigan.
USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Poll
The top 25 teams in the preseason USA Today-ESPN college football
poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, final 2001 records, total points
based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place
vote and last ranking:
| Team (First Place Votes) | Record | Pts | Pvs |
| 1. Miami (Fla.) (34) | 12-0 | 1,444 | 1 |
| 2. Texas (9) | 11-2 | 1,399 | 5 |
| 3. Oklahoma (11) | 11-2 | 1,397 | 6 |
| 4. Florida State (7) | 8-4 | 1,357 | 15 |
| 5. Tennessee | 11-2 | 1,255 | 4 |
| 6. Colorado | 10-3 | 1,010 | 9 |
| 6. Florida | 10-2 | 972 | 3 |
| 8. Nebraska | 11-2 | 951 | 7 |
| 9. Washington | 8-4 | 914 | 19 |
| 10. Michigan | 8-4 | 894 | 20 |
| 11. Georgia | 8-4 | 858 | 25 |
| 12. Ohio State | 7-5 | 761 | – |
| 13. LSU | 10-3 | 749 | 8 |
| 14. Washington State | 10-2 | 748 | 11 |
| 15. Oregon | 11-1 | 663 | 2 |
| 16. Virginia Tech | 8-4 | 550 | 18 |
| 17. Louisville | 11-2 | 378 | 16 |
| 18. Michigan State | 7-5 | 371 | – |
| 18. Southern California | 6-6 | 349 | – |
| 20. Maryland | 10-2 | 315 | 10 |
| 21. Marshall | 11-2 | 280 | 21 |
| 22. South Carolina | 9-3 | 213 | 13 |
| 23. Wisconsin | 5-7 | 210 | – |
| 24. Penn State | 5-6 | 206 | – |
| 25. N.C. State | 7-5 | 174 | – |
Others receiving votes: Texas A&M 158, Auburn 150, UCLA 114, Kansas
State 110, Boston College 85, Brigham Young 84, Georgia Tech 70, Syracuse
66, Illinois 55, Oregon State 54, Clemson 46, Purdue 45, Utah 44, Fresno
State 42, Mississippi 41, Arkansas 40, Colorado State 39, Southern
Mississippi 23, Iowa State 22, Stanford 21, Notre Dame 18, Hawaii 14, Arizona 12, Iowa
11, Texas Tech 11, Boise State 7, Pittsburgh 7, North Carolina 4, Toledo
4, Virginia 3, Minnesota 2, West Virginia 2, Louisiana Tech 1, UNLV 1,
Wake Forest 1.
