Blogpoll: Week 8
Our preliminary ballot this week has Penn State jumping ‘Bama and we moved Florida down a few spots even though they didn’t play. This was more of a correction than a punishment but we’re wondering what you think about that move?
We slid Mizzou to 14 and bumped TCU all the way up to 15 but that was more a product of not being overly impressed with any of the teams behind them at this point. In our view, there’s just not a lot of separation in the teams ranked 15-25 though we’re officially on the Tulsa bandwagon because we love teams that run up the score.
As usual, the final ballot isn’t due until Wednesday so chime in with your take so we can adjust the poll to reflect both our opinions and the voice of our readers. Ain’t democracy grand?!
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| 1 |  |
The Longhorns raced out to a 35-0 lead before burying Mizzou 56-31 in Austin to further solidify their #1 ranking. Colt McCoy was absolutely sick going 29/32, 337 yards and 2 TD. Count me as a McCoy fan – hopefully he can win the Heisman and keep Tebow from tying Archie, at least this season. | – |
| 2 |  |
The Lions erased a 17-14 halftime deficit scoring 32 unanswered 2nd half points in a 46-17 rout of RichRod’s Wolverines. Evan Royster helped PSU snap a 9 game skid against Michigan with 174 yards rushing and a TD. QB Darryl Clark ran for 2 scores and passed for another. The win sets up a showdown in the ‘Shoe this Saturday night. |  1 |
| 3 |  |
The Tide moved to 7-0 but it wasn’t pretty as Bama was outscored 17-0 in the second half before holding on to win 24-20 in Tuscaloosa. JPW threw for a season high 219 yards and 2 TD. A weak schedule by SEC standards still helps the Tide with just one ranked team (LSU) remaining on the regular season slate. |  1 |
| 4 |  |
Sam Bradford kept the Heisman pace with Colt McCoy passing for a school record 468 yards with 3 TD in a 45-31 win over Kansas. The Sooners produced 674 yards of total offense but the D gave up 491. | 1 |
| 5 |  |
The Trojans put a 69-0 hurtin’ on Washington State High School behind five 1st half TD passes from Poncharello, er, Sanchez. Total yards: USC 625, WSU 116. First downs: USC 28, WSU 4. Yikes. | 1 |
| 6 |  |
Bye week. Next up: Kentucky | 2 |
| 7 |  |
Knowshon Moreno ran for a season high 172 yards (1 TD) as UGA got past Vandy 24-14 setting up a showdown @ LSU. Freshman WR A.J. Green had 7 catches for 132 yards (1 TD). | – |
| 8 |  |
Oklahoma State tuned up for Saturday’s tilt against #1 Texas with a 34-6 throttling of Baylor. Dez Bryant caught 11 passes for 212 yards and 2 TD’s as the Cowboys finished the game with a 34-0 run. | – |
| 9 |  |
Graham Harrell threw for 450 yards and 5 TDs as Tech ran away from Texas A&M 43-25 in College Station. The Tech season should come crashing down as early as this week against Kansas but more likely in the following three weeks against Texas, Ok St, and @ Oklahoma. | 1 |
| 10 |  |
The Buckeyes got a huge road win routing Michigan State 45-7 in East Lansing. The D forced 5 TO’s, scored 2 TD’s and held Ringer to 67 yards while Beanie paced the offense with 140 yards rushing and 2 scores. Next up: Night game in the ‘Shoe against Joe Pa’s Lions. | 1 |
| 11 |  |
LSU needed a 14-0 second half to escape South Carolina with a 24-17 win setting up Saturday’s home showdown against Georgia. LSU defense registered 6 sacks and held the Cocks to 39 yards rushing. | 1 |
| 12 |  |
Boise State forced 5 turnovers and got 3 TD passes from Kellen Moore in a 27-7 decision over Hawaii to extend their home winning streak to 17. (Okla 21) | 2 |
| 13 |  |
The Utes won their 9th straight game, a 49-16 decision over Colorado State. TCU and BYU are 2 of 4 remaining games. | 3 |
| 14 |  |
The Tiger defense found themselves in a talent mismatch as Texas racked up 591 yards of offense in a 56-31 dismantling. The loss moved Mizzou to 0-11 all time against top ranked opponents. | 5 |
| 15 |  |
The Horned Frogs defense shut down BYU’s aerial attack in a 32-7 drubbing totaling 6 sacks and 2 INT’s of the overhyped Max Hall. | NR |
| 16 |  |
Pitt sunk Navy 42-21 behind LeSean McCoy’s 156 yards rushing and 3 TD’s. The Panthers have now won 5 straight. | 3 |
| 17 |  |
Matt Grothe threw for 3 TD’s and ran for another in USF’s 45-13 win over Syracuse’s Intramural squad. | 3 |
| 18 |  |
I got some flak for hating on BYU but they finally proved me right getting blown out by TCU 32-7. Cougar’s savior Max Hall threw 2 INTs and was sacked 6 times. | 5 |
| 19 |  |
The Jayhawks put up 31 points behind Todd Reesing’s 342 passing yards and 2 TD but the D couldn’t stop Oklahoma in a 45-31 loss. Kansas also committed 2 turnovers and converted just 2/12 3rd downs to kill any chances of an upset. | 4 |
| 20 |  |
Bye week. Next up: @ Purdue | 3 |
| 21 |  |
Bye week. Next up: Eastern Michigan | 3 |
| 22 |  |
The Mildcats moved to 6-1 with a 48-26 whuppin’ on Purdue thanks to CJ Bacher’s 3 TD’s through the air and another on the ground. | NR |
| 23 |  |
The ‘Noles moved to 5-1 thanks to a 26-17 win over NC State. FSU QB Christian Ponder threw for 254 yards and a score. 3rd downs: FSU 10/17, NCST 1/9. | NR |
| 24 |  |
The Wildcats upset Cal 42-27 behind freshman RB Keola Antolin’s 149 yards rushing and 3 TD’s. Arizona scored 28 points in the 3rd quarter. This ranking could be short lived as the Wilcats host USC this week. | NR |
| 25 |  |
Why not? The Golden Hurricane put a 77-35 hurtin’ on UTEP behind David Johnson’s 434 yards passing and 5 TD’s. Tulsa amassed a staggering 791 yards of offense. Sure, they don’t play anybody but they’re fun to watch scoring no less than 37 points in any game this season with at least 45 points in the other six. | NR |
DROPPED OUT: Virginia Tech (#17), Michigan State (#18), North Carolina (#21), California (#22), Vanderbilt (#25).
I don’t think you can move USC ahead of Florida because of a big win over what may be the worst BCS conference team ever. There are no teams in the SEC, ACC, Big10, Big12 or Big East they would beat like that, especially on the road. Ok, maybe Syracuse.
And Penn State ahead of Alabama? You must think their big wins over Temple and Coastal Carolina are more impressive than I do.
PSU had dominant wins over mediocre teams, and Bama had close wins over mediocre teams… oh and a dominant win over UGA. Could go either way.
All in all looks pretty solid. It’s the 4-9 spots that are very blurry for me on all polls. I kinda want to put TT and Okie St higher. I know we wanna give those powerhouse teams (USC, Florida, UGA) the benefit of the doubt but I’m big on the idea that if you lose, especially to a mediocre, unranked opponent, you should be punished for it. No way teams should get excused for losing, when teams like OSU are punished for winning despite lackluster performance.
I’d have it:
4 Oklahoma – stays up because they lost a competitive game to the #1 team.
5 Oklahoma St – undefeated
6 Texas Tech – undefeated
7 UGA – lost to the current #2 but got destroyed, and I have yet to see an impressive victory so I’m not too high on them and expect them to drop out of the top 10.
8 Florida – They looked beastly against LSU, but again they lost to a mediocre team. Inconsistency. Let Florida earn a higher rank through winning out a tough schedule… I think they can do it.
9 USC – I’ll probably get heat for this. They’re a powerhouse with one big win under their belt, which IMO is negated by a loss to a bad Oregon St team. And they can sleep through the rest of their schedule. If people want to keep OSU away from the top due to a weak schedule then USC should suffer similar fate since their’s is worse. That said they’ll end up in the top 5 anyway.
Of course this is all moot. The picture will become a LOT clearer in the coming weeks. It helps obviously that a lot of these teams are actually going to be playing each other now.
USC should be in the the top 5 because on a neutral field they would beat just about anyone. Chances are they would be fired up and that is a different team than lost to Oregon St.
Number 1 is easy since Tx is the only team to really beat two quality opponents. I would have Bama number 2 then Penn St. But those can be flipped.
Keep my Bucks around 10. One good game a great team does not make. We must remember that it was only Michigan state and not even Pitt or someone that is also borderline respectable.
Honestly, I don’t think USC should move up at all after soundly beating a team that just had open tryouts for the QB position. They haven’t played anyone that had all their stars in the game, except the one that beat them (Oregon State). And they’re not playing anyone for the rest of the season. The win over the Bucks was good, but this Buckeye team is not the same one they saw in September.
So, I disagree with moving USC up after they beat a high school team while Florida moves down 2 spots after dismantling LSU.
OU doesn’t play defense, and they’re winning in the Big 12 because no one else plays defense either.
Alabama and Penn State being flip flopped is probably okay. What Penn State did in the 1st half mimics Alabama’s 2nd half performance. Rewarding Penn State for theatrics against a team they usually can’t beat – that’s fair.
Steve…thanks for the input…just to clarify our stance, we are not moving USC up or Florida down based on last weekend. We did so because on a neutral field we think USC is more likely to emerge the winner. That’s certainly no slam dunk so let me ask who you think would win on a neutral field between those two?
Not to budge into a conversation. But, on a neutral field I believe USC would beat Florida. If USC has there D intact I believe they can stop Tebow and that offense. I would take USC, expecially when its the small games that they are supposed to win they dont show up for. This would be a huge game and USC would show up.
Brian I agree. USC only fails to play well one or two games a year in conference. There is always a weekend when they should roll but for some reason they never wake up. But then at the end of the year, they win a BCS game, etc
When they are in a big game environment, rarely is there a better team. Must be almost as frustrating in a different way for them as it is for us.
1)Texas……If you need an explanation for this, well then you sir should no longer be allowed to watch college football.
2)Penn State….beats everyone they should beat the way they should beat them.
3)Alabama…..That Clemson win has lost its’ appeal and they are having too many close calls.
4)Oklahoma…..only loss is to the best team in the country (they were still in the game in the 4rth quarter) and they beat a solid Cincy team.
5)USC…..best win by a team not named Texas or Alabama and only 1 loss (that was on the road)
6)Florida….best win by a team not named Texas, Alabama, or USC; and only 1 loss (however it was at home so USC gets the nod)
7)Ohio State….has beat a few quality opponents and their only loss was on the road without their best player in the lineup and a different QB.
8)Georgia….their wins are turning out to be no better than OSU’s…..but their loss was at home and was over by the end of the 1st quarter…….OSU almost made it to halftime.
9)Oklahoma State…..undefeated with a quality win……but I want to see them go a couple more weeks before I buy in.
10)Texas Tech…….They get this ranking only because they are undefeated…..I think they will end up seeing a similar fate as BYU.
Because this is not supposed to be what should be the final rankings but what they are at this moment, which is my argument against the neutral field question, you just have to look at what they are doing and what they have done, not what you think that might be able to do. I rank by fewest losses, then by quality of loss. This is how I have it:
1)Texas
2)Alabama
3)Penn State
4)Oklahoma State
5)Texas Tech (this is high for them even but it will sort itself out)
6)Oklahoma
7)USC
8)Georgia
9)tOSU
10)Florida
I honestly think Oklahoma (and even the rest of 7-10) could beat OK St and Texas Tech on a neutral field, but we will actually see them play later in the Big 12 schedule, so it will sort out itself and as long as 7-10 keep winning, keep moving them up, in that order.
PS good to see Tulsa in there
Chris, thanks for the reply. USC vs. Florida on a neutral field? As much as I follow college football (which is on the level of “extensively”), I’m surprisingly bad at picking winners. But, look, we saw what Michigan did to Florida in the bowl game last year, and Michigan went out there with an offense that pretty well mimics what USC does this year. And there’s no question that USC has the capacity to whitewash whoever they play off the field. But, is it fair to put them closer to a top-2 ranking after their loss in Corvalis simply because of a guess?
I think people look at that as if it didn’t even happen simply because USC has the best rated talent in the country. That’s like basing a set of rankings off of the Rivals recruit ratings from 2004-2006. I just don’t think that’s not fair.
So, yes, I feel that USC would annihilate Florida on a neutral field, IF USC shows up. IF Ohio State shows up, they’d beat anyone in the top-10, too, including USC. IF Florida showed up like they did against LSU, they’d beat anyone in the top-10. HOWEVER, I think Texas Tech is a pretender on par with Missouri, and people are in for a RUDE awakening when Oklahoma State gets b*thcsmacked by both Texas and Oklahoma coming up. So should I penalize them because I think they’d lose 9 out of 10 times against any of the other top-10 competition on a neutral field?
No, you reward a team for doing good things, and you penalize them for doing bad things, or for not doing anything. You know, all things being equal, Florida and USC each have a bad loss. But Florida absolutely clocked LSU, and USC did the same to Ohio State. Only, in USC’s case, Ohio State was playing with the best player in the nation on the sidelines.
So yes, perceptions are worth their weight in gold, which comes to about $0.03. I don’t care who I think would win on a neutral field. I, as a Buckeye fan, thought Miami was going to destroy us in January of 2003 – and I was wrong.
Bucksfanxc, Did you watch both the USC/Ohio State and the Georgia/Alabama game?
There is no way you can say that Georgia’s home loss was better than OSU going to USC and getting beat….not to mention that OSU at least hung around until halftime.
I did watch both games. And maybe you’re right, especially considering tOSU is a completely different team now than the one that got waxed in LA. I guess I was over-compensating for my homerism. Maybe I’m just blinded by SEC speed.
Maybe you are….sorry it took me so long, but I’m from the Big Ten, so I’m clearly slow.