The Mississippi State football team checked in at number 18 in the preseason AP poll. But how did each individual voter stack the Bulldogs up?
So we all know by now that the Mississippi State football team is ranked as the 18th best team in the country before the 2018 season begins. But that only tells a part of the story. By going to College Poll Tracker, you can see how each member voted.
If I counted them correctly, there were 61 members of the Associated Press who voted in the AP Preseason poll. The highest anyone ranked the Bulldogs was 11th and there were five voters who left the Mississippi State football team completely off their ballots. The high man was John Clay of the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Here is a breakdown of who all voted the Bulldogs where.
11th
- John Clay
12th
- Eric Hansen
13th
- Soren Petro
14th
- Joey Kaufman
- Matt Baker
- Matt Brown
- Rachel Richlinski
- Robert Gagliardi
15th
- Bill Landis
- Dave Southorn
- Garland Gillen
- Jonny Miller
16th
- Adam Jude
- Brandon Marcello
- Chris Solari
- Jason Galloway
- Robert Cessna
- Scott Rabalais
- Steve Batterson
17th
- Blake Toppmeyer
- Brett McMurphy
- Fred Lewis
- Jerry DiPaola
- Lauren Brownlow
- Steve Layman
- Tom Murphy
18th
- Aaron McMann
- Bob Asmussen
- Chuck Carlton
- Don Williams
- John Bednarowski
- Kirk Bohls
- Michael Ley
19th
- Brian Howell
- Chris Murray
- Kellis Robinett
- Mike Barber
- Tony Parks
20th
- Ben Jones
- Brent Axe
- Gary Horowitz
- Marc Weiszer
- Pat Dooley
- Rece Davis
- Scott Hamilton
21st
- Grace Raynor
- Jim Alexander
22nd
- David Briggs
- Neil Ostrout
- Safid Deen
- Sam McKewon
23rd
- Andy Greder
- Keith Sargeant
- Steve Virgen
24th
- Conor O’Neil
25th
- Matt McCoy
Not Ranked
- Jon Wilner
- Rob Long
- Mitch Vingle
- Ryan Aber
- Dylan Sinn
If you’re wondering how the AP member from Mississippi ranked the Bulldogs, you would need to find Rachel Richklinski. She works for WLBT and Fox News 40 in Jackson, MS. If you don’t want to scroll back up, she voted the Mississippi State football team 14th.
Now, the most interesting nugget in my opinion is there at 16th. Brandon Marcello, the former Mississippi State beat writer at the Clarion Ledger, had this to say about Mississippi State in April.
No. That's not happening. 7 or 8 wins. Enjoy it. https://t.co/Z2bzcrhqFq
— Brandon Marcello (@bmarcello) April 17, 2018
And if you go read any tweets by people who responded to this tweet and Marcello’s reaction, it didn’t sound like a guy who would rank the Bulldogs 16th in the country.
So there’s how Mississippi State was ranked by each voter in the AP poll. Feel free to seek out those on Twitter and tell them how pleased or displeased you were with their ballot.