Oklahoma debuts at No. 1 in Scripps Legends Poll

After passing an early test with a 23-13 victory at Florida State, Oklahoma debuted at No. 1 in the first Scripps Legends Poll of the season.

The Sooners received 12 first-place votes out of the 19 ballots cast by the legendary voting panel.

“What jumps out at me about Oklahoma is their defense,” former West Virginia coach Don Nehlen said. “They’re much tougher than I thought they would be. Oklahoma also has great skilled players on offense like Broyles that allow them to score points in bunches.”

Alabama received the remaining seven first-place votes, landing the Crimson Tide at No. 2. Fellow SEC West member LSU followed at No. 3.

Wisconsin cracked the top 5 at No. 4, one spot ahead of fifth-ranked Boise State.

The Badgers are off to a hot start, led by North Carolina State transfer Russell Wilson at quarterback.

“Wilson makes it so Wisconsin is not so one-dimensional,” said former Ohio State coach John Cooper. “Their big offensive line can run block and pass block, which allows Russell Wilson to use his passing as well as his running skills.”

The rest of the top 10 was made up of No. 6 Stanford, No. 7 Oklahoma State, No. 8 Texas A&M and No. 9 Nebraska.

Despite its loss to top-ranked Oklahoma at home, Florida State opened at No. 10.

The SEC was well represented in the 2011 debut of the Scripps Legends Poll. The conference had five teams ranked in the top 15 with No. 11 South Carolina, No. 14 Arkansas and No. 15 Florida joining Alabama and LSU.

The Big 12 had five ranked teams as well, including No. 17 Texas and No. 18 Baylor.

No. 16 West Virginia was the highest ranked Big East team, joined by No. 19 South Florida.

TCU rounded out the top 20.

Undefeated Clemson debuted at No. 21, followed by No. 22 USC and No. 23 Michigan.

After knocking off previously unbeaten Ohio State, Miami was ranked No. 24. Illinois was No. 25.

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