BlogPoll – Week 2 Final
Having weighed the input from blog readers I have made some changes. As always I appreciate your help, as it is one of the main purposes of the BlogPoll to solicit reader assistance in order to create a better product.
Michigan and Houston have been switched, with Houston going to four. Their win is more impressive.
I agree that Oklahoma State should be in the top 25 in place of Notre Dame. ND’s sole win isn’t against as good a team.
We got a comment from a Minnesota blogger, and I agree – Minnesota should be in the top 25. When you are trying to rank 120 teams, sometimes someone gets overlooked, and I admit I simply missed the Gophers. However I won’t be placing them there at the expense of Auburn or Kansas. Rather I am dropping Miami because –
- They have played one game, and
- It was against terrible Florida State.
And I mean terrible. I think BYU is going to beat FSU by 3 touchdowns. FSU could only rush for 78 yards against Jacksonville State, while giving up 310 yards. They should have lost the game. Miami gave up 404 yards to Florida State in their narrow win. We can revisit Miami after their game against Georgia Tech.
However Minnesota, with Cal on tap next, don't get too comfortable.
Other comments –
Would Navy be in my top 5 if they beat Ohio State? Quite possibly. However I watched the USC-OSU game, and for the Trojans to win in that hostile atmosphere was impressive. The Buckeye’s defense looked fast and good yet USC overcame. I’m comfortable where they are.
As for UF being over ranked for having only beat non-BCS teams – I see your point. However, they truly were beatings. As of right now, among all FBS teams, the Gators are number 1 in total offense, 1 in scoring offense, and 5th in scoring defense at 4.5 points per game. It is hard this early on to set a place I truly feel comfortable with for the Gators based on their soft competition, but for now 14 will have to do.
The final Week 2 Poll -
 | ||
| Rank | Team | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama | |
| 2 | Brigham Young | |
| 3 | Southern Cal | |
| 4 | Houston | |
| 5 | Michigan | |
| 6 | Boise State | |
| 7 | UCLA | |
| 8 | California | |
| 9 | Missouri | |
| 10 | Cincinnati | |
| 11 | Baylor | |
| 12 | Mississippi | |
| 13 | Georgia Tech | |
| 14 | Florida | |
| 15 | Texas | |
| 16 | Penn State | |
| 17 | Nebraska | |
| 18 | Auburn | |
| 19 | LSU | |
| 20 | Minnesota | |
| 21 | Kansas | |
| 22 | Oklahoma | |
| 23 | Virginia Tech | |
| 24 | Ohio State | |
| 25 | Oklahoma State | |
Mentioned in Austin Murphy's book 
7 comments:
Makes me feel special. Also always glad to not see Notre Dame in a poll.
Admittedly, Florida played two creampuffs to start off the season, but that does not mean you don't have to use some judement in ranking the top 25.
For instance, what do you think the line would be on a game between the Gators and Baylor? Or Cincinnati (the Bearcats played Southeast Missouri State! last week)?
Yes, yes . . . all this is much to do about next to nothing, as these teams will rise or fall on the results yet to come, but it insults the intelligence to suggest that there are 13 teams better than the Gators.
Bitche State plays crampuffs too as they usually do all season, but still they're ranked ahead of Florida - oh well, they'd piddle their Pull-Ups and start their whining if they weren't - so go figure.
Floridan,
but that does not mean you don't have to use some judement in ranking the top 25.
This whole blog is about judgement. Rather than guessing at which teams are better than which we have established a resume ranking system to be used at the beginning of the season. A ranking based on accomplishment, not speculation. Beating a perennial doormat or non-BCS school is less of an accomplishment than beating a BCS conference school. Period. When the Gators get a couple of conference wins under their belt our resume rankings will reflect that.
Why do you (or anybody else, for that matter) care what the rankings are in week 2?
"Why do you (or anybody else, for that matter) care what the rankings are in week 2?"
It's not the rankings -- as I said, the teams will sort themselves out. But if you are going to the trouble of ranking the top 25 college teams, don't pretend you have some sort of valid method when you rank Houston, Baylor and Cincinnati (or UCLA, for that matter)ahead of Florida, Texas and Penn State.
If you paid any attention to this blog, or any of the other strict resume voters on the blogpoll, you would understand that the rankings here aren't predictive. They're not here to say that Houston would beat Florida or anything along those lines. They're here to say that so far Houston has beaten better opponents on the field. They reward teams who have done well and beaten quality opponents. Florida, while throttling their opponents, have played quite bad opponents.
"If you paid any attention to this blog, or any of the other strict resume voters on the blogpoll . . ."
Apparently, I haven't.
"They reward teams who have done well and beaten quality opponents."
This assumes that at this point in the season you know which teams are "quality" and which are not. UCLA is ranked 7th, but who knows if Tennessee (a team that came within a few feet of beating them), much less San Diego State, is any good?
Resume voting pretends to be objective, but seems pretty subjective. For instance, Auburn is ranked 18th and Florida 14th, but Auburn has beaten better opponents than has Florida (I think most people would agree that Louisana Tech is better than Charleston Southern, and Mississippi State better than Troy). Or it assumes that #10 Cincinnati's opponents (Rutgers and SE Missouri State)are superior to #19 LSU's (Washington and Vanderbilt).
I suppose the teams can be ranked anyway one wants, it just seems like a conceit to consider that resume ranking offers any special insight into which teams are better than others, which is what I assume "Top 25" means.
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