College Football BlogPoll (Week Six): It's the SEC West's World; We're Just Living In It
by T Kyle King on Oct 11, 2011 8:45 AM EDT
in College Football BlogPoll
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PrintIf you’ve never tried compiling a top 25, I strongly encourage you to give it a whirl; it’s harder than it looks, even if you are able to articulate a semi-coherent voting philosophy (which I hope is true in my case; I am a resume ranker). On Monday, I cast this week’s BlogPoll ballot, and here is how I ranked the best teams in college football:
Dawg Sports Ballot - Week 7
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -- |
| 2 | LSU Tigers |  1 |
| 3 | Oklahoma Sooners | 1 |
| 4 | Clemson Tigers |  -2 |
| 5 | Wisconsin Badgers | -- |
| 6 | Illinois Fighting Illini | 1 |
| 7 | Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets | -1 |
| 8 | Boise St. Broncos | -- |
| 9 | Nebraska Cornhuskers | 5 |
| 10 | Kansas St. Wildcats | 6 |
| 11 | Arkansas Razorbacks | 9 |
| 12 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys | -3 |
| 13 | Michigan Wolverines | -2 |
| 14 | Texas Longhorns | -2 |
| 15 | Baylor Bears | 2 |
| 16 | Penn St. Nittany Lions | -- |
| 17 | Stanford Cardinal | 2 |
| 18 | South Carolina Gamecocks | -5 |
| 19 | Arizona St. Sun Devils | -4 |
| 20 | North Carolina Tar Heels | -- |
| 21 | USC Trojans | -- |
| 22 | Houston Cougars | 1 |
| 23 | SMU Mustangs | -5 |
| 24 | Oregon Ducks | 1 |
| 25 | Virginia Tech Hokies | -1 |
| Dropouts: Auburn Tigers, Florida Gators, Washington Huskies | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "
The toughest call in the top 25 was between Nos. 1 and 2; which 6-0 SEC West team now or formerly coached by Nick Saban deserved the top spot more? I went with ‘Bama, for the following reasons:
- LSU has played a Division I-AA opponent; Alabama hasn’t.
- Both teams obliterated the Gators, but the Bayou Bengals did it in Death Valley and the Crimson Tide did it in the Swamp.
- The Tide’s best win (over No. 11 Arkansas) trumps the Tigers’ best win (over No. 24 Oregon).
- Alabama’s second-best win (over No. 16 Penn State) trumps Louisiana State’s second-best win (over unranked West Virginia, which was among the "others receiving consideration").
The Sooners narrowly edged the Country Gentlemen for the No. 3 spot, largely because Oklahoma’s resume was enhanced by Saturday’s neutral-site thumping of once-beaten Texas, while Clemson’s resume was watered down by Saturday’s win over one-win Boston College. Also, the Tigers’ five-point win over fading Florida State looks a little bit worse with each passing week, and that eight-point win over Division I-AA Wofford has never looked good.
After the top four, they’re all dogs with lots of fleas. The Badgers continue to get traction from their win over Nebraska, but wins over .500 Northern Illinois, Division I-AA South Dakota, and a pair of 1-4 outfits (UNLV and Oregon State) make it very difficult to consider Wisconsin anything more than Boise State with a significantly smarmier head coach. A three-point win over No. 19 Arizona State allowed the Fighting Illini to earn the nod over the Yellow Jackets, whose best win was a seven-point victory over No. 20 North Carolina.
I believe the Broncos are better than No. 8, but their five wins, while convincing, all came against teams with records between 2-4 and 4-2. The paucity of acceptable candidates is attested to by the fact that the Cornhuskers were able to ride a win over Washington and a seven-point escape against .500 Ohio State to a No. 9 ranking, despite being punked by the No. 5 team.
A one-point win over Baylor, a four-point win over Texas A&M and a throttling of Auburn, a one-point win over Texas A&M, a four-point win over Notre Dame, a one-point win over BYU, and a two-point win over TCU landed Kansas State, Arkansas, Oklahoma State, Michigan, Texas, and Baylor, respectively, in the next six spots. After that, frankly, it was just an effort to come up with ten more teams, which is how the Nittany Lions ended up at No. 16 with a resume that consists of a home win over Iowa, road wins over Temple and Indiana by a combined ten points, and a loss to Alabama in Happy Valley.
Two of the Cardinal’s five wins were over 1-5 clubs, and Stanford’s best victory was a road win over Duke. Three of the Gamecocks’ wins were over teams with losing records, and that three-point home loss to the Plainsmen still stings. The Sun Devils get points for beating the Trojans, though I’m not entirely sure why, because half of Southern California’s wins were over 1-5 teams, one of which the Men of Troy beat by two points. In between the two Pac-12 squads are the Tar Heels, who have a quality loss to Georgia Tech, but otherwise are able to boast nothing more than a two-point win over Rutgers.
The Cougars’ season has been a lesson in how to get to 6-0 while accomplishing as little as humanly possible. Houston reached bowl eligibility by defeating .500 UCLA (by four), 2-4 North Texas, 2-4 Louisiana Tech (by one), Division I-AA Georgia State, 2-3 UTEP (by seven), and 1-4 East Carolina. An overtime win over Texas Christian got Southern Methodist into the top 25, and the Ducks and the Hokies sneaked in mainly by losing badly to 6-0 Tiger teams. Hey, it’s better than what Auburn, Michigan State, Southern Mississippi, Wake Forest, Washington, and West Virginia had to offer.
I watched as much of the Cal-Oregon and Boise State-Fresno State games on Thursday and Friday nights as my sleep-deprived state would permit, and I saw parts of the Oklahoma-Texas, Florida State-Wake Forest, and Florida-LSU games before watching the Georgia-Tennessee game in its entirety.
As always, your questions, constructive criticisms, and insights are welcome in the comments below.
Go ‘Dawgs!
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At what point...
Do you even consider placing UGA, with two losses to top-18 teams, into the poll? Heck, if UNC, VT, USC, SMU, etc. are in the poll, we have to be considered.
Would beating Vandy on the road suffice, or would we have to beat the Gators first?
I get that we don’t like hyping up the Dawgs around here, and it’s hard to get into the poll with a loss to #18 South Carolina, but we’re getting pretty darn close to Top-25 material.
"Don't go ninja'n nobody that don't need ninja'n!" ~ Kung Fu Hillbilly.
Having taken a quick look
at win/loss records for the lower half of the ballot – i have to wonder when is UGA (with losses to Boise & SC) better than say Va Tech who hasn’t beaten anyone of note at all, (unless you count Miami and I kinda don’t) and lost to was beaten like a red-headed stepchild by Clemson?
I can bake like a demon.
You both make good points, and I will answer your respective questions succinctly:
I think it’s too early in the season to be ranking a team with two losses. In Georgia’s case specifically, I’d be surprised if anything happened this weekend that would allow the Bulldogs to creep into the top 25 with a win over Vanderbilt. I can see perhaps admitting a 5-2 Georgia team into the rankings after the open date, depending upon which other teams won or lost, but, realistically, I don’t see myself jinxing the ‘Dawgs with a top 25 ranking heading into Jacksonville. If Georgia is 6-2 on October 30, the Bulldogs likely will be ranked, but it’s highly improbable a top 25 ranking will happen, until and unless a win over Florida occurs.
Go 'Dawgs!
I submit
that UGA’s loss to S. Carolina was not nearly as ugly as Va Tech’s thrashing courtesy of Clemson.
That said, I suspected that in general, most polls will not rank UGA unless/until they win out in the WLOCP. Sadly for us, we have now been informed that Florida is actually a better team than Bama or LSU
I can bake like a demon.
BTW Podunk, I meant that post in reference to his tweet.
I wasn’t implying there was anything wrong with your post. :-)
lol - you are all about some rankings today Podunkdawg!
"I felt we was better than them." – Chris Rainey
PS – I gave you a shout out on the podcast.
"The ball ain't heavy." - Herschel Walker
Fair enough.
I only brought it up for I’ve seen UGA on some other people’s Top-25 poll.
To be clear, I wasn’t advocating for our inclusion, since I refuse to even consider UGA as a Top-25 team until they beat the Gators. As you say, if we do, which we should*, then we’ll be 7-2 heading into our game against Aubie and should be ranked leading into that game. (I’m giving us a win over NMSU.)
I’m getting way ahead of myself, for our Dawgs need to beat Vandy first. I hope to goodness our boys aren’t looking ahead.
*should =/= will; we all know the Dawgs have a Gator issue, and I refuse to believe we’ll win the game until all zeros are displayed on the scoreboard marking the end of the game and UGA actually has the higher point total.
"Don't go ninja'n nobody that don't need ninja'n!" ~ Kung Fu Hillbilly.
You'll believe we'll win if we have more points after time has expired?
Derek Dooley finds your naivete laughable!
Go 'Dawgs!
I think that if we beat Florida
we stand a good chance of being ranked fairly highly at the end of the season. Mainly, that’s because I feel like if we beat Florida, we’ll win the rest of them. NMSU is terrible and should easily be handled. Takes us to Auburn at 7-2. They have major issues on defense (especially stopping the run) and if our defense is still rolling (with everyone healthy and reinstated and back into the swing of things) we should get our revenge on Auburn. The team won’t be lacking for motivation after last year. Kentucky is beyond terrible, so we could be rolling into Tech 9-2. Tech’s offense has given some really horrible teams a lot of trouble but has looked FAR worse against mediocre teams. Our defense is much better than those teams’ and could really shut Tech down. Their defense is also really, really bad.
That said… gotta wait and see how the next two games go. Win those, and I’m seriously thinking 10-2. Beat Florida and everything looks great.
Totally agree.
I made sure to include that “get through the next two games” part. Gotta get past Vandy, but man… 5-2 looks pretty nice, but 6-2 will have me dreaming big. 5-2 means I’m still nervous but hopeful.
Exactly.
If ever there was a team that had to take ’em one game at a time, that team is us.
Go 'Dawgs!
Iz confused
Confused about this tid bit :
Hey, it’s better than what Auburn, Michigan State, Southern Mississippi, Wake Forest, Washington, and West Virginia had to offer.
A few weeks ago, #15 South Carolina beat Navy by 3. Southern Miss beat Navy by 28 points, scoring 63 overall despite pulling most of their starters mid-way through the 3rd quarter.
South Carolina also beat Georgia by three.
Southern Miss, meanwhile, lost to Marshall by six. The Thundering Herd is 2-4.
The transitive property is of dubious relevance in college football, and a team’s season is judged by more than just one game.
Go 'Dawgs!
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