BlogPoll Draft

Well, I'm back with a draft ballot for this week's BlogPoll. As always, all comments are welcome. This past weekend was pretty humbling, especially considering the utter beat down Cal took at the hands of Tennessee. I feel like I was way, way off on Cal and my new ballot reflects this. As the season progresses it will be interesting to see if the Golden Bears can bounce back and also how the middle of the pack teams shake out. Miami and Florida State are ranked very tenatively pending tomorrow night's game. I expect that game to create some chaos in my ballot, but I will cross that bridge when it comes. First the rankings and then some explanations.

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

Next 9
17. Georgia Tech
18. Oregon
19. Virginia Tech
20. Nebraska
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. Miami FL (Pending)

7. Florida State (Pending)

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

9. 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.

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. Louisville - Well, they have an offense!

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. 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.

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