Monday, October 19, 2009

BlogPoll Top 25 Ballot: What's This "BCS?"

Analysis below the poll:

RankTeamDelta
1 Alabama 1
2 Florida 1
3 Texas
4 Cincinnati
5 TCU 5
6 Boise State 1
7 Oregon 1
8 Iowa 5
9 Southern Cal
10 Miami (Florida) 2
11 Georgia Tech 13
12 LSU 6
13 Houston 2
14 Penn State 5
15 Brigham Young 7
16 Oklahoma State 4
17 Virginia Tech 12
18 Texas Tech
19 Utah
20 Arizona
21 Pittsburgh
22 West Virginia
23 Central Michigan
24 South Carolina 1
25 Ohio State 11
Last week's ballot

Dropped Out: Nebraska (#11), South Florida (#16), Kansas (#17), Arkansas (#18), Auburn (#21), Oklahoma (#23).


As I said in my Sporting News column today: "Style points are dead," at least as a concept at the top of the rankings. Because Florida certainly didn't win with any. Neither did Texas. And neither did Alabama -- although the Tide wasn't nearly as ugly as UF and UT.

The real question is how to position the contenders beyond the Big 3: I still like Cincy, but I'm happy to take arguments for Boise State (decreasingly) and TCU (increasingly). If TCU beats BYU in Provo next weekend, I'll jump them over Boise.

I am more than happy to give Iowa credit -- mirroring the BCS computer polls. Winning at Penn State and at Wisconsin is better than any two wins at the top of USC's resume. (Not sure why I have Iowa below Oregon -- it's irrational and I'll likely change it.)

UPDATE: My Mumme Poll ballot -- the best 12 teams in the country, irrespective of rank -- this week is the Top 12 above. Here was the comment I submitted with the ballot:

I'm beginning to blur the lines between "resume" and "signature wins/losses" -- call it the "Boise Effect." At what point do we stop overweighting a single quality win against an otherwise weak schedule?

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