Poll Dancing: Week One, or “BCS Bustin’ Makes Me Feel Good”

( This is a guest post by MotSaG reader Jason Nafziger. He’ll be taking a weekly look at the college football polls and pointing out the absurd, the laughable and the head scratchers. Please note that Jason is not talking about the BlogPoll. Or my ballot to the BlogPoll.)

Welcome to the first edition of Poll Dancing, a weekly look at the single most important factor in college football: someone else’s opinion of you. As much as we might hate the obscene amount of emphasis the BCS format puts on the polls (and we do hate it ever so much), we’re stuck with it, so we might as well poke it with a stick.

Here, we’ll be focusing on the two polls that actually impact the BCS ratings, the USA Today Coaches’ Poll and the Harris Interactive Poll. Since the Harris folks can’t be bothered to turn in a list of 25 teams they’ve heard of until mid-to-late September, we’ll have to make do with the one group of people in the country who are able to watch the least amount of games during football season: the coaches. (Did we mention this system sucks?)

1. Alabama
2. Ohio State

Not surprisingly, the top two teams from the pre-season poll remain unchanged, as both handily dispatched their overmatched opponents. Next week could be interesting, though: both will face a top 15 team.

3. Boise State
4. Texas
5. TCU

Now we get a little shuffling, as Boise State and TCU jumped two spots each by downing BCS conference foes, and are poised to run the table and face each other in another anticlimactic Fiesta Bowl.

6. Florida

Despite topping Miami (OH) by 22, the Gators bounced 3 spots down the poll like an errant shotgun snap. Florida’s embarrassing inability to grasp one basic fundamental concept of the game was bailed out only by the Redhawks’ embarrassing inability to grasp every basic fundamental concept of the game.

7. Nebraska
8. Oregon
9. Iowa
10.Oklahoma

The mid-majors had a hand in this group’s reordering as well. Even though Utah State couldn’t close the deal, Oklahoma paid the price of being taken to the wire by a team that’s won 13 games in the past five years. Oregon got a little extra boost from their 72-0 euthanasia of New Mexico. You know you’ve gone too far when they make you enter your initials at the end of the game.

Next Week: Lots of big games, plus Florida tries to master Connect Four.

Comments

  1. I have neither the time nor the vast quantity of sarcastic remarks required to dissect your BlogPoll ballot…

  2. Hey, all remarks are welcome, sarcastic or not!

    I would like to withhold a ranking for a few weeks, like the Harris, but the BlogPoll waits for no one. And I don’t want to lose my vote.

    The thought of another TCU/BSU Fiesta Bowl makes me profoundly sad.

  3. Took me a minute to get the “enter your initials” line. Very clever. In fact, I might read this again next week as a result so please don’t suck.

  4. Kaiser – I get what you’re doing with the BlogPoll and I respect it. I’m not we sure we know how good the depleted UNC team really was, but that’s conjecture either way. I hope the method works out for you, but it’s a slippery slope once injuries and progress kick in.

    kc – Thanks for reading. If I can make just one person laugh at (or at least appreciate) just one of my jokes each week, then I’ve earned my nothing.

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