Before any of this week’s BlogPoll festivities get started, I want to proclaim it from the highest rooftops: No, there is no fucking way Georgia should be ranked ahead of Tennessee in either the AP or coaches’ polls this week. The fact that Georgia is even ranked period at this point is proof that none of the voting sportswriters or coaches watched a single minute of that game.
And this from a guy who would rather listen to Michael Bolton CDs at the bottom of a well-used Port-O-Let on a hot summer day than say anything nice about Tennessee.
So anyway, please excuse this week’s ballot. My mental state is not stable at the moment.
Games watched: Memphis-Marshall, the first half of Auburn-Vanderbilt (listened to on the radio), the second half of Georgia-Georgia Tech, the Tennessee-Georgia debacle, parts of Florida State-N.C. State, the second half of LSU-Florida.
1. LSU (last week: 1)
Yeah, yeah, I know, if any of those five fourth-down conversions goes awry we may be sitting here talking about what a dumbass Les Miles is. But he’s a great coach if for no other reason than because he had confidence in his players to make those plays, and I can’t think of any better motivational technique than to tell your players, “Yes, you can do this, and you will.” Kind of makes me wish we had more of that on Georgia’s sideline these days.
2. Ohio State (4)
3. California (3)
4. Boston College (5)
5. Oklahoma (8)
6. South Florida (7)
7. South Carolina (9)
8. Oregon (12)
Up four spots this week for doing nothing — mainly because of two things: One, I feel like I hit them too hard last week for what was really an extremely competitive loss to a great Cal team, and two, there’s no way I can put them below Southern Cal at this point. Actually, make that three things: Kelsi Metzler, SI.com’s Cheerleader of the Week, is off-the-charts hot — are you happy now, Andy? — but of course that only means the Ducks are going to get klonged when they play Washington State this week.
9. Florida (13)
Up four spots? After losing to LSU? I have to cut them some slack — they put on a truly inspired performance and would’ve had a stirring bounce-back victory in one of college football’s toughest venues had it not been for Les Miles’s gigantic, chrome-plated testicles.
10. Southern California (2)
I kind of feel like I should drop them even more slots than this, because they lost to Stanford the same way they nearly lost to Washington the week before: turnovers, inconsistent QB play, and a bunch of penalties. As Ian Fleming once said, “Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action”; if they pull the same stuff against Arizona next week, they could drop further, even if they end up winning the thing.
11. West Virginia (10)
12. Missouri (19)
13. Auburn (16)
14. Arizona State (11)
15. Kentucky (14)
South Carolina showed that a good defensive performance can throw this team off track, but it’s worth noting that they needed some big defensive plays to do it, and even then, the Wildcats managed to roll up 384 yards. Hence the drop of only one slot this week.
16. Tennessee (NR/27)
Last week I caught some heat for only dropping Oklahoma a few slots in the wake of their stunning loss to Colorado (and for not ranking Colorado at all) because OU did lead 24-7 at one point, after all, and the whole thing seemed “fluky.” Apparently the nation’s poll voters think Tennessee’s win over Georgia was “fluky,” too, because UGA is still ranked ahead of UT in the AP poll (24 vs. 25), whereas in the coaches’ poll, Georgia is still hanging in there at 23 while Tennessee is still in the “others receiving votes” category. WTF?!? Guys, since you obviously didn’t see that game, let me clue you in: There is a difference between “coughing up a 24-7 lead” and “never having a lead to begin with.” Oklahoma waited until the fourth quarter to get caught napping; Georgia was asleep from the opening kickoff and remained that way for the duration of the game. To call Georgia one of the 25 best teams in the country is a damn-near-unforgivable insult to at least 95 others.
17. Illinois (22)
18. Cincinnati (NR/28)
19. Hawaii (23)
20. Arkansas (24)
Things get a little wonky around here — Arkansas up four despite sleepwalking through a game against a who-cares opponent, Texas down only two, Michigan down five after a win — so all I can say is that if these teams had to face each other in the hypothetical neutral-field situation, this is how I think things would shake out. And after a week in which Stanford knocked off Southern Cal in Los Angeles, who are you to judge me?!?!
21. Virginia Tech (21)
22. Texas (20)
23. Michigan (18)
24. Kansas (NR)
25. Wisconsin (6)
The next five: Boise State, Texas Tech, Penn State, Georgia, Maryland.
Dropped out: Georgia (15), Rutgers (17), Penn State (25).
5 comments:
1. I think you're being too kind to USC. Just pull off the band-aid and drop them to somewhere in the 15 - 20 range.
2. My brother, an Oregon alum, assures me that Ms Metzler is not one of the hotter Oregon cheerleaders. I wonder if this is a cunning plan to set up some kind of karmic defense against the SI cheerleader curse - by featuring a brunette who is not conventionally teh hottness (but still infinitely better looking than me, that's for sure).
despite having no connection to the school, I witnessed USC's loss to Stanford in person. And if I had a vote they would also be lower.
BC in the top 5 looks silly, but there's really nothing really you can do about it.
my god, you got to watch the Georgia-Georgia Tech game this weekend - how did you get a preview on that?!
oh, Maryland-Georgia Tech - no where near the same thing, Doug! Even if Tech lost...
I don't like nitpicking blogpoll ballots, especially at the bottom...
But I wonder, what has Wisconsin done to get ranked that isn't almost equally applicable to Indiana?
The Hoosiers and Badgers both beat Iowa, though Wisconsin was at home and eked out a win, while Indiana won by 3 scores on the road.
Illinois beat both (Indiana lost at home by 2 scores, Wisconsin never led on the road).
The other Big Ten Game for each:
Wisconsin barely beat Michigan State at home.
Indiana pounded Minnesota at home.
OOC Games?
Wisconsin has a decent win at home against Washington State, but played uninspiringly at 2-4 UNLV and was tied with 1-AA Citadel at the half.
Indiana pounded their 1-AA opponent (Indiana State) 55-7, won by 10 at Western Michigan (game wasn't even that close though), and whipped Akron at home.
Personally, I don't think Wisconsin has done enough to merit getting ranked - and they compare favorably to Indiana (a team I also doubt should be ranked).
"To call Georgia one of the 25 best teams in the country is a damn-near-unforgivable insult to at least 95 others."
This sounds like you're saying 95 teams are better than UGA in the FBS. You can't honestly believe that?
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