Blogpoll Week 8 Comment Count

Brian

Your top ten:

Rank Team PPB StdDev Delta
1 Alabama (46) 24.2 0.9 --
2 Florida (24) 23.9 0.9 --
3 Texas (17) 23.4 1.2 --
4 Cincinnati 20.4 1.9 --
5 Iowa (2) 20.3 2.1 --
6 TCU (2) 19.8 2.1 2
7 Boise State 19.2 2.0 --
8 Southern Cal 19.1 2.1 2
9 Oregon 16.2 1.8 2
10 LSU 16.2 2.1 --

First place votes spread out like weeds in the wake of unimpressive performances from the two SEC powerhouses, though the TCU folk don't bother justifying their rationale because it's pretty hard to justify TCU #1. The rest of the poll at CBS Sports.

Comments

Section 1

October 28th, 2009 at 12:07 PM ^

or less, how it is that Cincinnati is ranked ahead of an Iowa team that has beaten Penn State, Wisconsin and Michigan State on the road, as well as Michigan at home?

Forget Cincy for a moment; doesn't that make Iowa, based on strength of schedule, a challenger to Texas' poll position?

wishitwas97

October 28th, 2009 at 12:25 PM ^

way more impressive in their wins than Iowa. Aside from PSU game, Iowa didn't exactly impress by winning games. They almost lost to D1AA and a lowly D1A teams. Boggles my mind when they have 2 first place votes. They should've lost to MSU and Michigan had a chance to beat them despite the fact that they played bad.

bronxblue

October 28th, 2009 at 2:03 PM ^

Cincy is a good team, and they can score in bunches. They are a lot like Texas Tech was last year - decent D, explosive offense, but the type of team that can be beaten by a good team or a freak injury to the QB. Now with Pike out, I don't think that they can keep up the scoring pace, and they're getting into the "meat" of their schedule - if that is possible in the Big East - with games against UConn and WVU and a trip to the Carrier Dome. Plus, they finish the season at Pitt. I think they'll end up with 1-2 losses. Right now, though, they are certainly a dangerous team, and have looked more impressive at times than Iowa.

bigmc6000

October 28th, 2009 at 1:56 PM ^

I'm not too sure that it's that hard to justify a TCU #1 vote. Maybe giving it the eyeball test it's hard but let's actually look at the schedule results. They beat Clemson on the road who beat then #10 Miami (also had a squeaker against GT), they beat Virginia at Virginia (yeah, william and mary, I know, they are still a BCS squad and they are currently undefeated in conference), they easily handled BYU in Provo in a pseudo rivalry game. At this point I'd say there's just as much justification for them being #1 as anybody else (save 'Bama probably). UF has a win against LSU (who has played no one, no UGA doesn't count), Alabama has beaten some good teams and probably has a legitimate claim, Texas hasn't played anyone, Iowa probably has more of a claim than TCU but they aren't getting love either and Cincy did beat South Florida at USF (equivalent to TCU beating BYU possibly).

Really the whole thing is a muck until some of the top teams actually show they can beat teams with a pulse - let's ignore the names and actually put results into it - the only reason TCU is crapped on compared to UF, UT, 'Bama and even Iowa is because they are TCU, not because of their schedule. If the 3 top guys had the exact same schedule and the exact same scores they'd be a shoe in for a glutton of number 1 votes (read Florida and Texas, 'Bama actually earned their votes).

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/fbt09.htm

Check out the strength of schedule - UF 39, 'Bama 27, UT 52, Iowa 15 and TCU 40.

jlvanals

October 28th, 2009 at 4:10 PM ^

Penn State from last year. Lived dangerously for a long time and then finally bit the bullet when their luck ran out, ironically @Iowa. I don't think Iowa is going to be able to make it out of Columbus with a W in two weeks, but who knows, they seem to get it done every week this season, but must be driving anyone betting on or against them crazy. @Jamiemac made a good point in the other comments about Kirk Ferentz, but doesn't he just seem like Lloyd redux?