rundown of Michigan's riser
BlogPoll Week 12
Dangit, published this to the test blog, which is why the delay.
Your top ten:
| Rank | Team | PPB | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas Tech (48) | 24.7 | -- |
| 2 | Alabama (16) | 23.9 | -- |
| 3 | Florida (6) | 22.7 |  1 |
| 4 | Texas | 22.3 |  1 |
| 5 | Oklahoma | 20.9 | -- |
| 6 | Southern Cal | 20.1 | -- |
| 7 | Penn State | 18.1 | -- |
| 8 | Utah | 17.8 | -- |
| 9 | Boise State | 15.7 | -- |
| 10 | Oklahoma State | 15.6 | -- |
The remainder can be found at CBS Sports, as per usual. This week's question to consider: does Florida, recipient of six #1 votes, have a case for the top spot?
(Also, we had votes for Syracuse and Rice this week. People are clearly beating themselves to death rather than try to pick out which 7-3 ACC team should be #25.)
November 19th, 2008 at 6:30 PM | 
Florida's six #1 votes!?!??!
Florida's six #1 votes!?!??!
November 19th, 2008 at 8:34 PM |
LSU had 2 losses last year
LSU had 2 losses last year
LSU had 2 losses last year and leapfrogged a bunch of teams to make it into championship game.
I agree that the SEC championship will determine who goes to the national championship game, but I happen to think that Florida is a better team than Alabama and they happened to have an off week. So wouldn't it make sense to vote for the team that they think is actually better and not who has the better record?
November 19th, 2008 at 9:28 PM |
If that were the case . .
If that were the case . .
then Miami should have won 7 straight national titles between 1986 and 1992. They had more talent than anybody else and when they were on, they were clearly "better" (yes, I'm aware they lost to Penn State in 86 and Bama in 92 and I thought they were both pretty fluky). I think "better" should be determined though by what happens on the field and what happened on the field was that Florida lost to Ole Miss and Alabama hasn't lost to anybody. There are no "off weeks" in college football.
November 19th, 2008 at 10:55 PM |
No, no, a thousand times no
No, no, a thousand times no
"So wouldn't it make sense to vote for the team that they think is actually better and not who has the better record?"
How are you supposed to decide who is better if not by on-the-field results? In this case, I think the on-field results give a plausible case for Florida anyway, but that's because Alabama has had one impressive half and Florida has beaten the hell out of everyone (aside from Ole Miss).
(And all the teams LSU leapfrogged had two losses as well, BTW. Well, except Hawaii, but they would have lost at least four, maybe six, against any reasonable schedule.)
November 22nd, 2008 at 2:57 AM |
On-field results are what I
On-field results are what I
On-field results are what I am talking about. Just because a team is undefeated does not make them the best team in the country. Utah anyone? I am not saying don't take it into consideration, but if you think that Florida would beat Alabama in a game, and Alabama is undefeated, why would you still vote for Bama even though you think Florida is a better team? It doesn't make sense.
November 19th, 2008 at 6:42 PM |
I can understand Florida
I can understand Florida
I can understand Florida ahead of Alabama. Yes, Alabama plays in the SEC, but comparing the numbers Alabama's SOS to this point is almost identical to Utah's. Florida's to this point is far tougher, and (with the exception of Ole Miss, who gave Alabama a scare too) they've been annihilating teams that Alabama has been squeaking past.
Florida ahead of Texas Tech, though, is totally nuts. Team A has two top-10 wins and no losses. Team B has no top-10 wins (in fact, one top-20 win) and one loss to an unranked team. Anyone who thinks Team B belongs ahead of Team A is a freakin' moron.
November 19th, 2008 at 7:34 PM |
Resumes aside, I think
Resumes aside, I think
Resumes aside, I think Florida is the best team in the country. Sometimes people (no offense SpartanDan) try too hard to quantify this with "how many top 10 teams they've played" or SOS or margin of victory or what have you. All of these are important and should be taken into account, but sometimes one team is just better than another despite being behind many of those measurables. If I were a pollster, I would be one of the 6 putting Florida as #1. I cannot think of a team in the country who would more often than not beat them on a neutral site.
November 19th, 2008 at 8:16 PM |
Resume Voting
Resume Voting
Kind of echoing indywolverine here, but it seems resume voting is a bit out of control. It is so, so hard to go undefeated in a BCS conference and that should be rewarded (for clarity, I'm ignoring undefeated non-BCS teams). Just because Alabama plays, for lack of a better phrase, "old-style", doesn't mean it isn't effective. They set up their offense with their defense and special teams and make enough plays on offense to win games. Have we gotten to the point where simply winning ALL of your football games isn't enough? Those voting Florida #1 are stating in effect that HOW you win is more important than simply winning.
And doesn't Alabama 08 team remind anyone here even a little bit of Michigan 97: a great defense, a special return game and player, and a physical offense that doesn't screw it up. If Nebraska had lost that game to Missouri, would anyone have voted Nebraska over Michigan, even though Nebraska torched most of the rest of their opponents?
November 19th, 2008 at 11:06 PM |
I think you can make a case
I think you can make a case
I think you can make a case for either side in the Florida/Alabama debate, mostly because Alabama's schedule to this point is so poor and they haven't been dominant except for one half against Georgia. On the other hand, arguing for Florida ahead of Texas is pretty difficult (Texas has the better loss and far better wins, and hasn't been any less dominant - just more willing to put in the scrubs late).
November 19th, 2008 at 8:53 PM |
Questions
Questions
Maybe this has been addressed elsewhere, but:
1) Why don't we get the standard deviation for each team in the full BlogPoll anymore? I thought it was interesting to see how much disagreement there was about a particular team;
2) If we can't get the standard deviation for all 25, why do we only get the 5 most disputed teams - didn't we used to get the 5 LEAST disputed as well? Again, it's interesting to see who everyone agrees on; and
3) On the description for Ballot Math, there's only an explanation for Mr. Bold - Mr. Numb Existence is not explained. Anyone who's been reading mgoblog for an appreciable period knows what Mr. Numb Existence is, but now that the BlogPoll is on CBS Sports there are (presumably) new readers who might notice the omission and think it's sloppy. If you're trying to get the BlogPoll some publicity and legitimacy, editing mistakes like that are a killer.
November 19th, 2008 at 9:02 PM |
DoubleB, if you are going to
DoubleB, if you are going to
DoubleB, if you are going to talk about a good defense, Florida has allowed 11.2 ppg over 10 games while Alabama has allowed 12.5 ppg over 11 games. I won't even bother with offensive ppg.
SpartanDan, I see your point on the games, but by your logic, Texas should be ahead of Florida because Texas beat 3 top 10 teams before losing to the current #1 team in that poll. I still think that Texas Tech should be #1 because I think they will beat Oklahoma.
I think Texas Tech, Florida, Texas, Alabama this week and we will tell if I am right this time next week.
BTW, does any one know who goes to the Big 12 championship if Oklahoma beats Texas Tech?
EDIT: Nevermind, I just looked it up and it looks like if all of them go 11-1, then the highest ranked team in the BCS poll goes to the Big12 game.
November 19th, 2008 at 11:11 PM |
Exactly
Exactly
Texas should be ahead of Florida. Less bad loss (to the #1 team on the last play on the road, compared to an unranked team on the last play at home), much better wins.
Right now there are two ways the top of the poll could reasonably look, IMO, depending on how heavily you value "no losses" versus "big wins": TT-Bama-Texas-Florida or TT-Texas-Florida-Bama. (Most years the first would be a clear choice, but when Texas and Florida have much better wins, last-second losses, and are destroying people left and right while Alabama is barely surviving, it's at least debatable.)
November 19th, 2008 at 8:57 PM |
Welcome Pearlie
Welcome Pearlie
Snake Oil in effect. Lose 1 gain 1.
Six #1 votes for a team that lost to Ole Miss when there's an undefeated team in the same conference? Have we not learned to ignore style points after what the 2002 OSU team did to Miami in the title game?
Please wait until after the SEC conference title game to move Florida ahead of Alabama.