Gators No. 1 in AP poll by record margin

The Florida Gators, along with college football fans everywhere, expected to be ranked number one in college football for the upcoming season after finishing the year as the 2009 national champions.

No one expected them to be the top ranked team by a wide margin.

Florida received 58 out of 60 total votes in the Associated Press poll early this morning; Texas received the other two votes. In other words, the gators received 96.7 percent of first place votes in the first poll, making AP poll history.

Southern California had the previous percentage record with 95.4 percent in the 2007 season, but they didn't win the national championship that year as LSU came away with the national championship that year.

If Florida repeats as national champions this season, they will be the 11th team to start and finish the season as the number one team in the AP poll. They will also be the first team to repeat as national champions for the first time since USC in 2003 and 2004.

The top 10 teams on the AP poll are as follows (note: Oklahoma State and Penn State tied for 9th in poll):

1. Florida (58)
2. Texas (2)
3. Oklahoma
4. USC
5. Alabama
6. Ohio State
7. Virginia Tech
8. Mississippi
9a. Oklahoma St.
9b. Penn St.

Florida State is back into the top 25 in the AP poll after not being on there last year which broke a 25-year streak of consecutive times being in the AP poll.

Looking through the top 25 teams, I believe that Notre Dame shouldn't be on a top 25 poll in football period. They may have had a great recruiting class this past year, but that doesn't mean that Notre Dame will have improved after one year.

Jimmy Clausen, in my opinion, hasn't lived up to the hype as the former number one high school prospect in the country. He had an improved year last year, but he continued to struggle to lead his offense with his poor decisions and lack of playmakers. His performance in the Hawaii Bowl last year shouldn't be taken lightly, but at the same time, he hasn't showed that same consistency in his first two years at Notre Dame.

I believe the Florida Gators will repeat as national champions because of the fact that they return the 2007 Heisman trophy winner Tim Tebow and all 22 players on their dominant defense that gave teams fits.

But like I've said before, I've been wrong before.