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After utilizing a Google Spreadsheet large enough to cover the Google Earth, we’ve managed to figure out what teams are good enough to show up on voters’ ballots, probably due to some mental snafu, but are not good enough to show up on our Top 25. Welcome to mediocreville, these teams, population: you.

The teams that also received votes:

• Utah: Highest place in a voter’s ballot: 16th. Average rank among all ballots: 22.66. After starting the 2007 season with a 1-3 record, the Utes may have been wondering if the program really had fallen on the expected hard times post-Urban Meyer. But the one win was a 44-6 blow-out of the “#11″ UCLA. Of course, none of us really understood just how bad UCLA was that early in the season, but the Utes did manage to pull together 8 more wins and just one more loss to finish out the season. That’s a good coaching job no matter what conference you’re in, and no matter how many Wyomings and New Mexicos you get to play.
• Florida State: Highest place in a voter’s ballot: 18th. Average rank among all ballots: 23.33. The ‘Noles are probably just happy to be stuck in neutral with a 2007 record of 7-6 and a “hard fought” bowl loss to Kentucky as the fans, and probably some of the players, anxiously await the retirement celebrations for Bobby Bowden that will also (more importantly?) herald the dawning of the Jimbo Fisher era.
• Tennessee: Highest place in a voter’s ballot: 20th. Average rank among all ballots: 23.33. Seems like a weird notion that a coach that has a 77% winning percentage over 17 years and a national championship under his extended belt would be on the hotseat, but that’s the very position that Phil Fulmer finds himself in, and you can smell the frying fat all the way up here in Chicago (no, that’s not Krispy Kreme). They went 10-4 last year, but Tennessee is only 3-5 in bowl games since the NC and they’ve only appeared in 1 BCS game in that time.
• Georgia Tech: Highest place in a voter’s ballot: 23rd. Average rank among all ballots: 24. No, no. The rather lofty heights for a program still recovering from the Chan Gailey era has nothing to do with the fact that the new coach took a bunch of really tiny kids and beat Notre Dame last season. Ok, yeah, it’s probably got everything to do with that. Last year’s 7-6 record does say one thing about the fans of Georgia Tech, however: They’re probably not gonna be real happy with a “rebuilding” season that looks like 3-9 in 2008.
• Nebraska: Highest place in a voter’s ballot: 21st. Average rank among all ballots: 24.33. Lots of talk about “the return to Nebraska Football,” with the arrival of Bo Pelini. And lots of harumphing and usage of the term “black shirts,” given Pelini’s defensive prowess. I guess we’ll just have to wait an see.
• Wake Forest: Highest place in a voter’s ballot: 21st. Average rank among all ballots: 24.33. After a 9-4 record last year (at Wake!) and a BCS appearance the year before (at Wake!), some may be surprised to learn that Jim Grobe is still the HC (at Wake!). Hate to say it, but you know all of those, “John McCain is so old” jokes? All ripped off from their original “Jim Grobe is so old” format.
• UConn: Highest place in a voter’s ballot: 23rd. Average rank among all ballots: 25. Remember when UConn didn’t even have a D1 football program? In 2003 they finally had a full 85-man scholarship roster, and in 2004, Randy Edsall lead them to their first bowl game win. But then they suffered a bit of a dip, during a time with just 6 seniors on the roster (sound familiar?), and it took until 2007 to really recover with a 9-4 record and co-Big East Championship.
• Fresno State: Highest place in a voter’s ballot: 23rd. Average rank among all ballots: 25. Pat Hill and the Bulldogs recovered from a brutal 4-8 season in 2006 with a nice 9-4 season last year along with a blow-out bowl game win over GaTech when the Jackets were probably not all that into it. This year they return 17 starters, including 10 on an offense that ramped up their point production by 10 ppg last year.
• Pitt: Highest place in a voter’s ballot: 24th. Average rank among all ballots: 25. Any vote for Pitt is less a vote for head coach Dave Wannstedt, and more a vote for RB LeSean McCoy. McCoy is the sort of talent that could very well carry a team like Pitt, in a league like the Big East to a record of 9-3 in the regular season, particularly against a slate that starts with Bowling Green, Buffalo, and Iowa.
• Air Force: Highest place in a voter’s ballot: 25th. Average rank among all ballots: 25.66. Sharing the honor of being one of only 2 military academies to beat Notre Dame in 2007, the Falcons put together a 9-4 record while implementing Troy Calhoun’s more “modern” offense. But last year this squad featured a very senior and savvy roster. This year, the Falcons only return 8 starters - 3 on offense. Yikes.

So, any teams we didn’t mention that you think will be firmly entrenched in the “Eh. They might give us a game,” territory?

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