BlogPoll Ballot, Week 2: Goodbye Big Ten
The carnage!
MGoBlog Ballot - Week 2
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -- |
| 2 | USC Trojans | -- |
| 3 | LSU Tigers | -- |
| 4 | West Virginia Mountaineers | -- |
| 5 | Oregon Ducks |  1 |
| 6 | Oklahoma Sooners |  -1 |
| 7 | Florida St. Seminoles | -- |
| 8 | Michigan St. Spartans | -- |
| 9 | Virginia Tech Hokies | 1 |
| 10 | Georgia Bulldogs | 1 |
| 11 | Ohio St. Buckeyes | -2 |
| 12 | Clemson Tigers | -- |
| 13 | Texas Longhorns | 4 |
| 14 | UCLA Bruins | new |
| 15 | Kansas St. Wildcats | new |
| 16 | South Carolina Gamecocks | 3 |
| 17 | Florida Gators | new |
| 18 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish | -3 |
| 19 | Tennessee Volunteers | 3 |
| 20 | Louisville Cardinals | -- |
| 21 | Oregon St. Beavers | new |
| 22 | Arizona St. Sun Devils | new |
| 23 | Arizona Wildcats | new |
| 24 | Michigan Wolverines | 1 |
| 25 | Northwestern Wildcats | new |
| Dropouts: Wisconsin Badgers, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Oklahoma St. Cowboys, Arkansas Razorbacks, South Florida Bulls, Illinois Fighting Illini, Utah Utes | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings »
As always, I never look at old ballots when I do these. Pay no attention to Oregon and Oklahoma flipping or VT and Georgia passing OSU; these teams are essentially tied in my mind and there's some jitter week to week as I arbitrarily stuff one in front of the other.
CARNAGE. Good-bye, Big Ten. Q: did I under-rank Northwestern? They have two BCS wins, one of them by ten over Vandy, who South Carolina beat by four. A: No. But don't give me guff for putting them in the poll. Someone's got to hold the baner high for the Big Ten.
Also starring in carnage: Wisconsin, Oklahoma State, and Utah. GTFO! Mah poll has no time for losers except Michigan. /weeps
Arizona. I know, I need to get over it.
High debuts for UCLA and Kansas State. Well, you win a game against a real opponent early and you get a bump. Their resumes are currently better than everyone they're in front of and probably a few teams they're still in back of, but this poll doesn't go 100% resume until about week five. We are gradually downshifting from preseason expectations. Keep your arms and legs in the car at all times.
Notre Dame. Pretty much the only team that fell based on something other than whim. Three point wins over Purdue will do that.
Am I irrationally high on West Virginia? NO YOU'RE IRRATIONALLY LOW ON THEM JERK
September 10th, 2012 at 3:32 PM ^
I'm a little bit surprised you didn't bump LSU ahead of USC considering LSU manhandled Washington while USC struggled for awhile with Syracuse. I'd love to hear your reasoning on that. Think the 'Cuse game was just a fluke for USC?
September 10th, 2012 at 4:40 PM ^
while USC had to go cross-country trip to play Cuse. It's much harder for a West Coast team to travel east and they're typically tired and legarthic because of jet lag and the time difference. USC was able to pull away at the end. If it's a home game for USC, it'd be a rout like LSU/Washington game.
September 10th, 2012 at 9:01 PM ^
I wasn't paying attention to game location, I forgot about the jet lag effect. Thanks for reminding me!
I'm just looking forward to the polls in about a month so we have more data, then the polls will be more clear. First month's polls are largely guesswork.
September 10th, 2012 at 3:36 PM ^
September 10th, 2012 at 3:40 PM ^
September 10th, 2012 at 3:52 PM ^
I don't understand? Is this Brian's attempt at being upset at not having RR still? I sure hope not.
September 10th, 2012 at 3:59 PM ^
What do you mean?
- Rich Rodriguez is their first year head coach
- They beat former #18 / #16 Oklahoma State by 3 touchdowns
- Rich Rodriguez is their first year head coach
EDIT: Great, you edited your response right before I posted my comment. (For those of you scoring at home, the entirety of the original post was, "What's with zona? I don't understand?") Brian has said many times that he thought RR would do a great job at UM (see: "I told you so" comments re: Funchess in his game wrap post, also on the front page). Still stings, you know?
September 10th, 2012 at 4:01 PM ^
But Rich Rod did not do a great job at Michigan.
He's doing well at Arizona.
I cannot wait for the Arizona - Michigan bowl game after this season. If there is ANY way ESPN can rig the schedule to create this bowl game, you know it's happening.
September 10th, 2012 at 5:45 PM ^
Pac-12 Conference finishers - Bowl selection (Opponent)
- Rose/BCS (Big Ten)
- Alamo (Big 12)
- Holiday Bowl (Big 12)
- Sun Bowl (ACC)
- Maaco Las Vegas (MWC Champion)
- Kraft Fight Hunger (Navy)
- Gildan New Mexico (MWC)
If the 'Cats can beat the S. Carolina State Bulldogs, Oregon State, Washington, Colorado, and Arizona State -- and those are all home games for the 'Cats -- they end up at 7-5. Add just one road win (Utah, in Salt Lake City) and they are 8-4.
Pity that they wan't get a chance at, say, an 8-4 Michigan team. All that we can (wildly) speculate about is that if Navy were not bowl-eligible, and Michigan were substituted into the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl in place of the Midshipmen...
But even that can't happen, at least I don't think so, because an 8-4 Michigan team is likely to get forced into honoring the B1G commitment to an Outback or Cap One Bowl.
2012 Arizona Wildcats Football ScheduleCurrent Record: 2-0, 0-0 (Pac-12) |
||||
| Date | Opponent | Time/TV | Tickets | |
|
Saturday 09/01/12 |
 |
Toledo Rockets Arizona Stadium, Tucson, AZ |
Won 24-17 | --- |
|
Saturday 09/08/12 |
 |
Oklahoma State Cowboys Arizona Stadium, Tucson, AZ |
Won 59-38 | --- |
|
Saturday 09/15/12 |
 |
South Carolina State Bulldogs Arizona Stadium, Tucson, AZ |
7:30 p.m PT Pac-12 Network |
Buy Tickets |
|
Saturday 09/22/12 |
 |
at Oregon Ducks Autzen Stadium, Eugene, OR |
7:30 p.m. PT ESPN |
Buy Tickets |
|
Saturday 09/29/12 |
 |
Oregon State Beavers Arizona Stadium, Tucson, AZ |
TBA |
Buy Tickets |
|
Saturday 10/06/12 |
 |
at Stanford Cardinal Stanford Stadium, Stanford, CA |
TBA |
Buy Tickets |
|
Saturday 10/13/12 |
--- | Open Date | --- | --- |
|
Saturday 10/20/12 |
 |
Washington Huskies Arizona Stadium, Tucson, AZ |
TBA |
Buy Tickets |
|
Saturday 10/27/12 |
 |
USC Trojans Arizona Stadium, Tucson, AZ |
TBA |
Buy Tickets |
|
Saturday 11/03/12 |
 |
at UCLA Bruins Rose Bowl, Los Angeles, CA |
TBA |
Buy Tickets |
|
Saturday 11/10/12 |
 |
Colorado Buffaloes (HC) Arizona Stadium, Tucson, AZ |
TBA |
Buy Tickets |
|
Saturday 11/17/12 |
 |
at Utah Utes Rice-Eccles Stadium, Salt Lake City, UT |
TBA |
Buy Tickets |
|
Friday 11/23/12 |
 |
Arizona State Sun Devils Arizona Stadium, Tucson, AZ |
8:00 p.m. MT ESPN |
Buy Tickets |
|
Friday 11/30/12 |
 |
Pac-12 Championship Game Hosted by team with best Pac-12 record. |
5:00 p.m. PT FOX |
Buy Tickets |
September 10th, 2012 at 4:25 PM ^
Personally, no, it doesn't sting at all. I'm much happier now with Hoke. The man exemplifies what Michigan is supposed to be. I couldn't care less what RR does at Zona. I'm just surprised people still haven't been able to let it go. He did a poor job here. Granted, it's early still, but look at the games Arizona has played; they exhibit many of the same characteristics of our teams circa 2008-2010 (i.e. poor defense, poor fundamentals and poor ball security).
And don't worry so much about people at home "scoring". Not a big deal man.
September 10th, 2012 at 5:33 PM ^
And we got off to hot starts in 2009 and 2010 with RR as well. They won Saturday despite giving up over 600 yards. I feel like I've seen that movie too many times.
September 10th, 2012 at 5:50 PM ^
Against OK state, Arizona had:
- no muffed kickoffs or punts
- no fumbles or interceptions
- They were 3 for 3 on field goals
- 27 total yards of penalties.
What poor fundamentals or ball handling are you referring to? WRT the defense, time will tell.
They looked sloppy against Toledo. They looked like a tough, disciplined team against OK State.
September 11th, 2012 at 9:18 AM ^
As far as ball security and whatnot, I was referring to the Toledo game. However, the point regarding the defense stands for game 2. Looks like the same old story to me, but if other people want to jump to his rescue, then fine.
September 10th, 2012 at 3:56 PM ^
I think Brian must have his Arizonas mixed up. A resounding win at home over a woeful Illini squad shouldn't vault the Sun Devils over the Wildcats.
September 10th, 2012 at 4:03 PM ^
I know we all just look at the score and what not, but Arizona allowed 600 yards... and needed OT to beat Toledo. If OK State didn't DERP all over themselves to the tune of 4 turnovers and like 150 penalty yards, they probably win.
They're not good. They're a first year Rich Rodriguez team, and the PAC 12 will annihilate them.
September 11th, 2012 at 2:03 AM ^
You say we just look at the score, but you apparently do, too. If you watched those two games, you could see with your own eyes Arizona dominated both of them. They aren't going to win the Pac-12, but they are indeed a good team. Surprisingly good considering they were 4-8 last year and, like you said, this is a first year Rich Rodriguez team.
September 10th, 2012 at 4:06 PM ^
But MSU goes against their first real live mediocre team this weekend. I'm setting the over/under on Andrew Maxwell interceptions at 5, and taking the over. This one isn't going to be pretty.
September 10th, 2012 at 4:28 PM ^
ND has a much better run defense than pass defense. I think ND will be able to slow down Bell, but their DB's will need to play better to shut down the MSU passing attack. I think this will be a low scoring game, but if its a blowout one way or the other, I think its MSU that blows out ND.
September 10th, 2012 at 4:37 PM ^
If ND can stop Bell with 7 guys MSU may not complete a forward pass. Their secondary cant be that much worse than central's.
September 10th, 2012 at 4:54 PM ^
September 10th, 2012 at 5:01 PM ^
I'll admit that I only watched Boise and the first half against central before my eyes started bleeding.
But from what I saw, any ball that traveled more than 7 yards upfield was just as likely to bounce off a defenders chest as a spartan's.
September 10th, 2012 at 6:53 PM ^
I'll admit I only watched a handful of the CMU game, but all of the Boise game.
MSU looked pretty bad throwing the ball against Boise, and better against CMU, but not a ton. Either way, ND's secondary, although bad for a top-25 team, is likely better than CMU and Boise, so I think they'll struggle more than against those teams, but it's not like Maxwell couldn't find a receiver. In 2 games he has 523 yards passing. A bad TD/INT ratio, but a good amount of yardage.
September 10th, 2012 at 4:14 PM ^
So Tennessee could crack into the top 15 with a win over the Gators!? Yeah! GBO!
Here's to hoping for a ND win over MSU so that a Michigan win over them looks good. Also MSU just looks silly ranked in the top ten. At this rate, we might as well put two ACC teams in the top 10.
Oh wait...
September 10th, 2012 at 4:41 PM ^
Northwestern's win over Vandy wasn't really by 10, it was by 3, if you care about comparisons to other "real" scores. Literally instead of kneeling on 3rd or 4th down, NW's QB was wanting to run around and squeeze as many seconds of as possible. He saw an opening and ran to the end zone. That was a good win for NW, but I wouldn't give them the full 10 point differential for this sort of ranking.
September 10th, 2012 at 4:48 PM ^
Sparty at #8? Come on. Getting a nonexistent passing game going against Central doesn't qualify them to be that high.
I don't know if I like Georgia and Virginia Tech being that high either but I can't argue with the rest of your rankings.
September 10th, 2012 at 5:22 PM ^
Is not as great as its made out to be either. Bell only had 70 yards on CMU and failed to average 4 yards a carry.
September 10th, 2012 at 10:30 PM ^
September 10th, 2012 at 5:24 PM ^
I think Brian doesn't merely like Nortwestern, but like likes them.
September 10th, 2012 at 5:43 PM ^
I'm pretty sure he's Facebook stalking them.
September 10th, 2012 at 7:14 PM ^
UCLA...ranked? Weird.
September 10th, 2012 at 8:49 PM ^
September 10th, 2012 at 10:32 PM ^
"Goodbye Big Ten" Hey maybe, but there is a lot of football to be played, and to kiss off an entire conference in week 2 seems seems a bit premature.
Perhaps this will prove predictive, but the Big Ten contains a lot of talent and has been busily attempting to upgrade their coaching. Perhaps we might wait until mid-season before we say goodbye to a conference who has provided us with some amazing football for several decades.
Just Saying.
Go Blue beat Ohio!
September 10th, 2012 at 10:49 PM ^
September 11th, 2012 at 5:37 PM ^
I can't start a new thread but I just wanted to make sure you guys were aware of the NCAA hammer that is currently swinging in the direction of Auburn. There was some issues regarding recruiting in the Memphis area that got them started. It is said to not only be Auburn and Miss State has already been named but some unnamed SEC schools are potentially involved in the investigation as well.
It has been building ever since the faked transcript issue at Auburn on August 17 but there may be actual sanctions.
No word on if Alabama or LSU are involved.
This could cause significant changes for the rankings going forward if teams are not eligible.
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