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Have At It: Blog Poll Draft Ballot

Top 25 draft ballot, as ranked by resume. Last week's draft ballot/chart is here. Sagarin computer ratings are here.

Ballot after the jump. Your own thoughts on the rankings go in the comments below. Suggestions considered through Tuesday evening.

Star-divide

RankTeamDelta
1 Texas --
2 Penn State 1
3 Alabama 1
4 Southern Cal 1
5 Florida 1
6 Texas Tech 3
7 Oklahoma --
8 Oklahoma State 4
9 Georgia 1
10 Utah 1
11 Boise State 1
12 TCU 4
13 Missouri 4
14 North Carolina 5
15 California 3
16 Michigan State 5
17 Oregon State 9
18 Ohio State 8
19 Minnesota 5
20 Virginia 6
21 Ball State 2
22 Tulsa 3
23 Duke 3
24 Oregon 2
25 Florida State 1
Dropped Out: LSU (#13), Virginia Tech (#14), Pittsburgh (#15), Georgia Tech (#20), Vanderbilt (#22).

0 recs  |  20 comments

Comments

Meh...

Southern Cal #4… 17-10 over Arizona. I guess they’re spinning that win the same way we’re spinning the near loss to Okie State?

Well

1) Arizona’s not a bad team at all
2) Name of the game is to make the case for someone else’s resume.

Peter is right....

…about Arizona and the game was played in the Wildcats’ stadium.

Are you aware only 1 opponent has scored more than 10 points on USC? One!

A 6-2 Oregon team is the only thing standing between Oregon State and the Pac-10 Championship!

Oklahoma State has a superior defense when compared to that of OU. I like their chances of winning at Bedlam and making a BCS bowl game.

Peter, I’m so glad to see you giving Tim Brewster the kudos he deserves. He has taken last season’s 1-11 Minnesota program to a current record of 7-1. They are realistically looking at a 10-2 or 11-1 season. Truly amazing! Tim has definitely placed his business card in the hat of those to be considered for Mack’s replacement when Mack steps down.

OSU

Okie St. is a very good team. Considering the level of play on Saturday and the fact that they lost to the No.1 team, they should not drop 4.

Not how it works

They aren’t being “punished” for losing to Texas. Their resume simply includes a loss, and they lack the quality wins to—on a resume ballot—stay ahead of the others.

This isn’t a power poll. See my Power Poll in the Big 12 Report for my thoughts on OSU vs OU.

OSU

Oregon State seems a little high for a 4-3 team. I know they beat the mighty Trojans and are in first place in their conference but 17 is a bit much if you ask me. But you’re not. But I’m putting my opinion out there because I can. If they win out (which would be hilarious) then maybe they could be the 17th ranked team in the country.

Actually I am

I post these on Sunday evenings and usually make 2-3 revisions based on reader feedback before submitting the final ballot on Wednesday morning.

As for Oregon State, looking at it, you’re probably right: 17’s awfully high. I do think they have a Top 25 resume because of that win over USC, but it’s thin beyond that. The strength of schedule is impressive, but they got walloped by Penn State.

Will take a closer look at the Beavers – thanks.

i read something interesting...

..if OSU wins out, they would be the Pac-10 champs b/c of the win over USC. So, for those not wanting USC to get in the MNC game, they should root for the Beavers.

Penn State past Alabama?

I assume this is because of the consistent strength of their wins, since 41-30 at Georgia beats 13-6 at Ohio State (not because of the relative margins, but because Georgia is much better than OSU). Bama’s next best win is probably either 49-14 at Arkansas or 34-10 at Clemson, while Penn state can put up either the blowout of Oregon State at home or the blowout of Wisconsin on the road.

To halt my rambling, I’m gonna have to disagree with you here, and say that the best of Bama’s wins should cancel the negatives of 3 point win over Kentucky and the 4 point win over Ole Miss.

I can't decide

Winning in Columbus is big – very big. That was a back alley, broken-bottle brawl, and I was impressed with Penn State’s resourcefulness.

On the other hand, ’Bama’s win in Knoxville reminded me of the first few minutes of No Country for Old Men, where Anton Chigurh slowly strangles the life out of the deputy sheriff with the handcuffs while staring impassively at the ceiling with black, cold, lifeless eyes.

It’s a tossup.

Nick Saban is Anton Chigurh's younger, malcontent brother.
He'd kill you just for... inconveniencing him.
Alternate universe

I keep hearing Rod Serling’s monotone when I see Ball State, Minnesota, Virginia, Duke and Tulsa in the poll. Can’t argue their being there; just seems like a black-and-white dream shot with a hand-held camera.

Weekly Boise State is overrated comment goes here.

Can’t buy Ohio State being behind Michigan State a week after the Bucks killed the Sparts in E. Lansing. If North Carolina is No. 14, an awful lotta head coaches need to be fired.

duke and virginia in the top 25 ? are you kidding me???

Virginia

They’ve won 4 in a row and is a Miami loss away from winning their division.

TCU over Boise State (who is ranked too high)

I put Mizzou and TCU over Boise State. TCU is one loss to OU, and they beat then #9 BYU pretty handily. Mizzou’s recent win over Colorado, while not surprising, was impressive. I’ve got to believe that losses to two top ten teams shouldn’t put them behind Boise State, which is undefeated but hasn’t played anyone ranked higher than #17 Oregon all season.

I'm sorry, I just can't see justifying USC ahead of UF.

USC nearly got beat by a not-very-good Arizona team (in my opinion), got beat by an (at the time) unranked Oregon State squad, and has one impressive win over a team whose loss Saturday lowers their stock.

Florida, on the other hand, walloped a good LSU team, destroyed UK this weekend, and whose loss was to a team who also nearly upset Alabama last week.

Florida has more talent, plays in a better conference, and looks like the better team week in and week out.

Florida is DANGEROUS

Their defense has been good all year, and now they’ve found their offense. On top of that, they have the best special teams in the country, bar none. This is the one team I don’t want Texas to face – we don’t match up well with the Gators.

Oklahoma State/Oklahoma/Florida resumes

All have one loss. Seeing that you dropped LSU from your top 25, aren’t the OU/TCU and OSU/Missour wins deemed the most impressive? Also, and OSU-Missouri was a road win for the Cowboys, while Florida-LSU and OU-TCU were played in front of the home crowds.

And then the losses…
OU – to #1 Texas on a neutral field
OSU – to #1 Texas in Austin
Florida – to unrated, 4-4 Mississippi in Gainesville

I’ve got no problem with USC leading the 1-loss crowd, given the Ohio State win.

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