Sunday, October 19, 2008

BlogPoll Ballot Week 8

My preliminary ballot, with suggestions/comments warmly welcomed.

I want to remind readers again of the system I use, found here.

Essentially I rank teams based on their efforts again Top Tier Teams, Mid-Tier Teams, and Lower Tier Teams.

My preliminary rankings -

1. Texas – Only team to defeat – convincingly at that – two Top Tier teams
2. Alabama – Win over Top Tier Georgia gets them here.
3. Oklahoma State – Undefeated, and beat Missouri (Top Tier)
4. Penn State – Yet to play a Top Tier team, but a solid 8-0
5. Texas Tech – Undefeated over a several Mid-Tier Teams.
6. Utah – Undefeated with several Mid-Tier wins.
7. Oklahoma – Sole loss to Top Tier Texas
8. Georgia – Sole loss to Top Tier Alabama
9. Ohio State – Sole loss to Top Tier, 1-Loss USC (see explanation later)
10. Boise State – Undefeated, some Mid-Tier wins, but only 6 games
11. USC – loss to Mid-Tier Oregon State, win over Top Tier, 1-Loss Ohio State, only 6 games
12. Florida – Win over Top Tier LSU, loss to Mid-Tier Ole Miss, only 6 games
13. TCU – Only loss to Top Tier Oklahoma, several Mid-Tier wins
14. LSU – Lost to Top-Tier Florida, some Mid-Tier Wins.
15. Minnesota – Only loss to Ohio State
16. Georgia Tech – Sole loss to Virginia Tech
17 Boston College – Sole loss to Georgia Tech
18. Florida State – Sole loss to Wake Forest
19. Northwestern – Only loss to Michigan State
20. Pittsburgh – 1 loss, but it was Bowling Green
21. South Florida – lost to Pitt
22. Ball State – Undefeated, and win over Navy is the only thing that gets them ranked.
23. Cincinnati – Only loss to Oklahoma, but no other big wins and only 6 games
24. BYU – only loss to TCU gets them here.
25. Missouri – only 2 loss team to make my rankings, losses to good teams, but gave up 84 points in doing so.

Now I realize – to some – that ranking USC behind Ohio State is “crazy, crazy, crazy”. But Ohio State is now 8 games into their season ( 3/4th done, if you will) and USC is only 6 games in (1/2 done). All else being equal, if USC is still 1 loss after 8 games they would be the higher ranked team. But at this point, 1/6th of their record has a loss to Oregon State.

Let me know what you think.

4 comments:

Andrew said...

Who is mid-tier that Utah has beaten? Oregon State? Michigan doesn't count this year. Texas Tech hasn't even played a mid-tier team yet and took OT to beat Nebraska. I'm still not sure why USC is over Florida either. Florida lost by 1 to an Ole Miss team that has lost in close games to good teams. Florida didn't get dominated the way USC did in their loss, and not by a team that has gotten pummeled twice. By your previous postings on top teams, I'd say Texas' D is suspect. 66 points in the last two games.

Anonymous said...

You know, the final in that OSU game was only 6 points right? That's not exactly "domminated".

And SC's tOSU and Oregon victories easily trump Florida's win over....who exactly? LSU?

Anonymous said...

Oregon State led 21-0 at the half. That's domination, especially when Oregon St got lit up by Penn St and Utah.

Mergz said...

Andrew - I agree BYU's record is unimpressive, and though UCLA counts (barely) as Mid-Tier, I might be inclined to move them out of the top 25.

USC and Florida are a close call (and closely ranked). Their win over OSU is better than anything we have done (even LSU). I give them the bare nod.

Texas' D is suspect - and I think someone will get them somewhere along the way. For now, however, they have the best resume.