My 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!