BlogPoll, Draft Ballot
If anything voting got tougher from one week to the next.
What to do, for instance, with Florida State? They give up a ton of yards to Miami, almost lose to Jacksonville State, and then go to BYU and annihilate them.
Who is this team? Well, 25th is what I could come up with.
I still have ‘Bama number one, as I think their win over Virginia Tech was the soundest I have seen. Cal comes in 2nd for their wins over Maryland (I know) and at Minnesota. And I have Miami at 3rd despite the fact they have played 2 games. These three teams, to me at least, pass “the eye test”.
As for the rest, who the hell knows? Is Tennessee, loser to Florida and UCLA, a quality opponent? And when is Penn State going to play a real team?
As always your suggesting are solicited. Let’s try to put together a decent ballot.
Here's what I have now -
 | ||
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama | |
| 2 | California |  6 |
| 3 | Miami (Florida) | |
| 4 | Houston | |
| 5 | Cincinnati | 5 |
| 6 | Texas | 9 |
| 7 | Boise State |  1 |
| 8 | Florida | 6 |
| 9 | Michigan | 4 |
| 10 | LSU | 9 |
| 11 | Auburn | 7 |
| 12 | UCLA | 5 |
| 13 | Missouri | 4 |
| 14 | Mississippi | 2 |
| 15 | Virginia Tech | 8 |
| 16 | Washington | |
| 17 | Oklahoma | 5 |
| 18 | Southern Cal | 15 |
| 19 | Ohio State | 5 |
| 20 | Oklahoma State | 5 |
| 21 | TCU | |
| 22 | Pittsburgh | |
| 23 | Penn State | 7 |
| 24 | Georgia | |
| 25 | Florida State | |
| Last week's ballot | ||
Mentioned in Austin Murphy's book 
6 comments:
I would say than any poll in which the team that is ranked number two one week and is unranked the next, is seriously flawed.
In my opinion, you were way too generous with BYU last week, but their exile this week doesn't make sense, either.
Let me address BYU.
Last week BYU was 2-0 having beaten Oklahoma and some hapless opponent. In light of the other evidence at that time (the records of the other teams) they were ranked correctly.
Now we know a little more about them. Getting blown out by what I still think to be a questionable FSU team at home tells me that the 25 names on my list are more deserving than BYU, AT THIS POINT IN TIME.
That is important to note - every ballot is about this point in time. I had no opinion last week whether BYU was good or not, so I wasn't "wrong" in that sense. They were most deserving by resume. Now you can argue that they were less deserving on a resume basis, and I'll listen, but don't tell me so-and-so is better than such-and-such because you don't know.
Once again, this has nothing to do with who is the best. If that's the way polls are thought of, well they are nearly always terribly wrong (take a look at the AP or Coaches preseason).
Cal beat a Maryland team that lost to MTSU from the Sunbelt. Check me on this, but I'm not sure MTSU has ever beaten a BCS conference team. Cal still hasn't played anybody.
What exactly has Oklahoma done to deserve being ranked higher than BYU, who has the same record and beat them head-to-head?
Even ignoring head-to-head, Oklahoma's wins are over two nobodies, and their loss is to a team you currently have unranked. BYU beat a ranked team and a nobody, and their loss is to a team who you currently have ranked.
I have to think that if we are blind to the names and colors on the jerseys, BYU should still be ranked above OU -- whether that means BYU is too low or OU is too high isn't for me to say.
Have to agree with Jams here. I'd say the chain of games: Miami over FSU over BYU over Oklahoma should for this week put those 4 teams in that order in the polls.
Likewise for LSU over UW over USC over Ohio State (which you do have in the correct order), the issue I have with those teams is specifically that they should perhaps as a group all move up a bit. I especially think that LSU's win over UW looks excellent right now and should possibly move them as high as 6 in your poll.
I strongly second both Amos and James.
I also wonder what Ole Miss is doing here. Not that I think they are a bad team (I think they are good), but at the moment, they haven't really proven it. Their wins over Memphis (45-14) and I-AA SLU (52-6) are almost identical to say Arizona State's (over Idaho State 50-3 and Louisiana-Monroe 38-14), yet Ole Miss is ranked and Arizona State is not. Kentucky at least has a win over a BCS opponent (over Louisville, who barely qualifies).
Also, despite a close week 1 game against a I-AA opponent, Iowa has crafted a resume potentially worthy of ranking. 2 wins over BCS teams (Iowa State and Arizona) should be worth more than Memphis and Southeastern Louisiana.
North Carolina also has a pair of wins over what appear to be decent teams (over Uconn and East Carolina). Not sure if that's good enough for top 25 though, especially considering the ugliness of the game with Uconn.
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