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Blogpoll Final Ballot: Week 8 Comment Count

Tim
Rank Team Delta
1 Alabama
2 Iowa 3
3 Florida 1
4 Texas 1
5 Cincinnati 1
6 Southern Cal 1
7 TCU 2
8 LSU 2
9 Boise State 3
10 Oregon 1
11 Houston 1
12 Georgia Tech 3
13 Penn State 1
14 Virginia Tech 1
15 Oklahoma State 1
16 Pittsburgh
17 Ohio State 4
18 Notre Dame 4
19 Arizona
20 Miami (Florida) 12
21 South Carolina 2
22 Wisconsin 2
23 California
24 West Virginia
25 Utah
Last week's ballot

Changes from draft:

I looked at moving Texas or Florida past Iowa, or moving Texas ahead of Florida, but I couldn't justify it. There was a lot of hand-wringing about Iowa in the comments, but their whole body of work is more impressive than the other two, IME. Penn State, Wisconsin, and Arizona are definitely all high-quality wins, especially considering they were all 10ish-point margins of victory. The Arkansas State and Northern Iowa games are slight demerits, but Florida and Texas haven't been without their scares this year, either. Add in the fact that Iowa State is respectable(!!!), and the Hawkeyes have put together a heck of a season so far.

I knocked BYU out of the poll in favor of West Virginia, and moved Utah down to the last spot. LSU moves ahead of Boise State on a deeper set of wins. That puts Oregon adjacent to the Boise State team that beat them. If the Ducks can beat USC this week, I think we can justify moving them past the team with the head-to-head win and better record.

I still feel a little weird having Houston in the top 15, seeing as how they got blasted by UTEP, but their set of wins is surprisingly impressive (a little less so with Texas Tech losing to A&M in embarrassing fashion).

I considered Central Michigan, but they have beaten absolutely nobody outside of MIchigan State, and they do have a loss on the year (albeit a quality one to Arizona).

Comments

jlvanals

October 28th, 2009 at 10:08 AM ^

I get your rationale (more, better wins, etc.), but I was at the game and Boise flat out dominated Oregon. Oregon had a single productive drive and rarely even made it into Boise territory whereas the BSU offense moved the ball all day against the Pac-10's best defense. While their offense was better against Oregon that anyone else I saw this year, what stood out was how good their defense was, something you don't normally see in mid-major schools. I honestly can't remember the last time a top 10 offense nationally got shut down that thoroughly for an entire 60 mins (to the tune of two turnovers and 150 total yards and 31 yards rushing, almost all of which came on one drive to open the 2nd half). If it was a close game where either team could have won I can see jumping Oregon over Boise, but it wasn't: the Ducks were physically man-handled on both sides of the ball.

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jlvanals

October 28th, 2009 at 10:37 AM ^

Again, I acknowledge as much in my post, I don't mind one-loss teams being ahead of Boise because of their weak SOS, I just think that this particular one-loss team has no business being ahead of them based on how badly BSU pwned them. I understand that you're looking more broadly at overall record and I also agree that Oregon is a great team, but when a team is undefeated and has beaten another squad in the manner BSU beat Oregon (to the tune of 6 first downs the entire game, 4 of which came on one drive), irregardless of the quality of any other opponents/wins, I don't think its rational to put the team they dominated over them in the rankings. This was settled on the field decisively; I don't see any need to over-analyze that. All that being said, I understand where you're coming from, I just dont happen to agree, solely as it relates to Boise/Oregon. If this is a Texas/OU debate, that's a completely different situation since Texas lost as well and resume comparison makes sense. Here, there is no question that the better team between the two is Boise.

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jamiemac

October 28th, 2009 at 11:18 AM ^

1.) I am all about Iowa. Not sure why people around here think they're bad. Ferentz is 17-4, btw, since a majority of this board jumped off a ledge at the thought of him coming here. He is a great coach and he has a great team right now. I cant help but see 1997 and 2002 when I look at this team. They just get it done, the way those UM and OSU teams did. 2.) I am in with the group that you cant put Oregon ahead of Boise. They've really handled them two years in a row. They would beat them like a drum again if they played. We have more than enough proof that Boise is better. 3.) I'd rank Central, if they keep covering the spread....and if they beat BC this weekend. Otherwise, I like the look of the poll.

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jamiemac

October 28th, 2009 at 11:32 AM ^

I e-gree. Really when fisking out those bottom five slots, you really have to ask yourself are there 25 better teams than team X.....if that team is CMU, its going to get harder and harder to find 25 better teams if they keep winning (and exceeding the Vegas line) as the season pulls into November. I really cant wait to see how they matchup with BC. They are +5 right now. I thinking of getting a bite of that.

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AMazinBlue

October 28th, 2009 at 12:33 PM ^

BC is the only team with a winning record they have beaten. They haven't beaten a ranked opponent. They barely survived BC; and South Carolina, West Virginia and Utah all have better records. It seems that Notre Dame still gets extra consideration for just being ND. Let me know when they beat someone that really matters.

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