Week Five Blogpoll Ballot

by BSD on Sep 28, 2008 11:32 PM EDT in Blogpoll

MGoBlog wants the ballot early this week for reasons he'll probably make known soon. In any event, here is my ballot sans the fluffy explanations.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama	10
2	Oklahoma	1
3	LSU	1
4	Missouri	2
5	Penn State	3
6	Texas	1
7	Texas Tech	3
8	Brigham Young	4
9	Auburn	4
10	Southern Cal	9
11	Florida	9
12	Georgia	7
13	Ohio State	1
14	South Florida	2
15	Utah	--
16	Wisconsin	7
17	Boise State	1
18	Virginia Tech	8
19	Kansas	7
20	Oregon	2
21	Vanderbilt	5
22	Northwestern	3
23	Connecticut	3
24	Michigan State	2
25	Fresno State	1

Dropped Out: Wake Forest (#17), Illinois (#19), Clemson (#20), Colorado (#21), Nebraska (#23), East Carolina (#24).

Yes, I jumped Alabama up to #1. They completely destroyed a Georgia team most people had as the #1 team in the country when this season began. And they did it on the road.

Penn State jumps up to #5 on my poll. I think I'm clear from the CK Award. I really don't want to flirt with that, but I think we're a legitimate top five team now.

Am I missing anything terribly obvious?

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Pretty big drop in talent after #6

The only one I have a problem with is Auburn at #9. They have been absolutely incompetent on offense – I think USC, Florida, and South Florida could easily handle them.

Otherwise, you haven’t done anything weird like the guy last week who accidentally placed South Carolina at #1 instead of Southern Cal.

by Cairo on Sep 28, 2008 11:53 PM EDT reply actions

Agreed

Auburn, while their one loss is understandable, don’t really have a great win on the resume yet. I think South Florida deserves to be higher. USC is certainly better than them in my mind, as well.

I still think there is a general over-rating of the SEC. I watched that Auburn-Tennessee game and am completely underwhelmed with the offenses that were trotted out. But then the talk becomes, “This conference is just filled with great defenses. There’s just so much SPEED!” Uh, no, the offenses are incompetent.

Is the SEC still the best conference? Maybe, but the Big XII has been more impressive in my mind so far.

by Kunk on Sep 29, 2008 12:08 AM EDT up reply actions

Big 12 defenses

If you think the SEC offenses look underwhelming try watching the Big 12 defenses. Mizzou comes to mind who gave up 450 yards passing to “the Juice”

by JoePaPa on Sep 29, 2008 10:13 AM EDT up reply actions

I was thinking the same...

but have not followed closely enough to know how well MZ’s D had played against their other teams…

" We need MORE cowbell !"

by BlueWhiteLife on Sep 29, 2008 10:16 AM EDT up reply actions

USC

While I understand the logic of, “Well they can easily beat the teams below them… Oregon State was just a fluke,” I don’t like the fact that had we lost to a team like that at this point, we would be teetering on the verge of not being ranked at all. I don’t understand how USC is still in the top 10 when others, if we lose, would say, “A top 10 team does not lose that game.”

Maybe we’re harder on ourselves, or maybe everyone really does hate us, but I can’t help but see at least a little hypocrisy here.

by AdamShell on Sep 29, 2008 1:14 AM EDT reply actions

I just don't understand

Michigan and Notre Dame both won. Why aren’t they on the poll?

I’m sure this is just an obvious oversite on your part.

by DrDetroit on Sep 29, 2008 7:05 AM EDT reply actions

haha

I know you’re kidding, but even then, I just died a little inside hearing that

by dawsonPSU10 on Sep 29, 2008 3:51 PM EDT up reply actions

All kidding aside.

Don’t you only get a CK award if you are WAY ahead on your team? Penn State at 5 should not be that far out of whack. Penn State #1 might get you a CK award, but other than that I am not sure you could get one.

And there is no one below Penn State that has done better. So 5 is a fine spot. Texas and Texas Tech have not played anyone of consequence. So PSU being ahead of them I think should be expected.

I think Auburn is the only one I have to question. The barely beat Tennessee. I can’t see moving them up into the top 10 after that.

Nice to see Michigan State and NW get some love.

by DrDetroit on Sep 29, 2008 7:12 AM EDT reply actions

So Early

I don’t really think the polls mean much in September.

Until Penn State wins a big game on the road, how high should they really be ranked? Missouri destroyed Illinois at a neutral site and they’re only one spot above Penn State.

Glad for the big win, but if they win a couple of big games (i.e. Wisconsin and Ohio State) on the road, the exuberance will be merited. I’m sure the players know that, but I hope they REALLY know that.

by CDRS on Sep 29, 2008 8:42 AM EDT reply actions

I wouldn't say Mizz destroyed Illinois

We beat Illinois by more than Mizz did. We also held them to less points and yards.

I bleed Blue and White.

by Horse N Buggy on Sep 29, 2008 10:20 AM EDT up reply actions

Perhaps . . .

But I watched the Mizzou game and Illinois was never really in it. They piled up some yards and points at the end, but they were out of it at halftime. They never stopped the Mizzou O.

Illinois was in this game until the fourth quarter.

It’s all academic though. If Penn State wins out, they should be playing for the NC.

by CDRS on Sep 29, 2008 10:51 AM EDT up reply actions

PSU in BCS?

Any read as to how PSU will fair when the first BCS poll is released (and when is that)? I’ve thought the BCS has been pretty fair to PSU in recent years. . .hopefully it doesn’t open with us at 8 or 9 or something like that.

It is early, but I think this week’s ranking is very significant for PSU. All of the teams in front of them will have to play each other at some point now. It’s hard to see more than one of the top 5 remaining undefeated. Most importantly, they leaped BCS-Buster BYU who was on bye. You gotta think PSU is in the driver seat at this point. We should have two main focuses this week:

1. Purdue, no let down on the road!
2. Not getting leaped. Schedule someone, anyone, for Nov 1!! Think Coastal would want to play again?

by The IC Lion on Sep 29, 2008 9:05 AM EDT reply actions

Utah is for haters

If you don’t want to rank them at 5 or 6 or even 7 thats fine….but 17th?

by blogue20 on Sep 29, 2008 9:53 AM EDT reply actions

One-loss teams

At this point, I wouldn’t put ANY one-loss team above ANY undefeated team. I don’t care what the jerseys say or how many players they have in mock drafts.

I mean, really, how can anyone rank Vandy behind Florida (and I’m not trying to attack BSD here, because just about every pollster will do so). If you didn’t know the team names and just looked at results, there’s no way you’d rank Florida higher. No way.

I know, I know, taken to an extreme it becomes ridiculous because it puts, say, Northwestern above USC. But the argument of ranking teams on “style” or perceived talent is still impossible this early in the season. USC lost. Maybe Northwestern would be 2-2 with that schedule … but maybe not. Can we definitively say that winning at Iowa is harder than winning at Oregon State? If Ohio State played like they did against Ohio but it was on the road against Northwestern, would they come out with a win? There’s certainly a case to be made … but it’s not just a slam dunk argument.

After a few more weeks, it becomes more reasonable to talk about “good losses” or teams that “just had an off week.” But until then, with so much upheaval and parity, I say you win all your games, you go above a team that’s lost.

by tuscaloosalion on Sep 29, 2008 10:05 AM EDT reply actions