I didn't get to see much in the way of football this week as I attended the Penn State game against Wisconsin. But I did catch the college football highlight show, so there's something. On to the ballot.
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ohio State |
 2 |
| 2 | South Florida |
3 |
| 3 | Boston College |
1 |
| 4 | LSU |
 3 |
| 5 | Oklahoma |
3 |
| 6 | South Carolina |
1 |
| 7 | Kentucky |
7 |
| 8 | Oregon |
1 |
| 9 | Virginia Tech |
1 |
| 10 | California |
8 |
| 11 | West Virginia |
1 |
| 12 | Florida |
1 |
| 13 | Arizona State |
2 |
| 14 | Kansas |
7 |
| 15 | Missouri |
9 |
| 16 | Hawaii |
3 |
| 17 | Southern Cal |
1 |
| 18 | Auburn |
5 |
| 19 | Georgia |
7 |
| 20 | Texas |
2 |
| 21 | Tennessee |
4 |
| 22 | Illinois |
11 |
| 23 | Cincinnati |
5 |
| 24 | Michigan |
2 |
| 25 | Penn State |
1 |
Man it pains me to put Ohio State #1. I'm just not sold on these Buckeyes. Their best win is Purdue who Michigan exposed as a major pretender this week. But the Buckeye defense is for real as only one opponent has cracked 7 points this year (Washington - 14). But then I told you all the Buckeyes would come into Happy Valley with a shiny 8-0 record and top five ranking this year in my preview before the season. We'll find out if the Buckeyes are for real as games against Penn State, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan are yet to come.
Equally painful is putting South Florida #2. You all know I'm not a big fan of the Big East, but here is a Big East team that can apparently play defense and doesn't have to score 50 points to win. They have quality wins over Auburn and West Virginia, but I'm still not sold on them for some reason. They still have to play four teams with winning records, but they are all Big East teams. I don't think they're good enough to be ranked #2, but then nobody else seems to want a top 2 ranking so there they are.
I know LSU lost to Kentucky and I still have them ranked higher. That's because of South Carolina. You see, LSU beat South Carolina who beat Kentucky who beat LSU. It's a vicious triangle. So I turn to the rest of their resumes. LSU has wins over Virginia Tech and Florida. South Carolina's next best win is Georgia. Kentucky's next best win is Louisville. Hence their position in the polls.
I feel pretty good about 3-10, but after that who knows. This year is much harder to put together a poll because it seems like every week I have to scrap the last ballot and start over with all the upsets.
Some pollsters may give me crap about Penn State at #25 so I'll address that. Wisconsin was a quality win. I see some commentary out there already saying the Badgers aren't as good as we thought they were. Well, if they had beaten Penn State they would probably still be a top ten team with a 6-1 record. That was a good win. And PSU's win over Iowa looks more impressive today after the Iowa defense held Illinois to six points. So I'm putting the Lions back on the ballot. At #25 I think I'm safe enough and not flirting with the curse of the CK Award.
Thoughts?