Sunday, November 15, 2009

BlogPoll Top 25 Ballot: Top 10, And Then...

I'm going to give TCU a lot of credit for thumping Utah -- it's a more quality win than any Texas will have this season (certainly more than any Texas will finish with).

And while I am all about "and-oh" for Florida, you can't ignore that Alabama destroyed Mississippi State in Starkville, where Florida had some problems.

Cincy's close call notwithstanding, you cannot rank Boise ahead of Cincy when you compare who they have played. And Cincy still has Pitt. Boise has...?

I left USC out of the Top 25 entirely -- you can't suffer your worst loss in modern program history and not suffer for it.

I doubled down by putting Stanford in my Top 10; yeah, USC might not be great, but Stanford didn't just win at USC -- no easy feat under any conditions -- but they destroyed USC like no team in the Carroll Era. This, after thumping Oregon. That's more impressive of a pair of wins that any team in college football has produced this season: Not just who, but how.

Anyway, here's my first crack at the BlogPoll ballot. Take a look, give me your feedback, and I'll fix it per your arguments tomorrow morning. I will say this: After about No. 10 or so, I was so underwhelmed by the options -- how many teams crapped the bed this weekend?

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

Dropped Out: Southern Cal (#12), South Florida (#22), Arkansas (#24).


-- D.S.

5 comments:

Jason said...

I don't think you can rank Texas ahead of Alabama. Using your own words, Texas doesn't have any high quality wins this season while Alabama at least has a victory over LSU.

Qwagmire said...

Non-ballot question, who's ranked higher, Terps or Middies?

the bankrupt museum said...

LSU squeaks by LA Tech and moves up 2?(@ home @ night even! No comment in comparison performance to Boise vs. LA Tech. Or more generally - year #2 of everyone overvaluing the SEC only beating the SEC - I'm not sayin' but I'm just sayin') ...yet Oregon State destroys Washington and moves down 2? I personally think OK State (up 7 - vaulting Iowa, Va Tech, Or State...even Wisconsin?) and Houston (how are they still ranked by anyone?) are completely bogus. I personally believe this would be one of the greatest years for a playoff of all time - no truly invincible teams + lots of flawed good ones.

Michael W said...

Now Dan, normally I'm one to criticize Florida, but I'm not really sure they deserve a big drop this week. Sure, their win was a lot closer than it should have been, but if they had even an average kicker, that game looks a lot different. It's hard to penalize a team heavily for having a bad kicker when they win anyway.

Stanford is, hands down, playing better than anyone in football right now. It's hard to believe this is the same team that lost of Wake Forest, but I'd like their chances against anybody right now. Ohio State fans have to be hoping they can't sneak into the Rose Bowl.

Donny said...

Texas beat Okie State... Currently ranked #12 in the BCS.

Last I checked that's higher than ANY team that TCU has beaten. When Clemson loses to Gtech and Utah/byu play each other soon... Both teams will have one team left in the top 25. Difference will have been that TCU has played 2 teams from BCS conferences whereas Texas will have played 9. (assuming Texas beats Nebraska in Big XII champ game)

Texas averages 43ppg on offense and allows roughly 12 ppg on defense. TCU averages 39ppg on offense and allows roughly 12ppg on defense. Very evenly matched. Next criterion would have to be SOS. Texas's strength of schedule is currently #22 while TCU's is #30. Texas projected SOS is #33 while TCU's is projected @ #53. Click on schedule strength here. http://www.tellshowbcs.com/index.html

I'm biased but based on stats/figures and the eyeball test. Gotta put TX ahead of TCU.