BlogPoll Ballot, Week #7

October 17, 2007 by 6 Comments

Football

Rank Team Delta
1 Ohio State 2
2 Oklahoma 7
3 South Florida 2
4 Boston College —
5 Kentucky 10
6 LSU 5
7 South Carolina —
8 Oregon 3
9 Arizona State 1
10 Missouri 4
11 California 9
12 Virginia Tech —
13 Southern Cal 6
14 West Virginia 2
15 Kansas 2
16 Florida 4
17 Hawaii 3
18 Auburn 6
19 Tennessee 4
20 Virginia 2
21 Cincinnati 11
22 Georgia 4
23 Boise State 3
24 Kansas State 2
25 Indiana 1

Dropped Out: Illinois (#13), Wisconsin (#18), Connecticut (#21), Florida State (#25).

A few thoughts:

It pains me to see a dearth of Big Ten tems in the BlogPoll Top 25. Heck, I don’t even know if Indiana deserves the #25 spot, but someone else from the Big Ten needs to step up. Michigan is on the cusp in my book and will probably be up there next week if they take care of business. The sportsMonkey and I tried to justify that the Big Ten isn’t as weak as it’s perceived nationally, but we just couldn’t do it. Looking at everyone’s non-conference schedules was a dead-end. Looking at conference performance didn’t help, either. The truth of the matter is that we don’t really know how good (or bad) the Big Ten is and we won’t know until Bowl Season. The few good teams that Big Ten teams have played have almost all resulted in losses: Oregon over Michigan, Missouri over Illinois. Ohio State beat a decent Washington team, but Washington has come up short against its conference opponents, which cheapens Ohio State’s win.

That being said, Ohio State absolutely deserves to be in the discussion for the National Championship. It has the best defense in the country, bar none. The offense does more than just “not lose games.” Blogpollers shouldn’t punish OSU due to the perceived weakness of the Big Ten or for beating down weaker opponents. I read a blog comment earlier this week that I’ll repeat here: Some teams are good because they beat bad teams. Some teams are good despite beating bad teams. It’s not Ohio State’s fault that its opponents suck. They just surgically take care of business.

We only had three of our four “voters” get their ballots in on time, but I’m happy with how the top ten looks. I think Oklahoma is the best one-loss team in the country. South Florida is setting itself up for a fall, and the fall will be mighty. Prepare to see them out of the top ten soon. Ditto with Boston College. If the Big Ten is weak, the ACC and Big East ain’t far behind.

Comments? Suggestions? Feces to be flung in our direction? That’s what the comment box is for.

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BlogPoll Ballot, Week #6

October 10, 2007 by 2 Comments

Rank Team Delta
1 LSU —
2 California —
3 Ohio State —
4 Boston College 3
5 South Florida —
6 Missouri 9
7 South Carolina 19
8 Arizona State 6
9 Oklahoma —
10 Cincinnati 2
11 Oregon 1
12 Virginia Tech 6
13 Illinois 7
14 Hawaii 5
15 Kentucky 7
16 West Virginia 9
17 Kansas 9
18 Wisconsin 12
19 Southern Cal 15
20 Florida 9
21 Connecticut 5
22 Virginia 4
23 Tennessee 3
24 Auburn 2
25 Florida State 1

Dropped Out: Texas (#13), Purdue (#16), Georgia (#17), Miami (Florida) (#21), Michigan State (#23), Rutgers (#24).

A few thoughts:

Sylvester Yon Rambo is our man in Connecticut, which accounts for their rise into our polls. If you’ve got a question about Huskies Football, he’s your man.

Our rankings are all over the place. Some of us decided to drop USC and/or Florida from our ballots. Both are still decent teams, and I can promise they’ll be playing spoilers down the road.

We were hoping (for more than one reason) that Kentucky would be victorious over South Carolina, mostly because we left them off our ballot last week, which was a huge mistake. A mistake that has largely been corrected.

As always, these are opinions of teams that we have thoughtfully considered, then threw into a hat and picked out at random. Berate us, if you must, in the comments.

Sorry for the delay in the Purdue Performance Evaluations, they’ll be up sometime tomorrow.

Filed Under: Blogpoll

Blogpoll Ballot, Week #5

October 3, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Rank Team Delta
1 LSU —
2 California 6
3 Ohio State 2
4 Southern Cal 1
5 South Florida 15
6 Wisconsin 4
7 Boston College 5
8 Kentucky 5
9 Oklahoma 7
10 Oregon 1
11 Florida 7
12 Cincinnati 4
13 Texas 6
14 Arizona State 9
15 Missouri 3
16 Purdue 1
17 Georgia 4
18 Virginia Tech 4
19 Hawaii 4
20 Illinois 6
21 Miami (Florida) 5
22 Auburn 4
23 Michigan State 4
24 Rutgers 13
25 West Virginia 19

Dropped Out: Clemson (#14), Alabama (#24), Kansas (#25).

A few observations:

  • A couple of our voters were late getting their polls done, so this is just a reflection of theMonkey and my “internal” ballots.
  • We both wavered on #1 and #2. Should Cal be there? Their victory over Oregon was probably more impressive than LSU leading Tulane 10-9 at halftime, but LSU has firepower that cannot be denied. Luckily, the story continues to unfold this weekend.
  • I’m wondering why neither of us have South Carolina ranked. That is an oversight on my part, for sure. I think they’re going to ruin a lot of fan’s days on Saturday (see below). We’ll correct that oversight if it was, indeed, an oversight.
  • Our ranking of OSU over USC is solely on the fact of our common opponent (Washington) under similar conditions (in Washington) where we dominated the second half and won 33-14 whereas USC was taken down to the wire and won 27-24. Not sure if this lines up exactly with how were “supposed” to rank teams, but we’re homers and we needed an excuse. I’d still prefer to have OSU cruising under the radar at 8 or 9, but sometimes things don’t go according to plans.
  • Ranking USF and Kentucky so high makes me nervous. Both are heading for big disappointment. Kentucky’s could come as early as Saturday.

Any comments or suggestions? Let us know in the comments.

Filed Under: Blogpoll

2007 Blogpoll – Week #3

September 19, 2007 by 1 Comment

Football

Rank Team Delta
1 LSU —
2 Oklahoma —
3 Southern Cal —
4 Florida —
5 West Virginia —
6 Ohio State 2
7 Penn State 2
8 Texas 1
9 Wisconsin 3
10 California 2
11 Oregon 8
12 Rutgers 3
13 Alabama 8
14 South Carolina 2
15 Clemson 2
16 Boston College 4
17 Kentucky 9
18 Hawaii 4
19 Texas A&M 5
20 Missouri 6
21 Cincinnati 5
22 Louisville 12
23 Nebraska 10
24 South Florida 2
25 Purdue 1

Dropped Out: UCLA (#11), Arkansas (#14), Georgia Tech (#18), Washington (#23), Virginia Tech (#25).

Let the fact that Miami, Florida State, and Michigan don’t crack our Top 25 but Cincinnati, Kentucky and South Florida do sink in for a while. Mind boggling.

Let it be known that Sylvester-Yon Rambo is a huge Kentucky fan, and his ranking inflated their overall ranking. Beating Louisville was great, but you’ve got to beat someone with a defense before you convince me.

I am, however, convinced that Cincinnati is going to make some noise in the Big East.

Filed Under: Blogpoll, College Football

BlogPoll Roundtable 3.2: Storylines Emerge

September 18, 2007 by 2 Comments

FootballPeter at Burnt Orange Nation asks the questions. We’ve got the answers.

1. Handicap your team’s chances to win your conference championship. If your team is not the favorite, who is?

The obvious answer is that Ohio State probably has a one-in-three chance of being the Big Ten Champion. Most people would say it’s a three-team race: OSU, Penn State and Wisconsin. Personally, I think it’s a mistake to count Michigan out at this point. Sure, Michigan is running on fumes at the moment but you never know when they’ll fill up the tank and be the team we thought they’d be. They’ve got Penn State and OSU at home so you never know.

But right now, I think Ohio State has as good of a chance as anyone. All four teams play each other, so someone’s got to lose. Assuming we get out of Happy Valley with a victory, I like our chances. But I’ll still peg our chances at 33% for now.

2. Outline the (realistic) best case and worst case scenarios for your team.

Best Case: As an optimistic Buckeye Fan (which I unabashedly am), this one is easy — we roll into Happy Valley at 8-0, the defense plays lights out and shuts down Morelli and company, then the D stands tall again against Pajamas Hill and the Badgers in Columbus. Illinois might be a trap game, but I think we get past them as well. Best Case scenario dictates we go into the Little House 11-0 and looking straight into a Vortex of BCS Doom.

Worst Case: The next five games should be a fairly uneventful cake walk, but Purdue could prove onerous. The last four games could be ugly. At Penn State, at night, during a white-out could spell trouble. We could then be hung-over after a hard fought loss to Penn State to run into the Wisconsin Juggernaut. Then the Worst Case Scenario POSSIBLE is losing to Michigan at the end of the year. I shudder to think what that would do to Buckeye Nation. 8-4 would make the Sweatervest weep.

3. We’re only three games in to the season, but teams and storylines are starting to take shape. Compare your team to a character or theme from a fable or children’s tale.

I’m going with Jack and the Bean Stalk here. We’ve got Beanie Wells (magic beans, yo!), The Giant, a hulking, slow moving legacy of the three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust mentality instilled by Bo and Woody that the Buckeyes (and the Big Ten) are trying to desperately leave behind. The Buckeyes are Jack, nimble enough to go for the gold and leave the legacy of a bygone era in the dust.

4. Imagine you’re the coach of your team. Give three specific changes you’d implement immediately which you think would have the biggest impact on improving the team.

This is a tough one. It’s easy to sit in the easy chair and moan about the play calling, but there could be some more imagination there. We’re trying to run the ball up the gut too often. I think we should probe the A gap once and while, but not with Maurice Wells. I’d let Beanie pound between the tackles and leave it at that.

I’m not a fan of gimmick plays, but when you’ve got a speedster like Ray Small, you’ve got to figure out a way to get him and his lightning speed involved in the game. An end-around here, and double reverse there couldn’t hurt.

After watching the special teams play, I’d make the long snappers do nothing but practice their snaps all this week. There is no excuse for a long snap not being long.

5. USC, LSU/Florida, and Oklahoma have established themselves as the frontrunners in the early going. Which other team or teams are you eyeballing as potential BCS party crashers?

Not sure if anyone is crashing USC and Oklahoma’s party. LSU and Florida probably cancel each other out. I guess Cal or Oregon have a chance to pull the upset in the Pac 10 but I don’t see it happening. The Big East has some interesting story lines, but they don’t seem to care much for defense, which is their weakness. Hawai’i is the sexy choice, but anyone with speed on defense (read: the teams listed above) would have Colt Brennan for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

How would you MotSaGers answer these questions?

Filed Under: Blogging, Blogpoll

2007 Blogpoll – Week #2

September 12, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Rank Team Delta
1 LSU —
2 Oklahoma 3
3 Southern Cal 1
4 Florida 1
5 West Virginia 1
6 Wisconsin 1
7 Texas 2
8 Ohio State —
9 Penn State 5
10 Louisville 4
11 UCLA —
12 California 2
13 Nebraska 2
14 Arkansas 3
15 Rutgers 3
16 South Carolina 10
17 Clemson 7
18 Georgia Tech 5
19 Oregon 7
20 Boston College 2
21 Alabama 5
22 Hawaii 1
23 Washington 3
24 Texas A&M 1
25 Virginia Tech 13

Dropped Out: Georgia (#13), Auburn (#16), TCU (#19), Boise State (#20).

Filed Under: Blogpoll

2007 Blogpoll – Week #1

September 5, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Rank Team Delta
1 LSU 1
2 Southern Cal 1
3 Florida 2
4 West Virginia —
5 Oklahoma 3
6 Louisville 4
7 Wisconsin —
8 Ohio State 1
9 Texas 3
10 California 5
11 UCLA 1
12 Virginia Tech 1
13 Georgia 1
14 Penn State 1
15 Nebraska 5
16 Auburn 1
17 Arkansas 1
18 Rutgers 1
19 TCU 5
20 Boise State 2
21 Hawaii 2
22 Boston College 4
23 Georgia Tech 3
24 Clemson 2
25 Texas A&M —

Dropped Out: Michigan (#3), Tennessee (#16), Florida State (#21).

A few notes:

  • A flip-flop at the top due to LSU smoking their opponent while USC … didn’t.
  • Same for Oklahoma and Louisville’s rise and just the opposite for Texas and VT’s fall.
  • I’m still not sold on Penn State, so my vote is bringing them down. The Monkey is high on UCLA, so he’s bringing them up.
  • I couldn’t find Appalachian State on the ballot entry form. I smell conspiracy!
Filed Under: Blogpoll

Preseason Blogpoll

August 27, 2007 by Leave a Comment

Rank Team Delta
1 Southern Cal 25
2 LSU 24
3 Michigan 23
4 West Virginia 22
5 Florida 21
6 Texas 20
7 Wisconsin 19
8 Oklahoma 18
9 Ohio State 17
10 Louisville 16
11 Virginia Tech 15
12 UCLA 14
13 Penn State 13
14 Georgia 12
15 California 11
16 Tennessee 10
17 Auburn 9
18 Arkansas 8
19 Rutgers 7
20 Nebraska 6
21 Florida State 5
22 Boise State 4
23 Hawaii 3
24 TCU 2
25 Texas A&M 1

Dropped Out:

We missed the deadline for last week’s pre-pre-season BlogPoll ballot, but I had some time this evening to put our ballot together, so here it is.

Did you ever hear the story about the blind monkey dart board investment strategy? That’s pretty much the definition of our pre-season BlogPoll. Until we can see some helmets cracking, our educated guess is as good as yours. We aren’t responsible for any investments made on these prognostications. Give us a week or two.

Comments and suggestions are welcome.

Filed Under: Blogpoll

Blogpoll Ballot, Week #14

November 28, 2006 by Leave a Comment

Rank Team Delta
1 Ohio State —
2 Southern Cal 1
3 Michigan 1
4 Florida 1
5 Boise State 1
6 Wisconsin 1
7 LSU 5
8 Louisville 3
9 Oklahoma 5
10 Auburn 3
11 Arkansas 7
12 Brigham Young 3
13 Virginia Tech 5
14 Rutgers 3
15 Wake Forest 7
16 Notre Dame 8
17 California 4
18 West Virginia 9
19 Texas A&M 7
20 Nebraska 3
21 Texas 11
22 Hawaii 2
23 TCU 3
24 Georgia Tech 5
25 Boston College 9

Dropped Out: Tennessee (#20), Clemson (#25).

Here’s our Blogpoll ballot for this week. Our voters actually voted Michigan and USC to a tie for #2, but since a majority of the voters voted USC #2, I ranked them accordingly. West Virginia and Texas suffered the most from their losses. Hopefully we can put to bed the idea that the Big East was a good conference with teams that should be considered for the national title and accept the fact that it’s a decent conference with decent teams. Other than that, not a lot to say here.

Most of us watched the USC/ND and LSU/Arkansas games with a smattering of other games here and there. We’re all lamenting the fact that the college football season is coming to a close. It’s been such an awesome season (for Buckeye fans, natch) that we’re sad to see it end and anxious to get to Bowl Season.

Filed Under: Blogpoll

Blogpoll Ballot, Week #13

November 22, 2006 by Leave a Comment

Rank Team Delta
1 Ohio State —
2 Michigan —
3 Southern Cal 4
4 Arkansas 1
5 Florida 1
6 Boise State 2
7 Wisconsin 2
8 Notre Dame —
9 West Virginia 2
10 Texas 4
11 Louisville 1
12 LSU 1
13 Auburn 9
14 Oklahoma 3
15 Brigham Young 1
16 Boston College 5
17 Rutgers 12
18 Virginia Tech —
19 Georgia Tech 4
20 Tennessee 4
21 California 1
22 Wake Forest 12
23 Nebraska 2
24 Hawaii 1
25 Clemson 1

Dropped Out: Maryland (#19).

Here is our Ohio State + the rest of college football rankings. Ohio State is head, shoulders, knees, and toes above the rest of the field. I think most OSU fans are rooting for USC to leapfrog Michigan, but we couldn’t bring ourselves to rank them higher. Other than that, we don’t have much more to say. We’re spent from Saturday’s game to care about the rest of the teams. We’re just watching the calendar tick down the days.

Filed Under: Blogpoll, College Football
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