re: Has Malzahn changed the culture at Auburn?

Going strictly by the AP polls, 2014 will in all likelihood be the 17th time in our history where we will be ranked in the top 10 preseason.

Of those 16 previous seasons, we finished the year still in the top 10 six times (1958, 1983, 1987-9, and 2006). We ended up ranked 11-25 in four other seasons (1971, 1984, 1990 and 1995). The other six times we were in the preseason top 10, we finished unranked (1959, 1964, 1975, 1985, 2003, and 2008).

With the exception of Shug's NCAA-sanctioned squads in 1957-58, only Dye's superb teams of the late 80s and Tubs' 2005-06 teams have managed to live up to expectations in consecutive years.

In contrast, 2013 was the 13th time in AU history wherein we finished ranked in the final AP polls, after starting out the year either totally unranked or one of the teams receiving votes but outside of the top 25. And last year was the fourth time (along with 1972, 1974, and 1993) that AU finished in the top 10 after not receiving a single AP vote in the presason poll.