There already is a Nick Saban statue outside of Bryant-Denny Stadium; what will Alabama do if he wins a second national title? Photo by Kelly Lambert-US PRESSWIRE

Oklahoma is No. 1 in the AP college football preseason poll, but Alabama gets the top spot on my ballot.

The Crimson Tide has to figure out its quarterback situation, but its defensive back seven is terrific, and coach Nick Saban knows a few things about winning with defense.

I like Alabama’s chances of reaching the national title game — even with one loss as it gets credit for having to navigate the treacherous SEC West — and I wouldn’t bet against the SEC in a BCS title game.

The AP instructs its media cast of characters to “Base your vote on performance, not reputation or preseason speculation,” which is, of course, impossible to do right now because all we have is preseason speculation.

Each week, that speculation gets partially replaced by results, and I would expect my rankings to vary greatly from week to week early in the season. Teams that post significant wins will vault to the top, no matter where they started in my preseason imagination.

Here is my preseason ballot:

1. Alabama
2. Oklahoma
3. Oregon
4. LSU
5. Boise State
6. Florida State
7. Oklahoma State
8. Stanford
9. Wisconsin
10. Texas A&M
11. Virginia Tech
12. Nebraska
13. South Carolina
14. TCU
15. Notre Dame
16. Arkansas
17. Michigan State
18. West Virginia
19. Ohio State
20. Mississippi State
21. Georgia
22. Missouri
23. Auburn
24. USC
25. Texas

Related: Which AP voter has Arizona on his Top 25 ballot?

That one person is Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Fittipaldo puts Arizona third in the Pac-12, also ranking Stanford at No. 3 and Oregon at No. 4.

Any Top 25 mention for Arizona is a surprise, but the Wildcats actually fared better in the USA Today coaches poll, receiving 32 points, good enough to rank 32nd nationally. The coaches do not release their individual preseason ballots, however, so we don’t know who voted for the Cats.

Oklahoma, as in the coaches poll, is No. 1 in the AP media poll, receiving 36 of the 60 first-place votes. Among Pac-12 teams, Oregon is third, Stanford seventh and USC is 25th.

Here is a link to the full preseason poll.

Arizona landed at No. 23 in the AP media poll and the USA Today coaches poll.

The Wildcats are 7-3 overall and 4-3 in the Pac-10 following the 24-21 loss to the visiting Trojans on Saturday night.

This is Arizona’s 10th consecutive week in the AP poll, the fifth longest steak in school history.

Last week, Javier Morales of WildAboutAZCats.com — one of our partners in the TucsonCitizen.com Sports Network — broke down the longer AP streaks for us:

• 39 consecutive weeks: In the Desert Swarm era, from the start of the 1993 season to five weeks into 1995.
• 20: During the entire 1998 season (when the Cats finished 12-1 and ranked No. 4) and four weeks into 1999.
• 15: The entire 1975 season, from the preseason poll to the final poll, peaking at No. 11 after starting 8-1.
• 13: After starting 2-0 through the end of the 1986 season, the last for Larry Smith at Arizona.

Arizona moved ahead of Iowa (which suffered a narrow home loss to Wisconsin) but was jumped by undefeated Missouri (which delivered the first loss to Oklahoma).

Speaking of Iowa …

How is that that the 6-1 Wildcats still trail 5-2 Iowa on three of the 60 AP ballots?

Now, there’s no shame that the Hawkeyes lost to No. 9 Wisconsin 31-30 … and perhaps Iowa’s 35-7 win over Iowa State early in the season gets some added value because the Cyclones just won at Texas. (But so did UCLA, which has returned to being a mess since that game.)

Iowa’s top three wins have come over Iowa State, Penn State and Michigan, with the latter two opponents sounding better than they are really are. Arizona’s victims include impossible-to-figure out Cal, impossible-to-figure-out Washington … and Iowa.

Arizona has the better record, has at least equal quality victories, and the head-to-head meeting should be the clincher.

It’s also important to remember that the AP instructs voters to base ballots on results, not necessarily who they think is playing better at the moment or a projection of which team they think will finish higher.

I have no complaint about NOT dropping a team like Iowa after a close loss to a highly ranked opponent … but keeping the Hawks ahead of Arizona seems to be illogical voting.

(Yes, this is right about where someone will say, “What does it matter?” but polls are a part of the fabric of college football discussion, and we should be holding all these voters accountable for their ballots. That’s the great thing about the AP poll — it makes the ballots public, unlike those from the coaches’ poll.)

Anyway, Rick Wright of the Albuquerque Journal is the most extreme voter in this case, putting Iowa 13th and Arizona 18th. That is the tied for the highest mark in the poll for the Hawkeyes and the lowest figure for the Wildcats.

Cole Harvey of the Macon (Ga.) Telegraph has Iowa 13th and Arizona 15th.

Chris Fowler of ESPN has Iowa 15th and Arizona 17th.

Meanwhile, the Wildcats moved up two spots to No. 16 in the coaches poll.

Arizona eventually subdued Iowa on the field, but not on eight of 60 AP ballots/Photo by David Kadlubowski, Arizona Republic

The Arizona Wildcats stayed at No. 14 in the Associated Press Top 25 after its 10-9 victory over Cal.

The Wildcats moved ahead of Arkansas, South Carolina and Texas, which all lost. I’m not sure why Arkansas should drop five spots after nearly beating top-ranked Alabama — isn’t that a sign of a really good team? — but the Razorbacks did slide to No. 15.

Stranger still is that one voter totally left Arizona off his ballot. That would be Desmond Conner from the Hartford Courant.

Conner did, however, find room in his Top 25 to put Houston — which got smacked by UCLA on Sept. 18 and has lost star quarterback Case Keenum for the season — at No. 23. He was the only one of the 60 voters to list Houston.

And there still seems to be some confusion about which team won the Arizona-Iowa game. Eight voters put Iowa ahead of the Wildcats. (Wait … let me check … Arizona 34, Iowa 27 … OK, then).

I like Iowa’s team — and the Hawkeyes don’t deserve to be left off Ray Ratto’s ballot — but there is no way it should be ranked ahead of Arizona right now.

Sometimes a head-to-head result can be bypassed because of intervening events, such as other losses or a big disparity in strength of schedule, but that doesn’t apply here.

Arizona won the head-to-head matchup.

Arizona’s second-best win, Cal, came against a team that is better than the Iowa’s best victim (Iowa State).

Arizona’s third-best win (Toledo) is better than Iowa’s second-best win (Ball State).

And each team has a win over a lower-division opponent.

So … based on the evidence we have right now, how in the world does Iowa get ranked ahead of Arizona? And, remember, it is a directive from the AP to, as much as possible at this stage of the season, base your votes on results, not opinion.

Conner, by the way, has Iowa at No. 15. Lisa Byington of WLNS-TV in Lansing, Mich, has Iowa at No. 9 and Arizona at No. 17.

Meanwhile …

Arizona moved up from No. 16 to No. 14 in the USA Today coaches poll, which does not release individual ballots.

The AP poll isn’t a factor in the BCS ratings, but it is still used as a talking point and to set national perception. As usual, some of the media should be spending a bit more time with their ballot.

Overall, Arizona received 15 points, tied for 35th with Clemson. That was good for fifth-place among Pac-10 teams, behind Oregon (No. 11), USC (No. 14), Oregon State (No. 24) and Stanford (27th).

This all seems fairly reasonable to me. It’s about the mid-point of expectations for the Wildcats, perhaps a bit on the low side. I think Arizona, for example, has a chance to be closer to the 20th-best team in the country than the 50th-best team.

Not that it much matters. As will be repeated often, the window of opportunity is wide-open in the Pac-10 and we should be asking, “If not now, when?”

At least the writers’ poll didn’t include any goofy votes for Arizona State, as did the coaches’ poll. (The Wildcats were 29th in the USA Today coaches’ poll, in case you forgot.)

OK, so which of the football scribes voted for Arizona? Here they are:

Cole Harvey (No. 22). He is from the Macon (Ga.) Telegraph.

Jon Wilner (No. 22). The former Arizona Daily Star basketball beat writer (and my former colleague there), writes the informative College Hotline blog for the San Jose Mercury News.

Kirk Herbstreit (No. 22). ESPN’s Herbie always has the Wildcats on his radar.

Chip Cosby (No. 24). Cosby writes for the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader.

Tom Keegan (No. 25). He writes for the Lawrence (Kan.) Journal World.

A couple of other notes:

The state of Arizona always gets one vote in the AP poll, usually bouncing back and forth between the Phoenix and Tucson media. The Arizona Republic’s Doug Haller has the state’s vote this season.

How weird is it that Middle Tennessee receives votes, but Tennessee doesn’t? And Central Michigan has votes, but Michigan doesn’t.

Follow me on Twitter @AGWildcatReport