CBSSports.com BlogPoll Ballot #7
Who's ready for that Florida-Alabama SEC title game? It might be the first game this season where we see two legitimately "great" teams face off.
For the past four weeks, I've come out of Saturday asking myself the same question: Is anybody any good? The Big 12 has fallen on its face in non-conference play, take out Ohio State and Virginia Tech (as usual) and the Big 10 and ACC are as ugly as always, what looks like the worst USC team in years still looks like the best Pac-10 team, and, while they'll never admit it, the LSU-Georgia game only confirmed for me that there's a pretty sizable gap between the Gators/Tide and the rest of the vaunted SEC. Again, is anybody any good?
For now, carry the flag high Florida, Texas and Alabama.
 | ||
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida | |
| 2 | Texas | |
| 3 | Alabama | |
| 4 | Boise State | |
| 5 | Virginia Tech |  1 |
| 6 | Southern Cal | 2 |
| 7 | Miami (Florida) | 7 |
| 8 | Ohio State | 1 |
| 9 | Nebraska | 1 |
| 10 | Cincinnati | 1 |
| 11 | TCU | 1 |
| 12 | Oklahoma State | 1 |
| 13 | LSU | 4 |
| 14 | Iowa | 1 |
| 15 | Kansas | 1 |
| 16 | Oregon | 3 |
| 17 | Mississippi | 1 |
| 18 | Oklahoma |  11 |
| 19 | Georgia Tech | 2 |
| 20 | Penn State | 2 |
| 21 | Auburn | |
| 22 | Brigham Young | 1 |
| 23 | Missouri | 2 |
| 24 | Houston | 19 |
| 25 | Stanford | |
| Last week's ballot | ||
OUT
Wow, Cal. The fall was swift and nearly scoreless. Georgia? My opinion of the Dawgs has fallen with each subsequent week.
IN
With Georgia out, I'll begrudgingly give their spot to Auburn. Don't love their schedule but they're undefeated and pickings are slim. I do love Stanford's schedule. They're one bad half at Wake Forest away from being undefeated with wins over Washington and UCLA.
METHODOLOGY
--Yes this is a Nebraska blog and I probably have Nebraska higher than anyone except College Football News. Blatant homerism? I like to think that it's more a matter of familiarity. I've watched every game the Huskers have played and, against what I've seen from others, I see no reason to believe they're not one of the ten best teams in the country right now.
--What kind of odds can you get right now that OU will win the Big 12 South? What odds would you happily take? This season is already going to fall below expectations in Norman but they're still the three time defending Big 12 champions and one upset against Texas away from being the conference front-runner again. Problem is, Oklahoma's issues go beyond just missing Bradford/Gresham.
--Better to burn out? Houston experienced the plight of a Conference USA team by dropping from the rankings after their first loss to UTEP. But they still have wins over two good Big 12 South programs. For that reason, Houston gets to stay in my rankings.
--You want to know the worst thing about being a college football junkie? The fact that, if you're committed to watching as much football as possible on Saturdays, you are stuck watching a lot of Big 10 games. I've seen more of Minnesota this season than the rest of my life combined. That's not a good thing. Ohio State again looks like the class of the conference but they've yet to truly impress me. And Iowa is the second best team in that conference? Need I say more?
--Finally, I have no reason why I seem so bitter this week, but I'll happily attribute it to it being Missouri week.
Omaha, NE
10/5/2009
Interesting quote from Sipple today in the LJS:
“In a perfect world, college polls would include only voters who are free on Saturdays to watch multiple games. It’s incredible how much you can learn about the national scene by watching games and highlights for nine hours, as opposed to spending nine-plus hours on a Saturday covering one team.”
You mean like the BlogPoll?
10/5/2009
Brandon - I was thinking the same thing when I read that quote.
The problem with FB polls, in general, is two fold. 1) They are taken way to early, and the first 5 weeks are spent correcting the mistakes of the pre-season rankings. 2) They are conducted of people who don’t really follow CFB at large, but rather are narrowly focused on a team, that’s both the AP and the coaches.
It that regard, the Blogpoll has some credibility. Now, bloggers (generally) have some shameless bias (see also NU at #9 in your ballot), though most have the guts to admit it, which the AP and Coaches kind of don’t.
10/5/2009
I see Iowa is high in your poll as it is in the national polls. While going into Happy Valley and winning is commendable, does it overshadow having to hang on to win against lesser competition at home? Polls are so subjective as to be nearly worthless or worse yet politized by pundits. I don’t know how coaches are even able to evaluate other games with the brutal schedules they keep. Sports writers for the most part are regional homers or suffer from big program envy that elicits way too much credit. I would like to see a moratorium on polls until week 5. The cream has risen and the pretenders have fallen before conference play begins. The NCAA needs to find a way to have the non-conference schedules more balanced.
10/5/2009
I, for one, feel that you have ranked Nebraska just about right. I haven’t been impressed enough by anyone two weeks in a row to think otherwise.
We had 1 loss by 1 point on the road at #5 VT. #9 seems just about right to me.
We differ on THE Ohio State University, however.
Who have they beaten?
Navy
31 - 27
Are you kidding me?
Toledo
38 - 0 (W)
Illinois
30 - 0 (W)
Indiana
33 - 14 (W)
That is some sad stuff against a sad schedule. They have yet to break 40 points.
Their defenders say that they ALMOST beat USC. Well, I think it is safe to say that they couldn’t score against probably the weakest USC team we have seen in quite some time. In my opinion, they don’t belong in the top 10 at this point, either. If their offense starts clicking in the next couple of weeks I might feel differently, but I can only judge what I have seen from them (we are force- fed USC games in California via ABC. Ugh.) this year.
So, in conclusion… we can expect to see Ohio State linger at the top and get a BCS birth due to playing in a mid-level (yeah, i said it) football conference, but that doesn’t make them worth a damn.
10/7/2009
“For the past four weeks, I’ve come out of Saturday asking myself the same question: Is anybody any good?”
I have to 100% agree with you here. I’d even say Florida and Texas haven’t looked all that great (and I’m a Florida fan), I only feel like Alabama has played any kinds of good football so far.