BlogPoll Draft Ballot, Week 1
by PB @ BON
on Sep 2, 2008 12:12 PM CDT
in Football
OR: I KNOW NOTHING. NEITHER DO YOU. (HELP ANYWAY?)
I am a BlogPoll voter. With a conscience. Which means I'll do my constitutional duty and cast a ballot each of the first four weeks of the season despite feeling more than a little... impotent?
The below ranking is, for all intents and purposes, a power poll, with a pinch of resume consideration sprinkled in here and there for better flavor. The alternative--ranking teams in week one according only to their strength of victory--seems more wacky-to-be-wacky than instructive in any meaningful way. So I'll punt to the gallery and open for early commentary.
Both the draft ballot and some brief commentary after the jump.
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida | -- |
| 2 | Oklahoma | -- |
| 3 | Southern Cal | -- |
| 4 | Ohio State | -- |
| 5 | Georgia | -- |
| 6 | Missouri | -- |
| 7 | LSU |  1 |
| 8 | Texas | 1 |
| 9 | West Virginia | 1 |
| 10 | Auburn | 1 |
| 11 | Alabama | 15 |
| 12 | Oregon | -- |
| 13 | Wisconsin | -- |
| 14 | South Florida | -- |
| 15 | California | 11 |
| 16 | Wake Forest | 5 |
| 17 | Brigham Young |  2 |
| 18 | Texas Tech | 2 |
| 19 | Kansas | 1 |
| 20 | Oklahoma State | 2 |
| 21 | Arizona State | 3 |
| 22 | Cincinnati | 1 |
| 23 | UCLA | 3 |
| 24 | Fresno State | 1 |
| 25 | Penn State | 1 |
- Though only a handful of teams received boosts on my ballot due to their wins, all teams which lost were booted.
- Welcome to Penn State, UCLA, California, and Alabama, replacing the one-lossers sent packing.
- If you want to accuse me of disproportionately rewarding Wake Forest for their 28-point win over Baylor... you can. But they're not moving down. I'm a fan.
- I have nothing to say about this.
- Okay, one thing: Though I'm being a pouty brat about these early polls, as the data starts rolling in over the coming weeks, this post will look drastically different, with actual analysis and genuine attempts to make sense of things.
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Not that it matters for anything right now
But I don’t think Cal is going to be very good this year. They just beat a bad Michigan State team.
I was talking to a Cal alum and huge fan just now at lunch, and he said he’d be happy this year with 8-4. He doesn’t think much of them (and he’s a huge homer).
by billyzane on Sep 2, 2008 12:29 PM CDT 0 recs
Listen to Billy Zane...
Besides being too kind to Cal I think you were a little too harsh on Illinois, who we haven’t seen the last of in the poll. I’d have them in front of Cincy, with Fresno St getting bumped. I love Pat White’s “Anyone, anytime, anywhere” mantra, but the sun is no longer shining on the dog’s ass that is Rutgers. I will believe if they beat Wisco in 2 weeks.*
I am also very thankful not to be waking up a Tennessee fan today. Did we see the first nail in the Fulmer coffin last night?
*These views are worthless.
by Horndogger on
Sep 2, 2008 12:59 PM CDT
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Pat White is QB at WVU
Pat Hill is the coach of Fresno State. and did you see Fresno’s RB? He was phenomenal in the second half.
by billyzane on
Sep 2, 2008 2:15 PM CDT
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Correct you are on Pat. My bad.
And the RB was tough. I was really underwhelmed by the Scarlet Knights though. They have a lot of wood to chop this year. This Fresno team will be an interesting case study for the Elusive Shadow’s non-BCS team rant IF they can run the table. A home date w/ Wisco and a tilt at UCLA are both going to be highly entertaining.
by Horndogger on
Sep 2, 2008 2:29 PM CDT
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I've been following Cal for a while,
And I tend to agree (along with many fellow fans) that 9 wins would be about what is expected, but that might drop to 7 or go up to 10 depending on the breaks. Assuming 9 wins, it is also important to realize that the losses they get will come at the hands of USC (almost certainly), Oregon, and maybe ASU, all of which are quality teams. This scenario, in my mind, would ultimately put Cal somewhere between 15 and 20 in the top 25.
I do think Cal jumped up a bit high prematurely as well, but Michigan State was not that bad a team. The fact that they failed to get their running game going is, in my opinion, more because Cal’s new 3-4 defense was sharp. Hoyer, their QB, played badly the first half but really picked it up when it counted.
A couple of other points on that game, which I watched after the ’Horns game on Saturday:
1) HUGE special teams mistakes on both sides, so that was basically a wash.
2) Cal would have been up by a lot more had Jeff Tedford not put lame-duck QB Longshore into the game – he capped off two promising drives with interceptions, the first very deep into Michigan territory and the second run back for a pick-six.
3) Cal’s receivers sucked but they are young and will improve, and they will have a very strong running game.
4) Kevin Riley is a quarterback that can make plays when it counts, and he’s shown it every time he’s been on the field (excepting of course that horrible brain fart against Oregon State last year – in his first start – that commenced Cal’s slide from the ranking heavens.
by longhornglory on
Sep 2, 2008 3:57 PM CDT
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LSU is my 2nd favorite CFB
team but I don’t like platooning QB’s…………….My oldest Brother went there(LSU) and said if it wasn’t for the speed of the Defense he’d be worried also. Neither one of us thinks LSU will be in the top 15 in November. Thats my 2 cents anyway.
"Nobody leaves this field until we beat the hell out of them".................... L.J."Louis"Jordan in 1913 before kickoff of the Texas/ou game.
by ouALWAYSsux on Sep 2, 2008 1:49 PM CDT 0 recs
AP and Coaches polls are out
USA today: #9 Texas
AP Poll: #10 Texas
Notable:
USC is now the consensus #1
Clemson plummets in both polls
5 BIGXII teams in the top 15 in both polls
by owenh on Sep 2, 2008 1:54 PM CDT 0 recs
With Alabama shooting up the charts
the SEC now also has 5 teams in the top 15 in the AP, top 17 in the Coaches. Add south carolina to that and they’ve got 6 teams in the top 25 in both polls. it’ll be a fierce debate over who’s got the stronger conference as the season rolls on.
by littlevisigoth on
Sep 2, 2008 2:18 PM CDT
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Poll scattershooting
Took the national voters long enough to reject Georgia. A month late, thank you. Blowing out Hawaii (while managing to miss the SEC title game) is not No. 1-worthy.
Why does everybody love Kansas so much? One of the popular questions last week on UT-oriented blogs was “Which is more likely for Texas this year, 12-0 or 6-6?” Answer was always 12-0. . . . So, which is more likely for Kansas, 11-1 or 7-5. Take the 5; if you think the scales from 2007 need evening out, take 6. See ya in Shreveport in December, Jayhawks.
Tell me, please, who has S. Florida beaten to get in the Top 20?
If I could vote just on power (meaning how good a team truly is, w/o regard for W-L record), I’d have four SECs in the Top 10 and around eight in the Top 25.
There’s BCS and pseudo-BCS. Guess which two (2) of these are pseudo-BCS? ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-10, SEC.
by edsp on Sep 2, 2008 2:39 PM CDT 0 recs
Geez, there's a push to get USC #1
and I think that’s just an advertising boost for SC v. tOSU and a tilt to the BCS standings.
Glad you put Florida first, that solves a lot of problems for me.
Alabama and ucla earned their stripes; now to see if they can hold them. If ucla’s D is for real and was not just pumped for the first game, that D is better than many of the teams ahead of them.
Texas is good at 8. We’re in no hurry. It’s a long race.
I thought if Baylor hit it’s two early long passes, they would have been able to WF against the wall but that wouldn’t have changed the outcome. WF have a quick D and decent offense. We’ll see how far that goes. I think Briles (or his OC) called a poor game; they could have done better on offense with Griffin running more but stayed conservative. That will change.
Loved Fresno State’s RB. Gritty run. Pretty solid team.
by whills on Sep 2, 2008 3:33 PM CDT 0 recs
Not to argue
But isn’t is rather drastic to drop Clemson from #7 to completely out of the ranking? I mean Alabama is certainly no Arkansas State, but still …
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 Sep 2, 2008 4:31 PM CDT 0 recs
I think it was because of how they lost
It’s not like Clemson was barely edged out by Alabama. Alabama was up 23-3 at halftime and coasted… and Clemson was at home. If they lost because of a last second field goal, I’m sure Clemson would still be in the rankings, both in PB’s vote and in national polls (I think they dropped out from #9 in the AP).
by TheElusiveShadow on
Sep 2, 2008 5:47 PM CDT
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not that it drastically changes your point
but the game was in Atlanta. i’m not going to look up which school is closer to Atlanta, but it certainly wasn’t a home game for either school.
by littlevisigoth on
Sep 3, 2008 9:46 AM CDT
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Just a rule
In week one, no one with a loss can be ranked. Not in my poll.
As the season goes on, I’ll get very serious about these. For now, it’s as much a conversation starter as anything.
--PB--
by PB @ BON on
Sep 2, 2008 6:16 PM CDT
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