Initial Blogpoll - Assistance Required

by Jon Johnston on Oct 8, 2007 2:51 PM CDT in BlogPoll

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

Dropped Out: Texas (#18), Purdue (#22), Miami (Florida) (#23), Nebraska (#24).

This season has turned into a battle of survival more than a battle for greatness.

LSU is a clear cut number one now. Cal moves up by virtue of not playing any one. Ohio State, Boston College and South Florida? Where did these teams come from?

Oklahoma and Missouri have set themselves up for a great game next weekend. Can Mizzou move into the Top Five?

I'm not a Dennis Erickson fan, but they continue to win. They weren't that impressive against Washington State (watched part of the game), but again, who else are you going to put there?

Cincinnati, Kansas, Illinois - all over-achieving? Or is it early yet?

And, yes, USC drops all the way to 22. They struggled against Washington, their destruction of Nebraska is nothing special and they were upset by a horrible team. I considered not ranking them at all.

Feedback is certainly encouraged. Required?

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Comments

ooo-K,

I basically rank 'em based on whether or not a given team--this week--would win or lose against all the other teams, it's getting tougher to fig:

LSU, CAL, OK, OSU, OR, FL, S. CAR.,USC(w Booty, though not probable), USF, WV, TN, MO,VT, ILL, TX, KY, AU, BC, CINCI, ASU, WI, TTECH, HI, GA, FSU, TAM, KS.

KSU???, NE???

I think MO will probably drop 3 reg season games starting this week, and KS is iffy.

'za blang thang

by Ze Robertinho on Oct 9, 2007 10:19 AM CDT reply actions

wow

you still hate BC and Cincinnati and not much love for South Florida. Like it or not, they all continue to win.

USC has problems, just like Nebraska has problems. Trust me, they're going to lose some more games.

Texas Tech could be ranked, but I didn't like how they looked against Oklahoma State a couple weeks ago.

Go Big Red!

by Jon Johnston on Oct 9, 2007 1:00 PM CDT up reply actions

Let me be clear,

I am NOT g@t, nor have I ever been g@y.....uh, no, that's not what I wanted to say....

You can't make me believe that, for e.g., Cinci, BC, or USF, beats FL or TN THIS week. FL nearly beat LSU, they are just stiil a little young on D, but they can play with anybody. OSU vs Purdue last week is also a good means of comparison. Put Cinci and BC against OSU and they lose. Great D's can blow up any spread/finesse O.
I like those teams and anybody who's read any of my posts over the last few months knows that Brian Kelly is one of my fav coaches--a guy I think would be a perfect fit at NE(except he doesn't run smash mouth FB). You have to consider strength of schedule. The SEC is a clash of the titans about every week. Who has Cinci beat?: Rutgers, in a struggle, and Rut. is questionable(lost to MY).

I think USF could maybe be a top 5 team in the end, but they struggled vs FAU. They have a great D, but as I've said, their O isn't great, as far as I can see.
BC is like the MO of the ACC--i.e., they drop games they shouldn't--and I think they will be tested this week. Ryan is a great QB. Their D is only good.

TN looked like the best team in the country on Sat. vs GA.

USC is the big Q at this point, since Booty might be done with a broken middle finger. Even with Sanchez, I think they take Cinci and BC four outta 5 times; maybe not USF.

The newbies in weaker conferences have to prove themselves vs top competition, which USF is doing, but not the others.

I try to look at who has the best lines on both sides, then skill players and coaching.

'za blang thang

by Ze Robertinho on Oct 9, 2007 9:29 PM CDT up reply actions

good points, I appreciate

the feedback.

Go Big Red!

by Jon Johnston on Oct 9, 2007 9:40 PM CDT up reply actions

Parity

I think this season is probably the most indicative so far of the increasing parity across the nation. There is less domination and much more grey area between teams.

Those that argue against the parity concept say that all teams would be 6-6, 7-5, 8-4, etc. Yeah, well, the thing is, it's moving in that direction. I wouldn't be surprised if in a few years down the road, the NC will be between teams with 9-3, 8-4 records, for e.g. Wouldn't surprise me a bit.

Of course a playoff system would more accurately determine things in the end, would sort out some of the conference strength issues that still come up. But the BCS is what it is and conferences ARE becoming more equal in strength. The SEC is still a cut above the rest, though, at this point.

'za blang thang

by Ze Robertinho on Oct 10, 2007 1:01 AM CDT up reply actions

TTech

Tech has a great offense, Harrell, Amendola, Crabtree are friggin' outrageous. They just have a crappy D. Maybe that's changing. Okie St. also has a great O, so I don't discount TTech's loss too much there--again, because of their D. Also, Crabtree dropped a wide open game winning score in the final seconds.

TTech could shread Cinci, and probably BC, though USF would be a contest.

I've said it before, if and when TTech puts a world class D on the field, they will be a top 10 ten team on a regular basis.

I just don't understand Okie St., though, they really should have beaten aTm, but their D always screws up. The whole team has consistency issues. Of course, they'll play their A game vs BiG Red.

'za blang thang

by Ze Robertinho on Oct 10, 2007 1:15 AM CDT up reply actions