Blogpoll Draft Ballot Week 5
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| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama | -- |
| 2 | Oklahoma | -- |
| 3 | Penn State | -- |
| 4 | Missouri | -- |
| 5 | LSU | -- |
| 6 | Brigham Young |  2 |
| 7 | Southern Cal | 2 |
| 8 | Georgia | 2 |
| 9 | Texas |  2 |
| 10 | Florida | 1 |
| 11 | Vanderbilt | 10 |
| 12 | Texas Tech | 5 |
| 13 | California | 13 |
| 14 | Ohio State | 1 |
| 15 | Virginia Tech | 4 |
| 16 | Boise State | 1 |
| 17 | Utah | 3 |
| 18 | Oklahoma State | -- |
| 19 | South Florida | 13 |
| 20 | Northwestern | -- |
| 21 | Oregon | 5 |
| 22 | Illinois | 4 |
| 23 | Michigan State | 1 |
| 24 | Pittsburgh | 2 |
| 25 | Wake Forest | -- |
Dropped Out: Auburn (#12), Wisconsin (#16), Connecticut (#22), Maryland (#23).
This was submitted as part of the initial Monday poll.
Notes: Probably the biggest "wha?" in the poll is Cal's rocket sled to #13 after being omitted from the last poll. Take a look at the schedule: a loss to Maryland, then wins over ASU, Michigan State, Colorado State, and Washington State. The only non-BCS team in the bunch is respectable and there are a couple of wins over solid BCS programs. Yes, there is an inexplicable loss to Maryland, but scan down the list and you'll find a bunch of paper tigers and teams with equally inexplicable losses (hello, East Carolina!).
I just can't rank Auburn anymore when their offense is as dysfunctional as Michigan's and they're now a two-loss team separated from four losses by a gift touchdown and the lack of another Mississippi State safety. Read this and prepare to have your opinion of Tommy Tuberville lowered significantly unless you're a 'Bama fan, in which case read it and have your opinion confirmed despite the whole six game win streak thing.
BYU, IMO, is far too high, as Dr. Saturday points out that BYU's schedule is pretty weak: dead last to the computers. Yes, they've beaten UCLA and Washington, but UCLA and Washington are pretty bad. BYU isn't Hawaii last year or anything, but they're probably not deserving of #6.
I sort of missed that Oregon lost to USC 44-10; they won't be in the final poll.
I'm not fan of Houston Nutt, but the idea of putting that offense in the hands of Casey Dick and a true freshman QB INSTEAD of MCFadden and Jones is silly. I'm not saying Malzahn is or is not a qualified / talented coach, but both of those RBs were the best option for Arkansas that year. That makes Arkansas 2006 very different from Auburn 2008.
Go Blue!
BYU probably gets pantsed by USC, Georgia, Texas, and Florida. I realize you're getting to the point where you excise pre-season rankings, and rank purely on accomplishments, but they seem to be a better fit in the marshmallowy Cal-Vandy part of the ballot, no?
I know their resume is weak, but Texas seemed to have a pretty solid
game against Colorado. Why'd they drop? Georgia didn't even play, and
BYU didn't cover (yes, I realize BYU was above Texas last week, but I
think that the Longhorns did enough to jump 'em?). I realize this will
all be resolved Saturday.
Also, does Boise St. have any
interesting games coming up? They've not showed us a ton yet, but I'm
willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, assuming that Oregon
State has improved dramatically thanks to their finding a running back.
Road Games
Auburn has been low in the 20's on my list since losing to LSU and the loss last week to Vandy just solidified the fact that they are undeserving of any rank. I still have no idea how they are #20 and #23 in the two polls. I think it's the imaginary hype of the SEC this year.
How can you have Texas behid two 1 loss teams and a BYU team that you admittedly think is ranked too high??? I guess things will be sorted out this weekend when they play OU.
The Auburn article makes some realy good points; definitely bringsup the Arkansas situation in 2006. Gus Mazhalan couldn't sell his system completely, as Houston Nutt wanted to keep his offense to run to setup the pass whereas Mazhalan wanted to pass to setup the run. Seeing how Tulsa's offense is putting up tremendous numbers (#1 total offense, #6 scoring offense last year, #1 this year in scoring and total offense), I think Mazhalan's system would've worked, but Nutt and his staff never bought in. Old habits die hard.