31.   The omen of significance is that Cal is unranked in the preseason Associated Press poll.

32.   The Quakers were selected to repeat as Ivy League champions in the preseason media poll.

33.   The trouble with preseason polls is that they are voted on in the preseason.

34.   The Western Athletic Conference placed one team in the AP preseason poll.

35.   They were picked in several preseason polls to finish in the deeper reaches of the Southwest Conference, the places where no bowl scouts are found.

36.   They were good enough to be ranked in preseason polls, but not any higher than the flotsam and jetsam of postseason candidates.

37.   Those nettlesome preseason polls Osborne referred to are projecting them to win the opener.

38.   Those three teams also wound up in the N.C.A.A. playoffs as anticipated by preseason polls.

39.   USC was picked fifth out of six teams in a preseason conference poll after finishing second in the nation last season to Cal State Fullerton.

40.   When the Big East coaches predicted in their preseason poll that Seton Hall would finish last in the conference standing this year, it was with good reason.