No time to submit a draft for community input for this, our first submission, which is probably a good thing as it has been less than 48 hours since we one of us defended Greg Davis. We're only four weeks into the season, and when trying to rank the teams we basically saw them in three different lights: teams that have proven something, teams that we have a good feeling for (either positively or negatively) but haven't accomplished anything yet, and teams that we're still clueless about.
Burnt Orange Nation Ballot - Week 5
Rank | Team | Delta |
---|---|---|
1 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -- |
2 | Ohio St. Buckeyes | -- |
3 | Boise St. Broncos | -- |
4 | Oregon Ducks | -- |
5 | Florida Gators | -- |
6 | Nebraska Cornhuskers | -- |
7 | LSU Tigers | -- |
8 | Stanford Cardinal | -- |
9 | TCU Horned Frogs | -- |
10 | Auburn Tigers | -- |
11 | Wisconsin Badgers | -- |
12 | Oklahoma Sooners | -- |
13 | Arkansas Razorbacks | -- |
14 | Arizona Wildcats | -- |
15 | Utah Utes | -- |
16 | South Carolina Gamecocks | -- |
17 | Michigan Wolverines | -- |
18 | Iowa Hawkeyes | -- |
19 | Miami Hurricanes | -- |
20 | Michigan St. Spartans | -- |
21 | Texas Longhorns | -- |
22 | Penn St. Nittany Lions | -- |
23 | Missouri Tigers | -- |
24 | Nevada Wolf Pack | -- |
25 | N.C. State Wolfpack | -- |
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings
Attempts to rationalize ranking Texas at all and other opinions you'll despise after the jump.
- Bama is the defending champs and definitely deserve the top billing, for now. But replace the "Ohio State" on the Buckeyes' jerseys with "Florida" and we're guessing the nation's voters wouldn't be quite so unanimous that Bama is number one.
- We were on the fence with Boise and Oregon. Basically, Boise has proven just about all it's going to prove this season, at least until a matchup with Nevada in November and, for the time being, we're buying it. But Oregon has looked like world beaters against the Little Sisters of the Poor. If Oregon beats Stanford (a team we think is really good) this week then these two will switch.
- Convincing wins over Kentucky and Tennessee > a fantabulous win over Washington and a closer than expected win over South Dakota State (how 'bout them Dakota schools?!). That and we think the Gators just look better than the Huskers, relying on the ol' eyeball test. Hence, Florida over Nebraska by a hair.
- LSU has beaten four competent teams and this may very well be their ceiling, but we think they've earned #7. We know as much about LSU as probably any team in the country: they have an amazing defense, an equally bad offense, and a crazy head coach. In fact, the Tigers honestly have a better chance to score when DB Patrick Peterson has the football than when the offense has it.
- Stanford beat UCLA 35-0 on the road 3 weeks ago. We didn't put much stock in that until...you know. This week may be make or break for the Cardinal.
- That's right. TCU is at #9. We saw their game against the Fightin' June Joneses and to be honest, we're not believers. Don't go nuts, Frog fans--we're not saying Texas is better than you right now. We'd probably pick you against the Horns if the game was played tomorrow. We're just saying you're not as good as you think you are.
- We rounded out the Top Ten with Auburn because we like that they stepped out of conference to play Clemson (even though Clemson doesn't look great) and we were really buying the Head Ball Coach going into the Plains, where Auburn sent the Gamecocks packing. The Tigers look good under Gene Chizik, which may just be further proof that literally no one could turn Iowa State into a winner. Seriously. Get Mack Brown as head coach with Nick Saban as defensive coordinator, Mike Leach as offensive coordinator, and Urban Meyer as recruiting coordinator and you still couldn't make the Cyclones into contenders.
- It's OU hate week and they haven't looked good in all but one week, where they happened to look really good. But Florida State is perennially overrated and playing well against them does not a resume make.
- Texas at 21 for now in order to establish our homer credentials while still punishing the Horns by keeping them out of the top 20. Should they drop the next two we'll have to seriously consider dropping them from our top 25.