Tuesday, September 05, 2006

BlogPoll Ballot Final Edition

No major changes here from the draft ballot. I moved Miami and FSU around following their game last night and I realized that I was being to hard on Nebraska. After the Michael Bush injury I also reassessed Louisville's position. Oh, and I'm still ornery about Cal.

In my first BlogPoll Roundtable last week I called out Frank McGrath for his stance on Cal (who he left unranked), which he explained like so:
Bah- Cal. I could have swung and missed on this one- but again, I don't think a second tier Pac-10 team (they are not an elite team like USC) is better than a solid SEC outfit- particularly in their own building. See LSU going on the road on short notice to beat ASU despite Katrina.

So I don't think Cal will even get past the Vols. Add a USC loss- another choke job along the Pac-10 schedule that they always seem to furnish- and that is three losses- two against teams that figure to be at the bottom of the Top 25 or "other receiving votes" (the Vols and some Pac 10 also-ran).

so yeah, I tend to think Cal is an ongoing function of a sub-par west in 2005


My apologies Frank. I'll be paying much closer attention to your ballot when it comes out this week. On to the rankings:

Power 16
1. Auburn
2. Ohio State
3. Texas
4. Southern Cal
5. Louisiana State
6. Florida State
7. Florida
8. Michigan
9. Miami
10. West Virginia
11. Georgia
12. Notre Dame
13. Clemson
14. Tennessee
15. Iowa
16. Nebraska

Next 9
17. Georgia Tech
18. Oregon
19. Virginia Tech
20. Louisville
21. California
22. TCU
23. South Carolina
24. Texas Tech
25. Tulsa

My Thoughts
1. Auburn - This is the team that has more or less taken over my "team with the fewest question marks" honorary top spot. Let's see if they have more staying power than Cal.

2. Ohio State - The defense didn't give up a lot of points, but they didn't exactly shut down the NIU running game either. This defense is either bend-but-don't-break or lucky. I think that question will be answered in Austin.

3. Texas - Colt McCoy didn't look bad but he is a freshman and games don't get any bigger than the one against the Buckeyes. Thank God for solid inter-sectional scheduling by the ADs at tu and tosu.

4. Southern Cal - Solid win over Arkansas and another team I was wrong about. Good thing I don't primarily follow the Pac-10, I would be confused all the time.

5. Louisiana State - Solid win over a not-so-good opponent. I get to see U-La-La in person next week. Hopefully that will provide some secondary insight into LSU.

6. Florida State - Defense looks great, but they need to find a consistent running game.

7. Florida - Another team that took care of business. I think that the Gators are going to be pretty good this season.

8. Michigan - The win over Vanderbilt was more impressive than the score indicated. The defense was one trick play away from a shutout. I would like to see the offense open it up a little more, but they were playing Vanderbilt and seemed to have the game under control.

9. Miami - Another great defense. If the offense comes together and is decent this team will be scary.

10. West Virginia - Absolutely crushed Marshall. I'm still not sure how good they are so this seems about right.

11. Georgia - I don't want to read too much into a win over Western Kentucky, but I think I was down on the Bulldogs too much last week.

12. Notre Dame - Wasn't the offense supposed to be the better unit?

13. Clemson - Here looks good.

14. Tennessee - Wow, just wow. I'm to stunned to even be mad at the Vols.

15. Iowa - Won Big. Tate's Good.

16. Nebraska - On paper the win doesn't look bad. I watched the first half of this game and I'm basing my ranking on that. It probably isn't fair because Nebraska dominated the second half, but this was La Tech.

17. Georgia Tech - I like Tech a lot, but technically they did lose to Notre Dame at home so I can't very well put them ahead of the Irish can I?

18. Oregon - Oregon would be higher but I'm still a bit peeved with the Pac-10 in general.

19. Virginia Tech - I didn't even realize Northeastern has a football team. Perhaps a matchup with Northwestern is in order?

20. Louisville - I'm of the opinion that Michael Bush was a huge loss.

21. California - Arrgh. Arrgh. Arrgh....................Arrgh.

22. TCU - Won on the road against a Big 12 team. Too bad it was Baylor...

23. South Carolina - I think that Mississippi State is underrated and that this was a better win than it looks like.

24. Texas Tech - At this point does TT even need to put the QB's name on the back of the jersey? I'll see this team in person Week 5 and I'm looking forward to it.

25. Tulsa - I wanted to fit Tulsa in my preseason poll, consider this a makeup after a big over Stephen F. Austin.

Games I watched all of:
Michigan - Vanderbilt
Texas A&M - Citadel

Games I saw parts of:
TCU - Baylor
Boston College - CMU
South Carolina - Mississippi State
North Texas - Texas
La Tech - Nebraska
NIU - tOSU
Cal - Tennessee
Notre Dame - Georgia Tech
USC - Arkansas

2 Comments:

At 10:35 AM, Blogger Badger Tracker said...

If you haven't submitted your poll yet, could I persuade you to slide Wisconsin in at #21? They answered their biggest question ("Is there a running back on the team?") and their special teams play was lights-out.

 
At 5:29 PM, Blogger Tom said...

I'm not really ready yet to bump Cal completely out of the poll. They aren't as good as I thought they were, but I still think that they belong in that 20-25 range.

I'm not sold on the Badgers just yet, mostly their passing attack worries me. I'll take another look at it tonight and decide if I like them more than South Carolina or Tulsa. Wisconsin, Penn State and Pittsburgh are probably the next three teams in no particular order right now.

 

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