Two Extremely Early Top 25 Polls for 2012

by Scott Allen on Jan 10, 2026 2:21 PM PST

Jon Wilner posted his Ridiculously Early Top 25 for the 2012 football season today and Andrew Luck-less Stanford is nowhere to be found. As if that wasn't bad enough, Wilner ranks Cal No. 23.

23. Cal: Admittedly, I haven’t scrutinized the projected Pac-12 depth charts, but … If Zach Maynard continues to develop and the young defensive linemen live up to their billing, the Bears could be the third-best team in the Pac-12. (Utah, Stanford and Washington may have something to say about that.)

I might be a little more annoyed with Wilner's rankings if I could take them seriously. (It's hard to take any preseason top 25 that comes out the day after the season ends seriously, but Auburn at No. 14? Ha.)

ESPN's Mark Schlabach also posted his Way-Too-Early Top 25 today. He sandwiches Stanford between Oklahoma State and Virginia Tech at No. 17, which seems reasonable, especially considering he evidently wrote the Cardinal's blurb before Chase Thomas announced he was returning.

Finally, here is Ted Miller's early take on the 2012 Pac-12 race. He's not as high on the Bears in 2012 as Wilner, but he does say there's "plenty of intriguing talent on the roster." Miller ranks Stanford fourth behind USC, Oregon, and Utah.

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Sigh, Wilner

He’s a good reporter, but his analysis is awful. You’d think his abysmal track record would make him question things, but apparently not.

by stupac2 on Jan 10, 2026 2:29 PM PST reply actions

Exactly.

Either that, or Wilner’s a highly accomplished troll. Between that and ND at 15, I’m guessing an element of the latter.

Cal loses thirteen starters if you count specialists. They have only one-and-a-half playmaking threats and a giant hole after Keenan Allen at wideout. They’re losing their best defensive players. Zach Maynard is still their QB. I didn’t see any Cal players on the various freshman all-american teams, nor any on the sophomore all-american team. It’s hard to believe Cal will be anything other than mediocre next season, along the same lines as previous seasons.

by dth1 on Jan 10, 2026 2:59 PM PST up reply actions

my mistake

Keenan Allen was on sophomore all-american second team. Still, I don’t see a lot of talent on Cal beyond the frontline guys. If our QB is a Pac-12 average QB next year, I expect Stanford to be better than Cal.

by dth1 on Jan 10, 2026 3:01 PM PST up reply actions

Wilner’s a highly accomplished troll

He’s quite skillful at this. I would say that fans of teams he disparages just get outraged at him whenever he says something negative about them, but he’s managed to anger almost every segment of the college football world, save for the SEC (although he does knock their scheduling from time to time). Case-in-point, James Madison in 2010.

He’s been doing this since at least 2006 (since Killion left at least), so for people who have been reading the Merc for a while now, this is nothing new.

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by RedOscar on Jan 10, 2026 3:35 PM PST up reply actions

This one is especially odd...

… yes, Stanford is losing some serious talent, but the team has recruited well and will have one of the best running games in the nation, which should really take the pressure off of the new quarterback and, to some extent, the defense.. He’s usually so careful with his reporting, (and his work on the Pac-10/12 expansion and network stuff has been excellent) but this just seems like careless analysis. Or, we’re all right and he’s just trolling…

by RickeySteals on Jan 11, 2026 11:02 AM PST up reply actions

No...

Wilner’s strengths/weaknesses go like this:
1) He’s very good at finding out things people want him to know
2) He is so-so at finding out things people don’t want him to know
3) He is either awful or a master troll at telling us what this information means.

FWIW three other early top 25 polls have us ranked:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/andy_staples/01/11/way-too-early-2012-top-25/index.html?eref=sihp&sct=hp_t12_a1

http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/2012/1/11/2697091/2012-college-football-top-25-rankings-preseason

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7440553/college-football-way-too-early-2012-top-25

by dth1 on Jan 11, 2026 12:25 PM PST up reply actions

Knucklehead

Wilner was down on Stanford all season, so it’s no surprise that he’s ignoring them in 2012. One thing about Cal — there are rumors that Maynard will miss the first four games of 2012, which includes a game at Ohio State and another with USC. If this is true, I don’t think we need to worry about seeing the Bears in the top 25.

by Go Mighty Card on Jan 10, 2026 9:55 PM PST reply actions

???

What did Maynard do? That’s veeeery interesting. I don’t know how their backup QBs will do in the offseason (clearly not enough this past season), but if that’s true, then Cal has its second consecutive offseason in QB limbo.

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by RedOscar on Jan 11, 2026 11:04 AM PST up reply actions

FWIW

The #1 greatest threat to America: BEARS

by norcalnick on Jan 11, 2026 7:48 PM PST up reply actions

I believe this image sums up what Wilner is doing to Stanford fans:

Except he’s also just setting up future trolling opportunities for Cal fans by being able to complain about Cal failing to reach expectations next year. He’s a master!

The #1 greatest threat to America: BEARS

by norcalnick on Jan 10, 2026 10:13 PM PST reply actions 1 recs