BlogPoll Ballot Rough Draft

Another week of college football is in the books. I desperately wanted to rank Texas A&M this week but in the end I just couldn't do it. They dominated ULaLa all game long, but big wins against the Citadel and ULaLa don't necessarily make a top 25 team. Next week they play Army in San Antonio which should be a good test, going on the road for the first time. I'll have some more on the Aggies second game tonight or tomorrow, but for the time being here's my first draft of this week's ballot. As always the raw picks are first, followed by some thoughts.

Power16
1. Auburn
2. Ohio State
3. Louisiana State
4. USC
5. Florida
6. Notre Dame
7. Michigan
8. Texas
9. West Virginia
10. Georgia
11. Florida State
12. Miami
13. Nebraska
14. Virginia Tech
15. Louisville
16. Tennessee

Next9
17. Oregon
18. Iowa
19. Cal
20. Georgia Tech
21. TCU
22. Boise State
23. Wisconsin
24. Pittsburgh
25. Boston College

Some Thoughts
1. Auburn - I'm standing by my conviction that MSU has a very good, very underrated defense. That makes last week a good win for Auburn, on the road, in conference.

2. Ohio State - The defense seems to be coming together. If this ballot were free form I would have them at about position 1.1 or 1.2. I think that there's a pretty good chance they will be unbeaten when Michigan comes to town.

3. Louisiana State - Dominated Arizona. Great intersectional win.

4. USC - Bye week

5. Florida - A better team than I thought. The SEC seems to be loaded again this season. Chris Leak seems really good, although I haven't had a chance to catch a Gators game yet.

6. Notre Dame - I feel better about not ranking Penn State. Michigan will be a stiff test and another one of those games that helps sort things out.

7. Michigan - I thought that the win against CMU was a very good one. The running game was great, the passing game was crisp in the first half and the defense stayed aggressive. Can they win their first road game though?

8. Texas - I feel bad about dropping tu this far, but I expected much more out of the defense against Tosu. The Big XII is not looking good this year.

9. West Virginia - Rolled over another team. Perhaps this team is actually good and not just playing a week schedule?

10. Georgia - Georgia strikes me as something of a sleeper team this season in that lose a great QB (Shockley) and go on to win an MNC kind of team (Tennessee '98, USC '03).

11. Florida State - After the debacle against Troy I would have dropped them further but...

12. Miami - I couldn't put Miami above FSU less than a week after losing to them. Right now Miami is doing far more to keep FSU ranked high than the Seminoles are though.

13. Nebraska - They seem to have a pretty good offense. Their game in Kyle Field could be a very long one for the Aggies.

14. Virginia Tech - Did you know that Frank Beamer is the fourth longest serving head coach in college football? I love ESPN Gameplan.

15. Louisville - Temple is pretty awful, but wow. Just wow.

16. Tennessee - One week you crush my #1 team, the next you almost blow it against Air Force. Why do you hate me Phillip Fulmer?

17. Oregon - The game against Fresno State last night was a really good one. I think Oregon beats Oklahoma next week and it isn't close.

18. Iowa - Does anybody know what Drew Tate's status is?

19. Cal - Redemption is at hand! I would move them up more, but Tennessee's stinker against AF is definitely holding the Bears down.

20. Georgia Tech - Here feels about right.

21. TCU - I think that they will beat Tech this week.

22. Boise State - Hey another mid-major! This is one of those "I watched them kill a middle of the pack BCS teams this week" pick.

23. Wisconsin - Last week I should've listened to the Wisconsin guys. Definitely in the upper half of the Big Ten this year.

24. Pittsburgh - Had a better second half against Cincinnati. I think that either Pitt or Rutgers (and maybe both) will make the Big East interesting this season.

25. Boston College - Beat a Clemson team I was pretty high on. I considered a number of teams here. I skipped Rutgers because 4 Big East teams seemed excessive and it was only Illinois. I'm still pretty down on Oklahoma. Texas Tech's defense is pretty questionable, South Carolina got shut out and BYU has that nasty loss to Arizona on their record. If anybody has a better suggestion than BC, I'd like to hear it.