Week Ten BlogPoll Ballot Submitted
by T Kyle King on Nov 3, 2008 7:30 AM EST
in Football
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PrintHere on the eve of a presidential election, I, like Richard Nixon, would like to make one thing perfectly clear. Actually, I would like to make three things perfectly clear; viz.:
- I remain, in principle, a resume ranker.
- I exist, at present, in a haze of uncertainty, in the midst of which I am unsure of many things, aside from the obvious fact that Georgia is about to begin an extended period of dominance over Florida.
- Due to the reality of the second item listed above, I probably have not been true to the first item listed above in compiling the following BlogPoll ballot:
 | ||
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama |  1 |
| 2 | Texas Tech | 8 |
| 3 | Penn State | -- |
| 4 | Florida | 1 |
| 5 | Texas |  4 |
| 6 | Southern Cal | 2 |
| 7 | Oklahoma | -- |
| 8 | Oklahoma State | -- |
| 9 | Utah | -- |
| 10 | Boise State | 1 |
| 11 | TCU | 6 |
| 12 | Missouri | 14 |
| 13 | Ohio State | -- |
| 14 | Georgia | 8 |
| 15 | North Carolina | 3 |
| 16 | California | 3 |
| 17 | LSU | 3 |
| 18 | Ball State | 3 |
| 19 | Michigan State | 7 |
| 20 | Pittsburgh | 6 |
| 21 | Maryland | 6 |
| 22 | Cincinnati | 4 |
| 23 | Georgia Tech | 3 |
| 24 | West Virginia | 2 |
| 25 | Oregon State | 1 |
As always, I invite commentary, questions, and constructive criticisms of my top 25, which seems to me intuitively correct. By that, however, I mean only intuitively, so I am not sure which of those rankings (a) require further explanation or (b) are capable of further explanation in any satisfactory way.
I’m flying by the seat of my pants on this one. If any of that looks strange to you, let me know what, and why, and how you think it ought to be rectified, and I will do my best to justify it, or, failing that, change it.
Compared to last year, this year hasn’t been all that wacky, but it’s been topsy-turvy enough that I’m soliciting your feedback now more than ever before. I am open to arguments in favor of unranked teams and I am able to report that Northwestern and South Carolina both received serious consideration for inclusion.
For what it’s worth, I watched the Houston-Marshall game on Tuesday and the Cincinnati-South Florida game on Thursday. On Saturday, I watched parts of the Minnesota-Northwestern and Auburn-Mississippi games, the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, most of the South Carolina-Tennessee game, and a good bit of the Texas-Texas Tech game. On Sunday evening, I watched most of the Central Florida-East Carolina game, not because it affected my ballot (which it did not), but because I figured it was worth scoping out Orlando, since that almost certainly will be Georgia’s postseason destination.
Go ‘Dawgs!
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Just a few of my personal comments/opinions, stream of consciousness style…
-I completely agree on your top 8. It’s very refreshing to see a ballot from someone who can remember the outcome of games like OU-Texas for more than 30 minutes (cough coaches’ poll cough)
-Was Missouri a mistaken omission last week in last week’s poll? I can’t imagine that a 3-point win over Baylor would do much to improve your opinion of anyone’s resume.
-On a mildly related note, I think Missouri is the only team whose placement I really take issue with out of the 2-loss teams from 12-17. Mizzou’s best two wins over Nebraska and Illinois (both 5-4) just do less for me than UGA’s wins over LSU, South Carolina, and Vandy; OSU’s wins over Michigan St. and Minnesota; and UNC’s wins over Miami, BC, and UConn. Everyone involved has two losses that were mostly either blowouts by top-tier teams or close losses to respectable second-tier teams, so in my mind the wins have to separate that bunch.
-I know you do the poll from scratch each week, but I’m scratching my head over this one: last week, Maryland was six spots ahead of Ball State; this week, Ball State is three positions ahead. Neither team played a game this weekend, and neither team had a big win/loss significantly upgraded or downgraded in value. Of course, anything from around 17 or 18 on down is a crapshoot, so I’m not exactly up in arms here.
-The only team I take issue with being included in the ranking is Cincinnati. The USF win is decent (although getting rapidly devalued by USF slipping into Cuse-land in the Big East standings), but the only other FBS wins are Rutgers (by 3), Akron (by 2), Marshall, and the landlocked Miami. Add in the blowout losses to Oklahoma (understandable) and Connecticut (…not so much), and I just can’t place that resume in front of decent ones like GT, much less other unranked profiles like those of Northwestern, South Carolina, Miami, or Florida State.
-I really like the Oregon State inclusion. They have one of the weirdest resumes in the nation, but I think #25 is a fair spot for them for now, even though they’re definitely a forgotten team as far as the media is concerned.
Texas behind Florida?
Here are my thoughts:
-Best Wins: Oklahoma/Okie State/Missouri trump UGA/LSU/South Carolina
-Loss: Texas’ on the road, at the last second, against a top-10 team at the end of a tough four-game stretch versus Florida’s at home to a 5-4 team that hasn’t even sniffed a ranking.
Are we being prisoners of the moment here? Or is this just a little anti-UF bias showing through? : ).
What a season. Three mid-majors in a row hovering around the top-ten, and they don’t look out of place at all.
Georgia’s about right. I agree with Mizzou as the top two-loss team, and even I would begrudgingly rank Ohio State above us right now. But after that, it’s a complete crapshoot.
Texas behind Florida? (Don't know how to delete posts, this is my actual one)
Here are my thoughts:
-Best Wins: Oklahoma/Okie State/Missouri trump UGA/LSU/South Carolina
-Loss: Texas’ on the road, at the last second, against a top-10 team at the end of a tough four-game stretch versus Florida’s at home to a 5-4 team that hasn’t even sniffed a ranking.
Is this a prisoner of the moment thing with Florida? Or is this just a little anti-UF bias showing through on my part? : )
What a season. Three mid-majors in a row hovering around the top-ten, and they don’t look out of place at all.
Georgia’s about right. I agree with Mizzou as the top two-loss team, and even I would begrudgingly rank Ohio State above us right now. But after that, it’s a complete crapshoot.
Wow...
I’m flattered that you thought about including us. If we win convincingly over the Hogs this weekend, I might take you up on your offer to allow a little argumentation in our favor. I don’t think we’ve proved enough yet, though.
Go Cocks!
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