Comments on: Blogpoll: Week 7

By: tampa buckeye

tampa buckeye — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 23:55:07 +0000

Just one thought about purdue. I think the wisconsin game last week took alot out of the badgers and the buckeyes. Both teams played below avg. the following week. Im sure we see a much improved team this week

By: JBeveridge

JBeveridge — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 23:40:46 +0000

I would take USC because Georgia has a great running back and that is it. I do think now that season is over half gone, that the Bucks will not finish the year in the top 20 after watching us. I would like to know the last team to have twenty returning starters from a national runner up and play like us. I try not to hate on Tressel but other then 2002 i can’t remeber when we beat a team better then us and most great coaches do or when i thought to myself what a great coaching job. It seems to me everybody likes to compare Tressel to Copper which Tress is better but on a national scale Tress is not doing well. Somebody tell me any other top 10 program that looks like us. If anybody thinks Tressel has not gotten overhyped because of Big Ten then you need to wake up, other then Michigan during Tressel tenure there was no elite programs in the Big Ten and just maybe when he first started out here, his assistants made him look like a great coach. I guess all i am saying is the proof is in the pudding Tressel is the OC and our offense is anything but good and each game we think our offense will be better with Pryor having more seasoning but we just played the worst team other then Indiana in the Big Ten. I want to believe but this team is looking like anything but a well coached team, which our line sucks but if you watch other big games alot of QB are getting killed thats when you play calling helps.

By: Bucksfanxc

Bucksfanxc — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 22:25:41 +0000

That’s a good point. I would probably take USC over Ga on a neutral field. I think your first two or three games of a season aren’t necessarially indicative of how good a team you are in week 7. If we are ranking on who can take who on neutral fields, right now in week 7 then I amend my top ten to be: Texas, Bama, Penn State, Oklahoma, USC, Georgia, Florida, Oklahoma State, Mizzou, BYU

By: Fakewoodyman

Fakewoodyman — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 22:01:55 +0000

this is the second biggest debate in modern US culture: whether you rank teams based upon who would win on a neutral field, or based upon actual resumes

Personally, I think you have to vote based upon who “looks the best” because you never have comparable apples to apples to compare resumes.

Remember the big 8/12 in the 90’s with Nebraska, it was so tough to gauge how good that team was because the competition was so bad; the only decent program was the crooked one in Boulder, CO (remember OK and TX were terrible until Brown and Stoops came aboard) … many of those NE teams ended being awesome, even though they played relatively weak schedules.

The same thing goes for FSU in the ACC for many years, and Miami in the Big East. because they simply were not going to get to play many good teams their resumes would not measure up to other teams, yet they would beat most those teams on a neutral field.

having said all of that, trying to pick which team is the best right now is not easy, but my 2 cents is: Alabama, FL, USC, TX

By: GMAN

GMAN — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:26:36 +0000

You certainly aren’t alone in this–indeed, nearly every pollster out there seems to agree with you–but I can’t see how it is justifiable to have a one-loss Kansas team ahead of the one-loss USF team that beat them, or a one-loss MSU club ahead of the one-loss Cal club that beat them. That just ain’t right.

By: Turducken

Turducken — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 21:04:12 +0000

Chris-I thought I throw in my two cents and let you know that your current rankings are spot-on. PSU is a reasonable #2 right now as they are playing mistake free football and they are balanced on offense, defense and special teams. They may have a loss in the next couple of weeks to say otherwise, but they look gook at this moment in time. Florida did crush LSU, but I felt LSU was overrated anyway.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:42:13 +0000

Bucksfanxc - Thanks for the thoughts…Just to dig a little deeper, who would you take on a neutral field - USC or UGA? just curious. I only ask because since they both have a loss, I’d rather rate them based on who we think is the better team versus who had the “better” loss.

Plus, I’d contend neither loss looks better than the other. USC lost to an unranked team but at least on the road…UGA lost to a better team, no doubt, but it was a home blowout.

By: Bucksfanxc

Bucksfanxc — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:50:24 +0000

Georgia should be ahead of USC, because their loss looks better than USC’s. LSU shouldn’t be ranked at all, what have they done?
Bama, Texas, PSU, Florida, Oklahoma, Georgia, USC, OK State, BYU, Mizzou

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:38:54 +0000

Thanks, Expat…I can live with that top 4…as for your power poll comment, while I agree it fluctuates, so do the other polls using whatever methodology they choose to employ. I think opinions change as the season wears on but not as much because teams typically define themselves creating a shaking out process of sorts. Totally agree it’s all jacked up at the beginning - we’ve advocated to Brian and others that it’s a bad idea to even have a blogpoll (or any poll) before at least 4 games are played - to try and eliminate some of the Clemson’s of the world from ever showing up in the rankings to begin with.

As for Lt. Dangle, I think his point was probably more about the need to have a poll try and reflect who the best teams are and sometimes the better teams lose a game. Should they be able to get away with losing 2 and 3 games? Not in my opinion but I do think there are plenty of 1 loss teams that deserve to be ahead of the BYU’s, Utah’s, Boise St’s, and Texas Tech’s of the world. Maybe that’s not what he’s saying - but if he is, I think I tend to agree.

By: BuckeyeExpat

BuckeyeExpat — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:08:25 +0000

Power polling is an iffy proposition, at best. Again: opinion about a team (mine, yours, consensus opinion) means very little in the face of actual game results.
Remember when everyone’s “opinion” was that Clemson was a top 10 team? Auburn? Remember when USC or Oklahoma or Georgia or Florida were unstoppable forces? Opinions (which is what Power Polling comes down to) end up being wrong Every. Single. Week.
For Lt. Dangle to say “The Poll Shouldn’t Care About Records”… one of the silliest comments I’ve seen in a while.

All that being said…if your design for this poll is to reflect a Power Poll, pure “who-would-beat-who” guessing-conjecture…that’s good to know, so I don’t come on here every week saying the same things :)

The top 3 has to be Texas/PSU/Bama, and that’s the order I would put them in. Florida at 4 is fine, their performance Saturday was unbelievable. Than Oklahoma (tough loss to #1), USC.