Monday, October 16, 2006
BlogPoll Week 8: The Rough Draft of Discomfort
Hey CFAJ, it was a big weekend of college football, huh? I wouldn't know, I spent most of it painting my house.
Oh, well, what games did you see? Florida/Auburn, Michigan/Penn St. Also: listened to UGa/Vandy on radio.
How about your BlogPoll rankings? I'm giving (1) Michigan the nod, just barely, over (2) Ohio St. Why? Because while UM's blowout of Notre Dame is equally impressive as OSU's steady beating of Texas, Michigan's next best win against Wisconsin is looking better than the Buckeye's next best win, at now-devalued Iowa. Really, I think the two teams are pretty evenly matched and should put on a good show in November, and voting Michigan over Ohio St. shouldn't be too controversial.
Are you saying that this is about to get controversial? Ummm...yeah. I'm ranking (3) USC next, then (4) Arkansas WHAT!, (5) Auburn, (6) Florida, (7) Tennessee, and (8) Cal. There's a pretty simple line of logic there, each team rank just ahead of a team it beat.
You got some 'splainin' to do. Do you really think Arkansas is the fourth best team in America? Well, yes and no. I do expect Arkansas to lose some more games this year. But I also expected them to lose to Auburn, and you see where that got me. One of the general rules that I've used to rank teams is that if team X beats team Y, and team X has an identical or superior record to team Y, then team X should be ranked higher. I feel that Auburn, Florida, and Tennessee are all top ten teams. I think two of them are top five teams. I wouldn't rank Florida ahead of Auburn, or Tennessee ahead of Florida at this point of the season knowing how those head-to head games went. So why should I shaft Arkansas? Is their win over Auburn any less impressive than Auburn's win over UF or UT's win over Cal? One of the basic tenets of the BlogPoll, as I understand it, is that teams should be ranked based on what they've done this year. Also, it's a ranking of who would beat who on a neutral field. Well, we don't need a neutral field, these teams are all intrinsically linked. I don't plan on ranking by who-beat-who all year, come November it should be a little more clear which teams belong where. For right now, I'm looking for at least one signature win from each team. So even if the Hogs aren't the clear-cut #4 team in the nation, I feel they've done enough to warrant that ranking, for now.
Oy. Continue. (9) Texas is pretty interchangeable with (10) Notre Dame. Where's Louisville and West Virginia? At (11) and (12), respectively. Ludicrous. Most people have WVU and/or Louisville in their top 5 and at least in the top 10, yet you've got Arkansas at 4 and these two at 11 and 12. Defend. Okay, where is WVU's or Louisville's signature win? UL beat Miami, which is kind of nice, I guess. WVU has a good looking offense, but is that really enough? At this point, I'd love to see either team play Pitt or Rutgers just to get some comp.
Can you just finish this train wreck up? Yes. (13) Clemson has been semi-impressive at times. I'd really put them on about the same level at WVU and UL. (14) Wisconsin is looking better weekly. (15) Oregon is still better than most Pac-10 teams, but not at the top of the conference. I'd say that (16) Georgia Tech is the best team in their division, but I still haven't figured out how the ACC divisions work. I've got no read on (17) LSU, other than they feast on the weak and shrivel against the strong. (18) Rutgers picked up a nice win against Navy. It's hard to tell just how good (19) Boise State is, playing in the WAC and all. (20) Boston College appears pretty solid. (21) Nebraska's trying. (22) Oklahoma without Adrian Peterson could be awful. (23) Pitt is improved, (24) Wake is surprising. Texas A&M should probably be here instead of (25) Missouri, and I might change that.
Happy? Not entirely. I'd like someone to make a compelling argument as to why Arkansas doesn't deserve the same treatment as the rest of my top 10. Also, someone please explain to me why Louisville or West Virginia should be in my top 10.
Ballot? Oh, yeah:
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michigan |  2 |
| 2 | Ohio State |  1 |
| 3 | Southern Cal | 3 |
| 4 | Arkansas | 9 |
| 5 | Auburn | 9 |
| 6 | Florida | 4 |
| 7 | Tennessee | 3 |
| 8 | California | 3 |
| 9 | Texas | 2 |
| 10 | Notre Dame | 1 |
| 11 | Louisville | -- |
| 12 | West Virginia | -- |
| 13 | Clemson | 3 |
| 14 | Wisconsin | 9 |
| 15 | Oregon | 4 |
| 16 | Georgia Tech | 1 |
| 17 | LSU | -- |
| 18 | Rutgers | 2 |
| 19 | Boise State | 1 |
| 20 | Boston College | 6 |
| 21 | Nebraska | 3 |
| 22 | Oklahoma | 1 |
| 23 | Pittsburgh | 3 |
| 24 | Wake Forest | 2 |
| 25 | Missouri | 17 |