Blogpoll Draft Ballot Week 7
MGoBlog Ballot - Week 7
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oregon Ducks |  1 |
| 2 | Boise St. Broncos | 1 |
| 3 | Ohio St. Buckeyes | 1 |
| 4 | TCU Horned Frogs | 2 |
| 5 | Nebraska Cornhuskers | 3 |
| 6 | Oklahoma Sooners |  -1 |
| 7 | Auburn Tigers | -- |
| 8 | LSU Tigers | 1 |
| 9 | Utah Utes | 2 |
| 10 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -9 |
| 11 | Michigan St. Spartans | 2 |
| 12 | Stanford Cardinal | -- |
| 13 | Arkansas Razorbacks | 2 |
| 14 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys | 8 |
| 15 | Iowa Hawkeyes | 3 |
| 16 | South Carolina Gamecocks | 5 |
| 17 | Wisconsin Badgers | 2 |
| 18 | Nevada Wolf Pack | 2 |
| 19 | Missouri Tigers | 4 |
| 20 | Florida St. Seminoles | 5 |
| 21 | Arizona Wildcats | -11 |
| 22 | Air Force Falcons | 2 |
| 23 | West Virginia Mountaineers | -- |
| 24 | N.C. State Wolfpack | -- |
| 25 | Michigan Wolverines | -8 |
| Dropouts: Miami Hurricanes, Florida Gators | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings »
At this point, there are no 2-loss teams that I'm comfortable putting in the ballot over Michigan, hesitant though I may be to rank the Wolverines. Oregon State and Florida are probably the closest ones.
There are only a few points in the poll where I'm not comfortable with ordering, though I'm starting to value an undefeated record a bit more than a strong(ish) 1-loss resume as the season goes on.
If there are any mistakes, teams I could insert into the poll, or points you'd like to make, do so in the comments.
October 11th, 2010 at 9:35 AM ^
I think LSU is strongly overvalued, and Auburn somewhat so. Sparty has certainly proven more than either, and I think Utah has a strong case too.
October 11th, 2010 at 10:16 AM ^
That is exactly what I was thinking. Looking at this I would rank sparty higher then LSU.
October 11th, 2010 at 10:48 AM ^
I was going to write the same thing too. I think MSU deserves to be ranked above LSU, whose wins were a lot less convincing, and Utah, who hasn’t beaten anyone of note and almost lost to a crappy Pittsburgh team.
October 11th, 2010 at 10:59 AM ^
Your Utah comment was true a week ago; they have now carpet-bombed a generally competent Iowa State team in Ames.
October 11th, 2010 at 11:14 AM ^
Guess I'm not sure what makes you call ISU competent. They got demolished by Iowa, and lost to KSU who was demolished by Nebraska. The only halfway decent win I see for them is over Texas Tech, but TT also lost to Texas.
October 11th, 2010 at 11:29 AM ^
You can thank the media for that one. I don't know if announcers feel like they have to be parrots echoing each other, but the first thing they mention when an LSU jersey pops up is their "horrendous offense". Rather than focusing on their talented, but yes, raw, offense, they should realize that perhaps the most vital component of a team is how you close out the game. Although a fake field goal and a lucky penalty aren't the most consistent means to victory, you can't blame them if it continues to work. The UT penalty confusion resulted from quick ad-libbing by LSU, and the fake field goal is equivalent to MSU's OT extravaganza.
October 11th, 2010 at 3:26 PM ^
Like LSU, Sparty has two wins over teams that we feel ought to be fairly good, but may or may not be really good at the end of the year. After that, though, Sparty's biggest win is over a so-so ND team, and then their resume falls off a cliff and shatters on the rocks below. Tennessee may be a bad team, and Vanderbilt may be worse, but I would take either of them over any of MSU's weakest three opponents. (I might also rank the Mississippi State win as LSU's third-best win.)
October 11th, 2010 at 11:17 AM ^
I actually voted LSU #1, believe it or not. They have yet to play a game outside the BCS. Most teams have at least two tomato cans on the schedule by now. LSU is undefeated against a very, very tough schedule. There are other teams with better wins than them (though not many - a win over Florida at Florida is pretty damn good) but nobody with as strong a top-to-bottom resume as LSU.
October 11th, 2010 at 9:36 AM ^
I really wish Michigan could schedule Boise State or TCU to spoil their seasons. I just get tired of hearing people talk about their undefeated seasons in which they play a light schedule and can't figure out why they can't get more respect. A game against Michigan would quiet them for a while.
October 11th, 2010 at 9:47 AM ^
Either offense would shred Michigan's D. Oh, and their defenses are solid, too.
October 11th, 2010 at 11:19 AM ^
Boise State's Kellen Moore would eat our secondary for lunch. It's a fun thought, but I wouldn't have made that wager since 07 w/ Henne, Hart, Manningham, Arrington, and most importantly the secondary of Trent, Warren, and Hall.
October 11th, 2010 at 9:39 AM ^
Personally, I don't know if I would drop 'Bama all the way down to 10. Yes, they did lose their first game this last weekend, but I think they are a better team than LSU. Plus, South Carolina is pretty good, IMO.
I definitely agree with you on Oregon State and Florida not being in the top 25. Michigan is a tough call to be in the top 25, but they lost against a tough team in MSU. As much as it pains me that we lost against MSU, I think we needed it to see where we really stand in the Big Ten. It allows us to make mistakes (Denard will be ok) and learn from them.
October 12th, 2010 at 1:42 PM ^
I hate to keep repeating this, but I don't care who "is a better team," I care who has the better resume. That's LSU no matter how you slice it, and probably by a lot.
October 11th, 2010 at 9:44 AM ^
Iowa seems to have really performed well in their bye week, moving up 3 spots - that's better than Wisconsin's on-the-field exploits against an actual(?) opponent. When does Michigan get a bye week?
October 12th, 2010 at 1:43 PM ^
They didn't move up on their own merits, other teams moved down past them.
How many times do I have to go over this before people start paying attention?
October 11th, 2010 at 10:22 AM ^
How in the hell is Sparty above South Carolina?
October 11th, 2010 at 11:15 AM ^
South Carolina has a loss and two very questionable wins besides just the Alabama one. Makes sense to me.
October 11th, 2010 at 6:08 PM ^
Moo U doesn't have to play tUoOS either this year... that's gonna keep their ranking inflated.
October 11th, 2010 at 10:23 AM ^
Based on resumes, I don't know how you put Nebraska over Oklahoma. Granted, most of Nebraska's victories have been prettier than Oklahoma's but the resumes are telling. FSU/Air Force/Texas > Kansas St./Washington/Idaho. Oklahoma has victories over two currently ranked teams and one over a team ranked when they played. Nebraska has no wins over a ranked team. Oklahoma's opponents are a combined 17-11 compared to Nebraska's 10-15.
October 11th, 2010 at 11:14 AM ^
I agree about Oklahoma > Nebraska, and that goes for everyone above OU but Oregon as well. None of them have wins over teams on that ballot; OU has wins over two and one is a blowout.
October 11th, 2010 at 11:16 AM ^
Nebraska has been far more impressive than Oklahoma and has a good case for #1. They obliterated Washington (who beat USC) and K-State (otherwise unbeaten) on the road. Oklahoma beat up on Florida State early in the year, but they barely escaped against Utah St and Cincinnati, neither of which is very good.
October 11th, 2010 at 12:32 PM ^
And Nebraska looked like ass against South Dakota State, which trumps the close one against Cincy at Cincy. Plus FSU is a hell of a lot better than KSU.
October 12th, 2010 at 1:44 PM ^
That's a good point. The Sooners will probably go ahead of Nebraska in the final ballot, though Nebraska will have an opportunity against Texas to earn some of that leeway back.
October 11th, 2010 at 10:26 AM ^
South Carolina has an 8 point loss at Auburn, three crappy wins, and a 14 point win over the best team in the country the past two years.
I'd have a hard time placing the Gamecocks 6 places behind Alabama.
October 11th, 2010 at 11:29 AM ^
And getting dumber. On every dimension. OSU #3? Alabama over South Carolina? Boise State #2?
This is an all-around embarassment.
October 11th, 2010 at 6:06 PM ^
Boise State beat Oregon the last two years running. I'm just sayin.
Short of playing in a BCS conference, BSU has done everything asked of them in big games.
Sorry, I just don't by the Cowherd rant that BSU would get killed in a BCS confernce. Really? There's no reason to think that BSU couldn't compete for the Big East or ACC crown they way they are playing. Even the SEC is having an off year with UGA and FL.
Upon further review, this conference superiority argument is crap. Every confernece has a few elite teams (tUoOS, Bama, Oregon), some middle of the roaders (Iowa, Arkansas, Oregon State), and the relegated (Minnesota, Vandy, Wazzu). It's really all a wash in the end. I'm just not going to slob the media's collective SEC-lovin knob.
Boise State earned #2.
October 12th, 2010 at 1:45 PM ^
OK dude.
October 11th, 2010 at 11:47 AM ^
The only reason OSU has two losses is because they played two teams in your own top 4- had UM played them, they'd have two losses, too, and by much wider margins (OSU played them close). Case in point, the only top 25 team UM has played, they got blown out. At home. Plus, OSU has actually beaten 2 decent teams in Arizona and Arizona St, much better than ND or Indiana.
It's all irrelevant I guess, as Iowa will put it to rest.
October 11th, 2010 at 12:06 PM ^
Oregon State played two top 5 teams close with a very young QB. They're finally coming into their own and just beat two good Pac-10 teams, one of whom was ranked 9th before the loss. Michigan has beaten Bowling Green, UCONN, IU, UMASS, and Notre Dame and got pantsed by the only good outfit we played: MSU. If we beat Iowa, I think that would justify reinclusion in the poll, but right now we look like a paper tiger.
October 12th, 2010 at 1:50 PM ^
As I said in the post, losses are going to count pretty harshly against teams' resumes. That may diminish a bit as the season goes on, but for now I don't feel comfortable ranking any 2-loss teams.
Regardless of who they lost to, a loss is a loss.
October 11th, 2010 at 12:10 PM ^
Ok. State should not be that high. They haven't beaten a good team. A&M is the best team they've beaten, but A&M sucks-and I say that as a student here.
October 11th, 2010 at 12:12 PM ^
I put oregon state in there ahead of arizona. Also, south carolina beat alabama, so why is bama ranked ahead of south carolina, who have their only loss a close one on the road to auburn. I put the cocks around 10. I also like TCU over ohio state, i think a win over oregon state > win over miami after last weeks game
October 11th, 2010 at 1:51 PM ^
Tim, I think you're suffering from some of the same issues that mainstream poll voters have. While some may argue with me that I am overvaluing the SEC, I think this weekend's events would really cause me to shake up the entire ballot and place Auburn atop the poll and certainly put South Carolina in front of Alabama.
South Carolina is a 1 loss team whose only loss came against an undefeated Auburn. South Carolina beat a previously undefeated Alabama and rather convincingly. If Stephen Garcia doesn't chest pass the ball into his own end zone from the SC 3-yard line, the game might have never have been in doubt in the 2nd half.
If up until Saturday, we were convinced that Alabama was the #1 team in the country and they lost to SC who lost to an undefeated Auburn, how is SC not ahead of Alabama and Auburn not at least in the top 3? I simply do not understand that logic.
Personally, because of the transitive property, I would place Auburn at the #1 spot. Stanford/South Carolina/Alabama should be the top 3 1-loss teams and probably in that order and should be ahead of a Utah team whose schedule is pretty weak to date.
Despite an impressive win against FSU, I think you are overvaluing Oklahoma and Nebraska probably warrants consideration ahead of Boise and TCU and is at least on part with OSU/Oregon at this point.
I'm open to feedback and concede that I may be overvaluing certain conferences and teams, but I think the BlogPoll should be willing to shake things up more based on what they see on the field rather than where they have teams in the prior week's poll.
October 12th, 2010 at 1:55 PM ^
There is no property of transitivity. It's all about the resume. South Carolina hasn't accomplished much at all, outside of the Alabama win. The Tide, on the other hand, has beaten Penn State (though the significance of that win is going to start diminishing pretty quickly),
As for Auburn, you may have (more of) a point there, but again, who are their wins outside of South Carolina? Arkansas State, Louisiana-Monroe, and Mississippi State isn't exactly a murderer's row, is it? And even their Clemson win is "just" an overtime victory over a 2-3 team.
I believe it is you who is suffering from recency bias, sir.
October 11th, 2010 at 3:24 PM ^
Are you tempting the CK award by including Michigan?
October 11th, 2010 at 5:23 PM ^
It's ridiculous Alabama is only ranked 1 higher than Sparty. Holy shit, if they played against each other Greg Jones would like like Ezeh trying to find Ingram and Richardson.
October 12th, 2010 at 1:56 PM ^
And what, exactly, does that have to do with each team's resume?
October 11th, 2010 at 6:20 PM ^
I think they have looked pretty good this season. Really impresses with Lattimore.
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