AP Poll Out, No Surprise - No Oklahoma State and No Votes, Rare Under Gundy

STILLWATER – The Associated Press Preseason Top 25 Poll came out on Monday morning, Aug. 11. It is a major talking point for the start of a football season. Some believe that the AP poll, USA Today/Coaches Poll, and any preseason rankings like the Football Writer’s Association of America/National Football Foundation Super 16 (which I vote on this year) are data points for the College Football Playoff Committee. I don’t believe they are. I know late in the year that the only poll I look at is the one produced by the CFP Selection Committee. 

I don’t believe the administrators, coaches, and the media member on that committee look at the other polls either. I believe it is possible for a school not ranked preseason to make it in the new 12 team CFP (see Indiana).

For the dreamer out there that means if Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy created a college football miracle with his coaching staff and roster massive rebuild then you’re telling me “there’s a chance”.

In the poll Texas is a clean sweep of No. 1 and I’m shocked but this is the first time in the 90-years of the A.P. preseason football poll that Texas has been No. 1. 

Oklahoma fans are happy as the coaches left the Sooners out, but the writers and broadcasters have them at No. 18. The Super 16 includes writers, broadcasters, and Hall-of-Famers like former K-State quarterback Michael Bishop, Ohio State running back Keith Byars, Alabama center Barrett Jones, Syracuse quarterback Don McPherson, and Notre Dame defender Chris Zorich.  

This is just the fifth season of preseason polls where Mike Gundy’s Oklahoma State team did not get a single vote in the A.P. Poll. Coming off only his second losing season with the Cowboys at 3-9 and 0-9 in Big 12 play there was no way that the Cowboys deserved a vote. 

Pokes Report

Mike Gundy has worked hard to build this program.

Gundy is looking to prove again that he can re-invent himself and his program. Gundy did it in 2014 and his next three teams (2015-2017) went 30-9.

I look at this as a similar situation, but more severe than the 2014 Cowboys, who slipped to 6-6 and won their bowl game in Arizona over Washington to finish at 7-6. 

I remember Gundy believing he needed to make changes in the program after that season. He did and now he has made the most changes in his tenure at his alma mater. 

Here is Oklahoma State’s history with the 90-years of the Associated Press College Football Poll. It is blatant in its’ message.

Bruce Waterfield/OSU Athletics

The house that Boone Pickens built and paid for, but the house Mike Gundy has made the most popular.

If this doesn’t serve as a history lesson and a proving point for anybody that doubts the prowess and overall success of Oklahoma State football under the leadership of Mike Gundy then I don’t know what can. Beyond Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State has had a limited presence in the A.P. Polls or any other polls for that matter. 

Hall-of-Fame head coach Jimmy Johnson did not make an A.P. poll as Oklahoma State head coach.

It is not even close as to how impactful Oklahoma State football has been in the Gundy years versus all of the other seasons of it’s 125-years of existence.