BlogPoll Ballot :: Week 1

by Seth C on Sep 8, 2009 5:43 AM CDT in Texas Tech Football

Rank	Team	Delta

1	Florida
2	Texas
3	Alabama	2
4	Southern Cal
5	Oklahoma State	11
6	California	7
7	Penn State	1
8	Brigham Young	9
9	Mississippi
10	Boise State	1
11	LSU	1
12	Georgia Tech	2
13	TCU	1
14	Ohio State	6
15	Missouri	6
16	Nebraska	6
17	Oklahoma	14
18	Virginia Tech	11
19	Notre Dame	4
20	Miami (Florida)
21	North Carolina	4
22	Oregon State
23	Pittsburgh
24	Florida State
25	Navy
Last week's ballot

That's right, it's that time of year where you tell me where I'm completely wrong about where I've ranked teams. For those of you who don't know, Double-T Nation has been asked, my second year, to participate in the BlogPoll. For those of you not familiar with the concept then check out MGoBlog BlogPoll (who is in charge of all of this stuff) with succinct definition:

It's basically the AP poll except with bloggers.

It's that easy.

Make sure and read the BlogPoll Voting Philosophy and Rock M Nation's summary of different voting philosophies. Obviously, there's quite a bit of disparity between theories, and the nice thing about the BlogPoll is that it's all transparent and it's somewhat understood that there will be biases because we're all human.

It happens.

But I need you! Yes, I need your comments to tell me where I've gone wrong and where I've gone right. Given enough encouragement and comments, I'll make the change on each week's BlogPoll ballot.

Flimsy Rationale:

Dropped Out: Oregon (#15), Georgia (#18), Iowa (#19), Texas Tech (#20).

1-5: The Alabama offense looks better than expected and they beat a quality opponent in Virginia Tech. The rest move up because of Oklahoma's loss and I may have severely underrated Oklahoma St.

6-10: All of these teams won and won nicely, especially BYU. California throttled Maryland, Penn St. won easily and Mississippi struggled early, but they still ended up blowing out Memphis.

11-15: I picked Missouri to be the Big 12 North champions and this week, that's looking like an outstanding pick. TCU was idle and Ohio St. didn't look great in a close win against Navy, but I think that's because Navy is a quality team. The same could be said for LSU in that Washington looks to be a better team than what some may have thought.

16-20: I struggled what to do with Oklahoma and Virginia Tech. The other teams in this grouping all won fairly easily. I don't like Notre Dame either, but they also won convincingly against a Nevada team that I thought would at least score. Maybe they are turning the corner.

21-25: I'm not real sure what to think about Oregon St. as their win over Portland state is similar to Texas Tech's. Portland St. cannot be as bad of a team as UND, which is why they get in the poll. I could also be convinced that teams like Georgia, despite the loss, and Iowa and Texas Tech should be here because they won albeit unconvincingly. Pitt also won fairly easily against an inferior opponent. As always, the last five are always the toughest for me and Navy gets a vote because I watched that game and they deserve some love.

Why Texas Tech is Left Off: Before I get a ton of comments as to why I voted the way that I did, is that of the teams that played inferior opponents in the bottom 8 to 5 teams, is that those teams did not allow a touchdown and had a greater margin of victory that Texas Tech. Texas Tech needs to earn the right to be in the top 25 and even teams with one loss, like Virginia Tech and OU, I think those teams deserve credit for playing tough opponents and playing relatively close. Virginia Tech was a stretch because they lost by 10 but I think that Alabama is that good.

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Comments

1) let’s not rank navy for a valliant loss. It was a great game and Navy came out to play, but what ultimately happens with Navy is that they can sneak up on a team or two but will get shut down whenever they play a top-tier team. I love me some triple option as much as the next team, but taking OSU to the wire does not a top 25 ranking make.
2) Teams too low: LSU, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Virginia Tech
3) Teams too high: Mississippi (Memphis gave them a game until Ole Miss figured out they could out talent them. 4 loss season), BYU (a bit, I’m not ready to anoint them yet), Missouri (I’m not sure Illinois is a good measuring stick, they look awful), Florida State (that game was so dirty, only one of those teams deserves to be ranked.), and the aforementioned Navy.
4) UND is better than Portland State. Portland state was a 4-7 team last year, 3-8 the year before. They haven’t had more than 7 wins since before I can find records for them (2002) and they’re not in the habit of playing more than 1 D-1A team a year. UND was a 10+ win D-II team for years before making the jump. They were a 6-5 team last year in their transitional year and I hope they do better.

by kayakyakr on Sep 8, 2009 8:31 AM CDT reply actions

Tech is off for good reason.

Va Tech should be off; I’m not a resume ranker, but what reason do we have to keep them on the board? This early in the season… 0-1 is 0-1, unless you’re an unimpeachable powerhouse. Va Tech doesn’t strike me as powerhouse at all.

Again, this is resume nonsense, but if we REALLY believe that Oklahoma is the 17th best team in the country without Sam Bradford, then the only spot BYU should be occupying is #1. I don’t think that’s the right spot for them, but if we take seriously OU’s spot I’m not sure how BYU can stand anywhere besides atop the CFB world.

Go register. Or else.

by Skin Patrol on Sep 8, 2009 9:53 AM CDT reply actions

I don't have a problem

with Navy being ranked 25, they played well against a good team. Some of the other teams who are ranked higher had loses and got credit for playing well vs good competition, I can see applying the same yardstick to Navy.

TTU did not play particularly well against a modestly strong team. Yes, a win is a win, and clearly the win was talent based. It is reasonable to rank TTU in the next five somewhere, that is a talent rank at this point.

If it is ever difficult to decide a ranking, it is this time of year. Lots of games are one sided and the few that are better matched result in a loss for a pretty good team, perhaps one that can win out the season.

With a major game at the number 3 spot on TTU’s schedule, this is possibly a tough ranking year for our Raiders….yes, of course, with a win, it will be wonderful.

I do think a win is possible, I do not think, as I look at both first games, that a win is probable in Austin. That can all change after Saturday. I am looking for a very good game from the offense against Rice. It needs to be good enough that the Red Raiders can go to Austin with enough confidence that they can play better than the ugly orange.

by TallMike on Sep 8, 2009 10:23 AM CDT reply actions

I meant to comment on

BYU.

I do not give BYU such high marks for their win. Yes, the score is valid and the win is fair—according to the rules.

I have trouble describing it, but it is not a quality win…it is tarnished from the perspective that it was not the Oklahoma we expected that played the BYU that we expected.

The consequence to Oklahoma is real. Their team is not what it was and is not as likely to be as strong as it was with Bradford at the helm. The win by BYU did not make them a stronger team, just one that won a game largely due to the loss of the key offensive player on the other team.

Had they won with Bradford not being injured, I would have a lot more value for the BYU win.

by TallMike on Sep 8, 2009 10:35 AM CDT reply actions

I think TT would be in the high 20s – somewhere around #27 or 28 as of now. Navy, well, they are a solid team but I agree with kayak…I can’t justify a ranking for a valiant loss. I think BYU is a better fit at 12.

The rest of the rest is tough to argue one way or the other. It’s still so early and we often don’t know what a team really has until after the third or fourth week.

by Tech92 on Sep 8, 2009 11:30 AM CDT reply actions