Homerism orients the preseason version of my power poll towards perceived team strength, as opposed to my in-season poll, where I try to focus on actual achievement. The basic premise: if Team X and Team Y met up at Hamill Field on a Saturday afternoon in October, who wins?

Rivalries, momentum and whatnot are irrelevant. The team that I think has the best chance of beating everyone else is one, the team with the second-best chance is two, and so on. Bear in mind that this is not a prediction of how the season will actually turn out. With that caveat in place, here goes:

Blatant Homerism Power Poll: Preseason

2. USC
3. Oklahoma
4. Texas
To be fair, USC, Oklahoma and Texas could be arranged in just about any order and it would still look right to me. I have the Trojans ranked second in this case based on talent and track record. Despite breaking in a new defense and questions about who will take over at quarterback, Florida is the only team better athlete for athlete. Additionally, Pete Carroll has demonstrated an unmatched ability to pump his squads up for high-profile matchups. Texas took the Trojans down what seems like oh so many years ago, but that has proven to be the exception to an otherwise ironclad rule. All things being equal, I’ll put USC just ahead of the Sooners and Longhorns. The Sooners may have the slightest of edges from a star power standpoint, leading to their higher ranking ahead of Texas.

5. Alabama
There’s less distance between ‘Bama and the top four than you think. Nick Saban’s team oozes talent all over the field, particularly on defense. The biggest flaw with this bunch looks like quarterback. OK, so it may not be fair to call it a “flaw,” but without anything really to go on in the way of Greg McElroy, we’re left to wonder if he can not mess up enough to keep the Crimson Tide in the thick of the SEC race. I suspect McElroy’s inexperience will hurt ‘Bama coming out of the gate, but this team will come on strong late.

6. California
Watch out for Cal. That team was much better than its record indicated last season. The Golden Bears certainly deserve mention as a potential dark horse for the national title. Besides constantly losing to USC, Cal typically finds a way to ruin an otherwise impressive season with a befuddling loss like the one inflicted on them by Maryland last year. Stay on point for an entire season and this group becomes a tough out.