BSD Watched
PSU-Illinois
Michigan-Iowa
Last two dreaded minutes of UCLA-Notre Dame
I hate this ballot. We're into week 9 now and things are starting to get foggy. Who won between Auburn-LSU? Why did I have Arkansas in the top 20 again? Florida beat Tennessee who beat Cal, yet my first draft of this had Cal ranked above Florida. Auburn beat Florida who beat Tennessee, yet I have Tennessee ranked the highest of the three.
This is the first year I've participated in the blogpoll, and I'm finding as the season goes on, it's getting harder to keep the resume of each team straight in my head. I'm convinced now more than ever that there are AP voters out there who don't put any thought into their ballots. Every week I have to put at least an hour of thought into my ballot, and I'm sure there are guys out there not doing that. Anyway, on to the ballot.
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michigan | -- |
| 2 | Ohio State | -- |
| 3 | Texas | -- |
| 4 | Southern Cal | -- |
| 5 | Tennessee | -- |
| 6 | Clemson |
 6 |
| 7 | Notre Dame | -- |
| 8 | Auburn |
2 |
| 9 | Florida |
2 |
| 10 | California |
 2 |
| 11 | West Virginia |
5 |
| 12 | Arkansas |
1 |
| 13 | Louisville |
4 |
| 14 | Boston College |
4 |
| 15 | LSU | -- |
| 16 | Rutgers |
3 |
| 17 | Boise State | -- |
| 18 | Oklahoma |
4 |
| 19 | Wisconsin |
1 |
| 20 | Oregon |
4 |
| 21 | Georgia Tech |
7 |
| 22 | Texas A&M |
1 |
| 23 | Wake Forest |
2 |
| 24 | Missouri |
2 |
| 25 | Nebraska |
4 |
I hate this ballot. I've done quite a bit of shuffling. I like the resume style that SMQ has adopted for constructing his poll. It's hard to utilize such a technique in the early part of the season since everyone's resume is pretty short. This resulted in some pretty wild swings in his poll from week to week. In the first few weeks I found myself basing my poll on performance of the previous year with a dash of expectations and a pinch of hype. But now we're past the half way point of the season there is a nice track record developing for each team, but I find myself forgetting events from early in the season. Anyway, I don't feel comfortable with this ballot because I feel like I'm forgetting something. Help would be greatly appreciated.
Risers
Clemson - This week they thoroughly destroyed GA Tech. If not for an overtime loss to Boston College, these guys would be undefeated. I had a feeling about these guys when I had them ranked #11 in the preseason.
Auburn and Florida - They both have impressive wins in arguably the toughest conference. They each also have one loss against a ranked opponent. I find it hard to believe they would lose to West Virginia, Cal or Louisville.
Boston College - Nice win over Florida State. I know the Seminoles aren't ranked, but that defense is still good.
Rutgers - Ok they passed their supposed first "test", if you want to call Pitt a test.
Fallers
Cal, WV, and Louisville - See above.
Oregon, GA Tech, Nebraska, and Pitt - All lost. Am I being too harsh on GA Tech for losing to Clemson? Am I being harsh enough on Oregon for losing to Washington State?