South Carolina Ranked No. 22 In USA Today/ESPN Preseason Poll

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.