Revised Draft of Preseason BlogPoll Ballot
by T Kyle King on Aug 19, 2010 12:15 AM EDT
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PrintMy thanks go out to the many readers who provided feedback on the rough draft of my preseason BlogPoll ballot. As a result of the arguments made in the comments, I tweaked my unique ballot slightly. My preseason top 25 now appears as follows:
Dawg Sports Ballot - Week 1
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boise St. Broncos | -- |
| 2 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -- |
| 3 | Ohio St. Buckeyes | -- |
| 4 | Florida Gators | -- |
| 5 | Iowa Hawkeyes | -- |
| 6 | Texas Longhorns | -- |
| 7 | TCU Horned Frogs | -- |
| 8 | Oregon Ducks | -- |
| 9 | Virginia Tech Hokies | -- |
| 10 | Pittsburgh Panthers | -- |
| 11 | Nebraska Cornhuskers | -- |
| 12 | North Carolina Tar Heels | -- |
| 13 | LSU Tigers | -- |
| 14 | Penn St. Nittany Lions | -- |
| 15 | Oklahoma Sooners | -- |
| 16 | Auburn Tigers | -- |
| 17 | Miami Hurricanes | -- |
| 18 | Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets | -- |
| 19 | Houston Cougars | -- |
| 20 | Washington Huskies | -- |
| 21 | South Carolina Gamecocks | -- |
| 22 | Clemson Tigers | -- |
| 23 | Arizona Wildcats | -- |
| 24 | Texas A&M Aggies | -- |
| 25 | Southern Miss. Golden Eagles | -- |
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "
Although it is inevitable that I will be wrong about many, many things in my rankings, this ballot is intended to reflect my belief of what my postseason ballot will look like; in theory, if I have done my job well, the resume-based final BlogPoll ballot I submit in January will be identical to this one (sans the nod to former SB Nation colleague Matt Hinton at No. 25, naturally). Of course, as Joey Tribbiani put it, a lot of theories didn’t pan out: communism, lone gunman, geometry. . . .
Among the many assumptions that have gone into this ballot are these: both Boise State and Ohio State will finish the regular season undefeated; neither Alabama nor Florida will be undefeated following the SEC Championship Game; both the Crimson Tide and the Gators will win BCS bowl games; and the Broncos will beat the Buckeyes in the National Championship Game. While it is highly doubtful that all four of those assumptions will turn out to be accurate, no one of those assumptions is the least bit unreasonable.
For those of you who may be interested, the distribution of votes given to the Georgia Bulldogs may be found here. If you thought there was a chance in the world of me dooming the ‘Dawgs by placing the Red and Black in my preseason top 25, you haven’t been paying attention. However, if both Arkansas and Georgia come into their September 18 showdown undefeated, I will rank the winner of that game the following week.
Go ‘Dawgs!
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Minor quibble:
I understand your reasons for not ranking Georgia (and for ranking Southern Miss). In one instance, you’re erring on the side of caution in hopes of preventing jinxing our team. The other, of course, is an arbitrary ranking for comedy purposes (although, Southern Miss isn’t the worst choice for number 25). The issue I take with this is that it compromises the integrity of the poll. Sure, it’s a preseason poll, but if you’re ranking the teams based on where you think they’ll finish, do you honestly not think Georgia will finish the season ranked?
In the event that you do, then consider my points redacted. I find it a bit hard to believe, however, that you honestly think the Dawgs will be unranked at the end of the season. In that case, to maintain any sort of journalistic integrity to your poll, I believe you should rank the Dawgs where you honestly think they’ll finish, rather than omitting them out of superstition.
I think the Bulldogs are going 8-4.
Whether they win their bowl game (and how other teams finish, of course) will determine whether they will be ranked.
Yes, it’s more likely than not that Georgia will win its bowl game, but I’m more certain of my ability to jinx the ’Dawgs with positive thoughts than I am of the Red and Black winning a postseason game in a location and against an opponent I do not yet know.
Go 'Dawgs!
Fair enough.
As a general rule, I’m optimistic, so we’ll see what happens.
by hailtogeorgia on Aug 19, 2010 9:41 AM EDT up reply actions
I would contend that the . . .
relative harm of compromising the integrity of a preseason poll is pretty low. In fact, I think the comic benefit of paying homage to Hinton in Spurrier-esque fashion outweighs any detriment.
His choice of Florida at #4 in tribute to fellow SBNation blogger Orson Swindle, however, is indefensible since we all know that the depleted Gators won’t finish in the top 5, unless they are the lone 2 loss team in that group.
In all seriousness, if I have one quibble it would be this: I would rank Texas higher. The Longhorns really only have two games on the schedule in which they won’t be a prohibitive favorite. One is at Oklahoma on October 2nd for the Red River Shootout. The other is two weeks later when they travel to Nebraska coming off a bye week. The loss of Colt McCoy is significant, but as Alabama showed us last season, a QB with relative inexperience can flourish if surrounded by talent at every position. And no one in the country has more depth and talent than Mack Brown.
I simply cannot imagine the defending BCS runners-up coming out of the regular season any worse than 11-1. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were undefeated.
I agree, the harm is minimal.
My objection was more with Georgia being unranked than it was with the placement of Southern Miss at 25.
MaconDawg, speaking of October 2nd, I have secured a bottle of Moats Barbecue Sauce with your name on it (proverbially speaking). Have we decided how the change of game time is going to impact our get-together?
by hailtogeorgia on Aug 19, 2010 10:06 AM EDT up reply actions
I'm still planning on being there, though depending on how things progress . . .
I may have to head back at halftime and catch the radio broadcast for the rest of it. Thank goodness for DVR.
I’ll be making up a fresh batch of sauce before coming up.
"a QB with relative inexperience can flourish if surrounded by talent at every position."
“a QB with relative inexperience can flourish if surrounded by talent at every position.”
“a QB with relative inexperience can flourish if surrounded by talent at every position.”
“a QB with relative inexperience can flourish if surrounded by talent at every position.”
“a QB with relative inexperience can flourish if surrounded by talent at every position.”
“a QB with relative inexperience can flourish if surrounded by talent at every position.”
“a QB with relative inexperience can flourish if surrounded by talent at every position.”
“a QB with relative inexperience can flourish if surrounded by talent at every position.”
I think I’ll be reciting this in my sleep for the next few weeks.
"so long as his squad's defense is also sound."
“so long as his squad’s defense is also sound.”
“so long as his squad’s defense is also sound.”
“so long as his squad’s defense is also sound.”
“so long as his squad’s defense is also sound.” . . .
Can't buy Boise
They play a 1 or 2 game schedule every season. Yes, they’ve done well in the marquee games they’ve played in, but it certainly helps when you can all but take the rest of the year off from week to week.
>>---l>
I swear I'm not a Boise State basher
I mean, I’m not bashing Boise State just to bash ‘em, but this whole “done well in marquee games” thing is something I don’t get. Since 2000, the Broncos are 1-8 when playing in a BCS AQ conference’s stadium. Throw in neutral sites, and the record’s 2-8. And the combined margin of victory for the two wins is six points.
I’m sure I’m biased by the the only time I’ve ever seen Boise State play in person, but those stats make me wonder whether the Broncos have a hard time in front of big, hostile crowds. In any event, I don’t think it’s the record that deserves a reputation for doing well in big games.
That having been said, I offer no opinion as to whether Boise State should be highly ranked in 2010. I’m just saying that I don’t think the theory of their having done well in past big games can be used to support anticipated success this year.
Out of curiosity
what has A&M shown you that Arkansas hasn’t? I’m a bit surprised you have the aggies ranked and left off teams such as Arkansas and Georgia, who the aggies lost to last season. Both teams fielded better defenses, and had better seasons. I would argue either of them or both should be ranked higher.
Familiarity has not bred contempt, but it has bred doubt.
Arkansas and Texas A&M both have explosive offenses, but the Aggies were a young team and, thus, have more room for improvement. Also, playing in the Big 12, Texas A&M needs only an incremental improvement on defense to be a contender in the South Division. Georgia and Arkansas need to get much better on D to make any noise in the SEC.
Go 'Dawgs!
I see
I can understand that point of view.
IMO, I think Petrino is going to have Arkansas turned around faster than anyone thought. They still need to work on the defense like you mentioned, but I like them to place second in the SEC west behind Bama with 2 or 3 losses.
Fair enough, but "second in the division" and "deserving of a ranking" are not synonyms.
Georgia and Tennessee tied for second place in the East last fall, you will recall, and neither was anywhere near being ranked.
However, I agree with Rece Davis that early-season rankings should be “a fluid situation.” You will see significant changes in my top 25 as preseason expectations give way to on-field realities. I’m not going to cling stubbornly to the foregoing set of rankings in the face of evidence to the contrary, and I will continue to remain open to insightful observations from the community. If Arkansas is undefeated after playing Georgia, the Hogs will be ranked.
Go 'Dawgs!
Well yea but I did say with 2-3 losses
which should be top 25 for SEC team. But I as well agree that pre season rankings are a little silly as no team has proved anything this year.
It will be interesting to see if Boise can take a high preseason ranking to the national title game. It’s possible that the BCS conference schools will all have at least 1 loss and Boise sneaks into the national title game. But there is no way. Their schedule is Virginia Tech and thats it. And they play them the first week of the season so they have alllll summer to game plan
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