Draft BlogPoll Ballot: I Have No Clue
by Peter Bean on Oct 7, 2007 2:24 PM CDT
in Texas Longhorns Football
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PrintWe'll get back to Texas football on Monday (lots of big questions to sort through), but Sunday's the day to start talking about the national scene. Don't forget to listen in to EDSBS LIVE radio tonight.
And help me, please figure out a Top 25 ballot. This is absolute insanity.
(Last week's rank in parentheses.)
1. LSU (2) Not only can I not ding them Les Miles points, I'm obligated to tip my cap to the Tigers' coach, who was straight balls on Saturday night. Five out of five fourth-down conversions? Managing to perfection a rally from a 10-point fourth quarter deficit? Even if I hate to do it, I have to do it: Les Miles was outstanding last night. LSU's your clear-cut #1.
2. California (3) We're to the point where it's safer not to play.
3. Ohio State (4) The Buckeyes totally smothered Purdue last night, though I'm not sure how many people were watching. With all the other craziness last night, this game was overlooked somewhat. Purdue managed just 4 yards rushing on the evening, and Ohio State is suddenly in terrific position for a BCS Title Game run. Wow.
4. South Florida (5) They weren't as crisp as last weekend, but winning is clearly the name of the game these days. Just win. Nothing else matters.
5. Boston College (6) Same deal - just keep winning.
6. Arizona State (9) Dennis Erickson's squad had to fight for their lives on the road, but left Pullman with a 23-20 win. The operative word here - once more - is win.
7. Missouri (10) I've been noting my love for this offense all season, and they certainly showed off last night in Columbia. Missouri took it to Nebraska, blowing out the Huskers 41-6 in moving to 5-0. That win over Illinois is looking better and better, too.
8. Cincinnati (11) Cincy goes on the road to Rutgers and pulls out a 28-23 win with a 21-point third quarter and some timely second half defense. Again: USF, Cincy, and UCONN are your undefeated Big East teams. This season is bonkers.
9. Oregon (13) Another team moves up without playing. Next up for the Ducks? Washington State. There are no gimmes anymore. None.
10. Oklahoma (15) Credit to the Sooners - they took a pretty solid shot from Texas and came out the other side victorious. Sam Bradford was steady and, at times, exceptional. His two passes to put OU up 7-0 were simply unguardable. Nex up? A huge, huge game with Missouri.
11. South Carolina (19) Thursday night's home win was just solid. South Carolina continues to play great defense, while getting enough on offense to continue to win games. The most impressive thing about SC? Spurrier plays the best talent - period - regardless of age. There are young players making a difference right now simply because they're better. It's refreshing.
12. Kansas (16) The Jayhawks are 5-0 after travelling to Manhattan and beating KSU 28-24. It's just bizarre seeing Kansas have a respectable offense. Truly, truly bizarre. Like this whole season.
13. Kentucky (7) Thursday night's loss at South Carolina stung, but the 'Cats biggest test comes this week as they host LSU. Given what we've seen this season, is there any reason to think UK won't win? I mean...
14. Auburn (18) A nice, comfortable win for Auburn over Vandy has them back on track in the SEC.
15. Southern Cal (1) This resume is really starting to sag. A home loss to Stanford? The win over Nebraska looks worthless. This is a team lacking in consistency and killer instinct. So it goes: you can't win 'em all, right?
16. Florida State (21) They never look real good, but they're winning again. The move to Xavier Lee was the right thing to do.
17. Illinois (NR) The Zooker has things turned around in Champagne, improbable as it may seem. Youth is being served across the country.
18. Florida (12) I thought they had it. I really, really did. Watch out for this team in 2008. All the pieces are there to dominate.
19. West Virginia (22) Easy win over Syracuse.
20. Virginia Tech (NR) Clemson will never beat Virginia Tech again. Ever.
21. Hawaii (23) Onward, upward. The schedule remains soft until late November.
22. Tennessee (NR) I was happy to be right about this one. And happy for Holly. I am, of course, sad for Kyle and my Bulldog friends. All I can say is: I feel your pain.
23. Georgia (14) Like I said: I feel your pain.
24. Connecticut (25) DNP
25. Colorado (NR) You can literally see the progress.
--PB--
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Comments
alot of your rankings are good
but Florida is still a top-15 team. They lost 2 games in the SEC, one to an Auburn team who you have rather high, and one to the unanimous #1 team in the nation, LSU.
If MU beats OU will they be in the top-5?
Also, how is Texas still ranked in the AP poll. I mean, its great and all, but only dropping to #23?
Florida's wins
Ole Miss, Troy, Western Kentucky, Tennessee.
I agree that they're a very strong team, but they need some more quality wins before they can move up.
Understandable
but who has Cincy beat? An overated Rutgers team. Also who has Ohio state played, an underated Boilermakers team.
Wins are most important
It's when you lose that you get sunk into more equitable side-by-side comparisons with your peers. Boston College is vulnerable here, too. Their resume will collapse with a loss.
I think ASU should be switched with S.Car.
And what of Kansas? They're undefeated and have had a harder schedule than UConn.
No apologies
It's hard to keep track of 25 teams. I misplaced Florida this week, among others.
NFL
Today is a bad day for Vince, but Aaron Ross just returned his second interception of the day for a TD.
If its all about wins
then why is Hawaii all the way at #23?
I agree with your top-5, except Cal and Ohio State should be switched. Cal has beaten a good volunteers team and a very good Oregon team while Ohio State hasn't played really anybody.
Also if BC keeps getting those wins it is going to be between Chase Daniel and Matt Ryan for the Hiesman.
Agree with all of that
OSU's ranking can be predicated on the strength of their defense but heretofore Cal's resume has been the more impressive.
Good point
Cal's resume is superior. Oregon and Tennessee are two quality wins - better than Ohio State's.
As for Hawaii, believe me, I want to move them up. I had them #7 preseason and had to drop them when they needed double overtime to beat UL-M. Now, though? You make a good point. All these crazy losses make "close wins" less of a problem than before.
Revisions being considered - thanks for the feedback.
Florida
Re: Les Miles
As good as Florida is the fact of the matter seems to be that LSU was just the better team - over the full 60 minutes - and it literally took over 58 minutes for them assert that superiority. What's surprising though is that over the 60 minutes Les Miles actually seems to have outcoashed Urban Meyer (although UF certanly had a great game plan coming out). Who could have imagined it.
Les Miles
The man almost made me take up smoking last night - especially in the fourth quarter.
Anyway, South Carolina is VERY good. They had an early lead on LSU before they got their only loss of the year in Baton Rouge.
Can Kentucky beat LSU this week? Absolutely! LSU is not a day team, their pass D is leaky and they play the afternoon game in Lexington. Plus, LSU doesn't have a good history in Lexington when it doesn''t involve Bluegrass Miracles.
As for LSU, if they survive Kentucky, they get Auburn at home the very next week. If they survive that, then it's road trips to Ole Miss and Alabama before home finale against Arkansas. THEN the SEC title game.
And PB, I agree. Wins are wins. period. Especially this year and from BCS conferences. Things will work themselves out, so keep the USFs and Cincy's and BC's up there til they lose.
I think Oregon is the best 1-loss team in the land and Florida the hands-down best 2-loss team.
Compeltely agree on Oregon
and Florida. Anyone would be a fool to suggest that LSU is not in some danger of loosing any of the games that you mention. This would have been the case even in the absence of chaos we've seen this year.
Still, they'll probably be favored by close to or in excess of 10 points in all of them (except for a possible SEC Title rematch with Florida) and are capable of winning any by 3 touchdowns or more. No way to tell which way any of them is going to go but the likely mean is 2 or 3 blowouts plus perhaps an upset somewhere along the way. As for the SEC title, all bets are definatively off.
As for letting wins determine rankings and hoping it all shakes out, well, if anyone can come up with a better system for THIS YEAR I have yet to see it. Still, the odd tweak for a team like a Florida or an Oregon might not be out of place.
Cal's schedule
The Golden Bears are going to have a tough time going undefeated as well. With games at UCLA, Stanford, and Arizona State and at home against USC. I have a hard time seeing any team going unbeaten this year, which gives hope to all the one loss and even two loss teams if thier schedule is hard enough.
I understand what you're saying about Ky-LSU...
...but I don't see it happening.
UK's game against S.C. was sloppy. I still think the Gamecocks win six or seven times out of ten, but Kentucky seemed to be overwhelmed by the fact that they were facing an actual defense.
Granted, they got a long week to figure out what went wrong, but if Brooks turns that team around and beats LSU, go ahead and give him the coach of the year award.
Auburn? Maybe. But Alabama is average, Arkansas ain't much better and Ole Miss is terrible. Unless Nick Saban has something up his sleeve (and he might, just to stick it to the LSU fans who are giving him crap), I don't see anybody but Auburn coming close. And I think even they fall short.
Florida
"I thought they had it. I really, really did. Watch out for this team in 2008. All the pieces are there to dominate."
This is what was written about Florida, however, I believe that, in that amazingly tough SEC and the fact that this season just MAKES NO SENSE, that Florida can still do some damage on a national scene this year, including crashing the BCS Title game if they run the table and beat LSU in the SEC title game.
Real Nat'l Championship game
The real Nat'l Championship game was played Saturday night when LSU played Florida.
The BCS Championship game won't be as exciting as what we witnessed Saturday night.
Urban Meyer's Florida Gators will win another NC in the next two seasons. He has 68% of his 2-deep in underclassmen.
Recruits don't have to concern themselves about the HC being afraid to play the best player due to age.
Your assuming...
...that Meyer sticks around for two more seasons. He's a coach on the rise! He's an innovator!!!!!! He's...never held a job this long...
Urban Meyer...
That beats the crap out of 1 Conf.Championship in 20 seasons.
the...
Yes...
...I'm quite sure you would rather comparisons of HCs of premier programs remain silent, or hidden. I'd rather see them out front and actively read by CFB fans. Pay attention, this program is potentially at a crossroad. It shouldn't be, but no one was holding the reins. Iowa State and Baylor are conference cupcakes, but if Mack can't hold it together against home foes Nebraska and Texas Tech, then things get pretty nasty.
I have no problem with comparison of head coaches
and that is why there are diaries. I would definitely read your opinions on comparisons of head coaches around the country, as you seem to have a lot of opinions on them and research that you like to repeat around the blog, despite your irrational hatred for everything associated with Mac Brown.
Back to the original post before the Non sequitur, what do think the odds of Meyer leaving Florida in the next two years?
I'm thinking ....
...they're about zero. Collectively his two recruiting classes at Florida are on par with USC and significantly better than anyother program. Other than the country's finest D-backfield, this season's recruiting class is off to a rather slow start. I do expect to see the final 8 or 9 recruits to be really fine players.
Underclassmen make up 68% of Florida's 2-deep and it was higher (91%) at the start of the season. Injuries have taken an early toll. The talent pool couldn't be any higher. He should seriously contend for each of the next two national championships and I'd consider him the favorite to win it all in 2009.
At this point in Urban's career, Jim Tressel holds the only position for which he would leave Florida. Tressel isn't going anywhere for a number of years. Maybe in 6 years the NFL will come calling with some attractive offers and that becomes appealing. I think he's a college football kind of guy that takes great pleasure helping to build young men. So, I see him guiding the Gators for a good number of years.
That is what I figured
But I did not know he would want to go to Ohio St. He better take his recruits with him when he goes, because it will be harder to find fast guys he needs for that offense in Ohio.
Thanks, darlin'
Strangely, the relief of a win wore off in a snap. I'll be floored if we make it out of the season with four losses.
SEC East
The SEC East is going to be a fun race to watch, with Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, and Georgia all having a chance depending on what happens.
Don't you mean Kentucky
instead of the first or second Georia? Can you imagine how tough that division is?
Oh, the other division has LSU, Saban's Bama, Auburn, McFadden's Arkansas and those two Mississippi schools (one that creamed Auburn this year and the other that nearly upset UF)
Damn. It's so much fun but sucks at the same time to be a fan of a team in that conference.
Who said...
SoCal would wallop LSU by 2 TDs? LSU is a machine. They are better than Les Miles is dumb. They get stuffed on third down, then pound it back the exact same way on fourth. Unless LSU has a letdown in their next game, there is only a slight chance that they do not walk away with the title. And to Les: You lucked out, and nothing went wrong on ANY of your ridiculous gambles. Quit it. Let your team win the rest of its games. No more idiocy.
rankings
Excuse me.....
Kansas 12th
Do you really believe they could be Auburn,
So Cal or even Kentucky ?
The winner...
...of the Kansas @ Colorado game will most likely play Missouri for the Big-XII North championship. Both Kansas and Colorado get Missouri at home.
Let me ask you
Did you believe Stanford could beat USC? Illinois over Penn State? Appy State over Michigan?
The point, as always, is that we don't really know. All we can go by are the results on the field. Kansas' early schedule was weak, but they waxed everyone they played. (Contrast that to, say, Texas, who no one had any trouble ranking #12 or better.) And then they went on the road and beat a solid Kansas State team.
I have no trouble at all ranking the Jayhawks here. They've taken care of all their business so far. Which is way, way, way more than you can say about 107 other teams.
Plus
If I remember correctly from the 7,000 times you've had to remind people, this isn't a power poll, its a resume poll.
Technically speaking, I would say that Kansas has a better resume than those teams. They're undefeated with a big road win at KSU.
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