Have At It: Blog Poll Draft Ballot

by Peter Bean on Nov 17, 2008 9:17 AM CST in Football Comment 9 comments

Morning Coffee to follow shortly, but first, my weekly take at making sense of my ballot for the Blog Poll. Draft ballot is after the jump; ignore the delta scores, as I missed out on submitting a ballot last week.

A few justifications:

Alabama's opponents combine for a sub-.500 record; Texas Tech has the best win of the season (vs Texas) and its second-best win (Okie State) is near-equal to Alabama's best (at Georgia). The Red Raiders get the nod on the top line.

Behind the top two, Florida's trio of wins over Georgia, Miami, and LSU can't match Texas' wins versus Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Missouri, while the Gators' loss at home to Ole Miss carries a greater penalty than Texas' loss in Lubbock to Tech.

Trailing in the one-loss column are Southern Cal, Oklahoma, and Penn State, all of whom currently lack the quality wins to challenge anyone above. The Sooners can improve their resume in the final two weeks; the Trojans and Nittany Lions are stuck waiting for chaos.

Rank	Team	Delta

1	Texas Tech	25
2	Alabama	24
3	Texas	23
4	Florida	22
5	Southern Cal	21
6	Oklahoma	20
7	Penn State	19
8	Utah	18
9	Oklahoma State	17
10	Boise State	16
11	Georgia	15
12	Missouri	14
13	Ohio State	13
14	Michigan State	12
15	TCU	11
16	Pittsburgh	10
17	Florida State	9
18	Cincinnati	8
19	Miami (Florida)	7
20	Oregon State	6
21	Ball State	5
22	Maryland	4
23	LSU	3
24	Boston College	2
25	Oregon	1

0 recs | Comment 9 comments

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Comments

At the margins

I may be nitpicking, but I think Iowa (Penn State) or UNC (Boston College, Miami) have better arguments resume wise than does LSU.

LSU’s best win is a dubious South Carolina team with win quality falling sharply from there. They have had the foresight to lose (generally lopsidedly) to quality teams, but when the best line on one’s resume is a quality loss to Bama, it’s difficult to maintain a ranking.

proud to swim home

by learned hand on Nov 17, 2008 9:39 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Not to mention...

… their frantic comeback against Troy, yes Troy, Saturday night. They were down 31-3 late in the third quarter but scored 30 points in the fourth quarter for a 40-31 win. Until they figure out their quarterback situation, they will just be a team with a lot of talent that plays really ugly football.

by Sweed4Heisman on Nov 17, 2008 9:44 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

You'll get no major arguments from me on this one, PB

Your rankings and logic are persuasive and more in touch with reality than some of the human/computer results.

I THINK Florida is the No. 1 team, but based on accomplishments they’re ranked exactly right. I’d have Missouri in front of Georgia and my favorite whipping boy, Boise State. I think Penn State CAN do something about its status by beating 9-2, No. 14 Michigan State.

by edsp on Nov 17, 2008 9:41 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Penn State and/or Utah could be in front of USC

Penn State smacked Oregon State, who beat the Trojans, and beat Ohio State in Columbus. The Trojans’ win over the Buckeyes looked better, but Penn State had to face Beanie and a somewhat more experienced Pryor.

Utah is undefeated, including a win over Oregon State. Plus, the MWC is 6-1 vs. the Pac 10 this year.

Would I pick either team to beat USC right now? Hell no, but I think each has an argument when it comes to resumes.

by Sweed4Heisman on Nov 17, 2008 9:41 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Deltas?

Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. If they get mad, you're a mile away AND you have their shoes.

by Caradoc on Nov 17, 2008 9:56 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Go Sooners

I hate to cheer for one of our bitter rivals!!!! But this what the BCS has causes us to do!!! Thanx BCS!!!

by TexasStateHorn on Nov 17, 2008 9:58 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Just playing devil's advocate

and not that I’m disagreeing with your positioning of Texas and Florida, but the manner in which Florida has beat down their opponents in ALL of their wins might lend some merit to their consideration for the 3rd spot. The narrowest margin of victory in their wins is 23 over Miami. Say what you will about the legitimacy of the “at-the-time” rankings of LSU, Georgia, and South Carolina, but the fact of the matter is they were all ranked teams when UF played them and the Gators pantsed them all, while the only thoroughly convincing win UT has against a ranked opponent was Mizzou.

I suppose the rebuttal to that is that the SEC is really just gliding on reputation and nobody in that conference outside of Florida has really proven themselves to be a truly elite football team, and the home loss to Ole Miss is still clearly the biggest resume anchor of all the top one-loss teams (except maybe Penn State’s loss to Iowa). Still, I think there’s an argument in there that Florida’s emphatic wins make it a tight race for that #3 spot.

by littlevisigoth on Nov 17, 2008 10:23 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Florida is terrifying

Out of all the teams in the top ten Florida is the only one I’m not confident UT could beat in a Bowl game. I expect them to destroy Bama in the SECCG. If Tech loses to OU and we stay ahead of OU in the BCS rankings the national championship could easily be Texas vs Florida.

by hodad on Nov 17, 2008 10:37 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Two Comments

Why is SoCal ranked above OU, shouldn’t they be reversed due to comparison of A) conference strength B) quality of wins thus far and C) loss of each thus far? Also, of course Florida should be #1, they are the best looking team right now with gaining momentum each week. That being said, what are these polls supposed to be? Power polls or polls based upon resumes. My understanding is a theoretical power poll at the beginning of the season shifting to a ranking purely upon the team’s merits of YTD wins and losses at the end of the season. That being said, there’s no way Florida should be ranked above UT in human polls right now given a strict comparison of the wins and losses of each team to date. This could change of course given the outcome of each teams season at the end of the year. Voters please wake up.

by UTexasCPA on Nov 17, 2008 11:26 AM CST reply actions 0 recs