(This is a guest series 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.)
1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
Again, the two big dogs in the catbird seat(s) make the pollsters’ job as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. Now that all the animal-based cliches are out of the way, it’s time to make like a monkey and pick some nits.
3. Boise State
4. Texas
These two spots also remain the same from a week ago, which makes me wonder if the pollsters aren’t watching or are just afraid to make any waves. Boise State blasted Wyoming and did so in a more impressive fashion than Texas did a week ago, so I have no problem with putting the Broncos above the Longhorns. Still, Boise’s two victories are against teams that only have one win apiece, and those are against East Carolina and Southern Utah. At some point, who you’ve beaten has to come into play. Right now, I can’t see the justification for Boise at #3.
5. TCU
6. Oregon
More lack of movement, as both teams won convincingly. I’m kind of surprised that the voters didn’t jump the Ducks another spot or two after a third straight scoreboard-scrambling performance that pushed their season scoring rate to 1.05 points per minute.
7. Nebraska
8. Florida
These two swapped places, and we have arrived at my first real gripe so far. How is Nebraska not ranked higher than #7? Not only did the Husker D erase everything we thought we knew about Jake Locker, but Nebraska’s newbie at QB Taylor Martinez came out of the game looking like, well, what we thought Jake Locker was. Instead of playing like the stereotypically slow and plodding Big Ten team they’re about to be, Nebraska is sitting at #5 in the nation in scoring offense. If the pollsters are looking for a respectable team to put at #3, I think I found them.
Meanwhile, Florida continues to play the exact game every week regardless of opponent. I don’t even know who (or if) they play this Saturday, but put me down for Gators – 31, Other Team – 16.
9. Oklahoma
10. Wisconsin
11. Arkansas
We’ll just call this group the Teams Who Managed To Outlast Opponents They Should Be Far Better Than. Maybe Georgia is better than I think, but I’m pretty sure we all expected them to be the old tire on a rope during Mallett’s passing drills.
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