Blogpoll Ballot Week 12 Comment Count

Brian

sdf

Teams of note

BORING AT THE TOP. The only controversy is putting the Ducks over Alabama when the comparative scores against LSU are not in their favor. If I'm going to use that to prioritize, though, I watched both those games and LSU's performance in the Oregon game seemed about on par with that against Alabama. It's admittedly splitting hairs.

BOISE RESILIENCY. I usually take any opportunity available to shoot mid-major teams with crappy schedules down the poll but it's hard to do that when Georgia's hanging out in the top 15 and Boise methodically dismantled them.

KANSAS STATE. Omitting them last week was an oversight.

PENN STATE. Unlike Boise I do take the opportunity to eviscerate PSU's ranking; now that they're on a loss par with various other teams it's hard to look at their scores and not slot them behind… uh… everybody. Their best win is against… Iowa? When that's the case you can't get away with beating Temple by 4, Indiana by six, and Illinois by three.

MICHIGAN. Holding steady, basically. I was a little more optimistic last week than the general population; this week I'll probably be right in line since three of the four teams the poll at large had in front of M lost.

Comments

AMazinBlue

November 14th, 2011 at 3:58 PM ^

I think Boise and Houston are overrated.  I also think ND and PSU are still too high.  If Boise hadn't beaten Georgia, they wouldn't still be rated, or shouldn't be.  Houston has played no one of any significance and I don't care if they score 100 points against any team in their conference, they wouldn't last a half against LSU, Bama Oregon or Oklahoma.  Heck they might get ripped by Okie St as well.

ND plays such a weak schedule, I just have no respect for them.  Their "independence" is so self-serving it is absurd.  They won't join a real football conference because they would never get any special consideration, much less 10 wins.

PSU may be the most in-bred university around.  The scandal on that campus is opening the public's eye to horror that is State College, Pennsylvania.  They are overrated because they have no offense and have played two reasonably good teams, one of them is awesome.  PSU will lose their last three conference games and then lose their bowl game.  They are a rudderless ship without their cult leader.

coastal blue

November 14th, 2011 at 4:30 PM ^

Why is Notre Dame's schedule so weak in your eyes?

 

Maryland (2-8)

Wake Forest (5-5)

Michigan (8-2)

MSU (8-2)

USC (8-2)

Boston College (3-7)

Stanford (9-1)

Navy (4-6)

Air Force (5-5)

Purdue (5-5)

Pitt (5-5)

South Florida (5-4)

Seems like its about on par with any schedule in the country. You've got 4 Top 20 teams in there, some average lower tier bowl teams and a couple bottom feeders. 

kylewds18

November 14th, 2011 at 4:10 PM ^

however, OU is not. Their loss should move them to the bottom of the one loss teams. Have you seen how horrendous TTU is? I would like to know how you justify the ranking of OU.

Bosch

November 14th, 2011 at 4:23 PM ^

Oregon above Alabama.  Alabama shot themselves in the (kicker's) foot in their game against LSU.  If LSU and Alabama play 10 times, I would not be surprised to see a 5-5 split. 

I'm not so sure I see it that way with LSU and Oregon.  LSU dominated Oregon in the second half of their game.  Oregon scored with under a minute left to make the score a little less embarassing.

Granted, LSU was home against Oregon and away against Bama, but when common opponent is a measureable, and you have the result that you do in each game, I'd go with Bama.

Bosch

November 14th, 2011 at 4:31 PM ^

Forgot that.  I knew it wasn't in Eugene.  The fact that it was "nuetral" makes my argument stronger.

PS.  I'm not a fan of rewarding teams for seemingly playing better as the season progresses.  A loss is the same blemish on the record whether it occurred in week 1 or week 12.

sheepdog

November 14th, 2011 at 4:40 PM ^

The polls do not reflect how good a team is compared to others (as much as it should).  It reflects how many losses you have and when you lost.

I dont think Houston should be ranked at all.  we dont know how good they are compared to anyone around them. 

I think if a teams wants to get ranked, play some ranked teams, or at least play some teams that played ranked teams.  is that too much to ask?

mgowin

November 14th, 2011 at 4:22 PM ^

I would have dropped Boise even further down in the poll. Georgia has not been a static team over the course of the season. The Bulldogs are playing MUCH better than they were earlier in the season. Other than that looks about right. I don't worry too much about the Bama rankings, their game vs. LSU was the national championship game in my book, it was just a couple months earlier than usual.

ST3

November 14th, 2011 at 4:51 PM ^

I know, MSU beat Wisconsin head-to-head, but that was at MSU, thanks to a hail mary and a blocked punt. Look at the expanded standings on ESPN.com and you'll see this:

Conference play

Wisconsin PF: 271, PA: 124

MSU PF: 146, PA: 121

Overall

Wisconsin PF: 465, PA: 158

MSU PF: 276, PA: 165

That resume comparison SCREAMS Wisconsin. In conference games, Wisconsin is winning by an average of 24.5 points. MSU is winning by an average of 4.2

On a neutral field (B1G championship game, maybe?) Wisconsin would be a 6.5 pt favorite and rightly so.

What this says to me is that Bret Bielema should get the award for worst B1G coach of the year. What a waste of a roster, and it's all because of a stupid decision to put a lineman back as the punt protector, and poor DB coaching against hail mary plays.

[EDIT] and Boom Herron played against Wisconsin, he didn't play against State, and there were some other buckeyes that applies to.

snowcrash

November 14th, 2011 at 4:52 PM ^

Wisconsin has to be higher than MSU. Their two losses were both last-second flukes in which they gave up both a blocked punt and a Hail Mary. MSU's two losses were by 18 and 21. Wisconsin's wipeout of Nebraska was far more impressive than anything MSU's done this year. MSU beat Wisconsin head to head, but by that logic they should be behind both Nebraska and ND.

AMazinBlue

November 14th, 2011 at 4:54 PM ^

You can't.  Their only "quality" win was against MSU.  Beating a horrible Maryland team, Wake, Air Force and a bad Navy team says "weak" to me.  It's not like they are n a conference.  ND gets to "pick" their schedule.  Why don't they play LSU, or Oregon or Wisconsin?  Heck, they could play a home-and-home with Boise.  They could schedule home and home with anyone and they choose middlish programs.  If they so special, play the big boys some times.

My problem with ND is they think they are special and should get special consideration for BCS games.  Why?   Other schools are older, larger and have just as much if not more tradition than ND.  Put ND in the SEC and they are 500 at best.  In the Big 10, they'd be second teir.  They'd be fourth or fifth best in the Big 12 if that.

My point is ND gets the benefit of the doubt in the preseaon rankings and special consideration for BCS because they are ND.  They don't deserve it.

Bosch

November 14th, 2011 at 6:28 PM ^

They could schedule home and home with anyone and they choose middlish programs. If they so special, play the big boys some times.

You do realize that they play USC and Michigan every year, right?  Under normal circumstances, that's two programs as good as any other school can claim.

Additionally, this year, they play 10 BCS conference teams.  Air Force and Navy are the exception which, although not BCS level, aren't exactly FCS level either.

Complaining about ND's schedule doesn't make any sense.

bo_lives

November 14th, 2011 at 7:26 PM ^

Alabama took it to OT and actually led for most of the game. Oregon was out of it halfway through the third quarter. Alabama also smoked Arkansas, so I don't see why Oregon's win over Stanford swung things in their favor.

jiāyóulán

November 14th, 2011 at 11:23 PM ^

I can't count the number of hours of my life boise state has wasted... it seems like they always start 7-0, at which point we get stuck with pointless running debates on whether or not they should get a shot at the title.

Only to have them lose at some point...

I realize it is a "sexy" topic and a great way for lazy producers to fill airtime... but... its growing tiresome...