BLOG POLL BALLOT
Only one more week to go before the bowl season is upon us. It is a bittersweet time in college football. So, without further ado, we give you our melancholy addition of our Blog Poll Ballot.
1. Texas. They struggled a bit, but it was a rivalry game and USC was idle leaving us only with the memory of almost losing to Fresno State, who was losing to Nevada, so Texas stays put.
2. USC. Despite the close calls, the winning streak speaks for itself.
3. Penn State. There are a whole bunch of UCLA fans in the northeast this weekend.
4. LSU. That was a close one, but Arkansas was a much improved team as the year progressed. They probably would have one the Big XII North if they were over there.
5. Virginia Tech. Beamer ball was back and in full effect. But I am still wondering what the hell happened to Marcus Mexico?
6. Ohio State.
7. Notre Dame: Close call. Notre Dame looks great at times, but I am still left a little unsatisfied by the fact that their best win was a close loss to USC.
8. Auburn. Who wants to play them in the bowls???
9. Oregon: There best win is who?
10. UCLA. The are still alive for a BCS appearance and hero worship status in Louisianna or Pennsylvania.
11. Georgia: Did both offenses forget to show up for the game on Saturday? Be that as it may, the Dawgs have to be happy that they tookout Tech for the 5th straight year.
12. Miami: They took care of business, but didn’t do anything to impress in the process.
13. Alabama
14. West Virginia. Too bad USF choked last week as it would have been a pseudo championship game in Tampa this week.
15. TCU. Taking over for Fresno State as the quality mid-major thanks to the Nevada debacle.
16. Florida. FSU rolled over, but that was still the Gator’s best performance of the year. Finally the offense looks like a blend of Meyer’s spread system with some tweaks to protect the quarterback from certain death.
17. Louisville: How will the scheme hold up without Brohm in the bowl game?
18. Boston College. The following teams are rising by default.
19. Texas Tech.
20. Wisconsin.
21. Michigan.
22. Oklahoma.
23. Iowa
24. Georgia Tech: Tough loss.
25. UCF. Why not. I mean, who is really getting screwed by UCF being ranked.
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RowdyRoddy: Thoughtful and entertaining. Story about ND and Navy during the war is true, though the real reason for the hook-up–likely that some Holy Cross father was butt buddies with some Navy pre-flight honcho–has never been revealed. As for ND and money, there’s some truth to what you’re saying, I’m sure, though folks need to keep in mind that the University is rich as Croesus already. Endowment is north of $3.5 billion (yes, that’s with a “B”), which puts it nearly in a league of its own among universities playing D1 football at a top-20 level (Stanford is nosing up against $9 million; SC is at $2.5 million). No, to understand ND you need to understand the extent to which what seems to be its arrogance is rooted in the chip it carries on its shoulder. I don’t think they’ve ever gotten over being blackballed from the Big Ten. And almost everything they do can, if viewed from that perspective, be looked at as having been intended as a finger to the rest of the non-Notre Dame world. Without that chip, there’s no distinguishing them from Duke, Northwestern, Southern Cal, Vandy, and a handful of others.
Comment by Schleprock — December 4, 2005 @ 8:39 pm
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Rick, I hate to break the news to you but you’re not exactly the “sharpest knife in the drawer.” SEC = Best conference on planet. I wish I could sugar coat it for you, but there is just no easy way to say it. I know you’re probably tearing up right now as you read this post. It’ll be okay. A lie repeated enough times eventually becomes truth right? Well, no it doesn’t. But I bet you’ll keep on anyways. Don’t say anything, just think about it. And by the way, don’t interpret this as a low blow, but Weis is a disguisting slob that has killed the Notre Dame program. Ty Willingham would have the Irish sitting at 10-1 right now. You can take that to the bank.
Comment by Smartest Man Ever — December 4, 2005 @ 1:02 am
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Christ on a crutch. I really had no idea that people were so attached to the idea that their conference like totally rocks while everyone else blows. I pulled this together and posted in the bean-o thread, win pctg. conf vs. conf and it does look like there are a few weak ones out there, but there are also a couple where there appears to be no disticntion.
|||||||Big 10|SEC|Pac-10|ACC |Big-East| Big 12
Big 10| XXX |.511| .518|.637 | .679 |||.599
SEC||||.489 |XXX | .608|.541 | .623 |||.506
Pac-10|.482 |.392| XXX |.537 | .506 |||.437
ACC |||.363 |.459| .463| XXX | .580 |||.522
Big-Es|.321 |.377| .494|.420 | XXX |||.500
Big 12|.401 |.494| .563|.478 |.500 ||||XXX
I would like to point out that PSU had an h-h with Alabama for 2004-2005 but Alabama requested to move it back due to sanctions. Little did they realize our program would do it’s damndest to look like it got the death penalty, without actually getting it, in 2004. Hopefully we can get it back and going. I’d love to go to T-town to take in a game. To all of those who believe the SEC is without a doubt the best conference out there, nothing anyone is going to type will change your mind. I don’t think there’s enough evidence to do it anyway. There’s also no evidence to back up claims of unquestionable superiorty. If being reasonable isn’t your strong suit, so be it.
Schleprock: This whole entire Navy thing fascinates me. I’d heard this story of the Navy saving ND during WWII and really had a hard time picturing a) how the hell the navy got to South Bend in the first place b) why the Japanese decided that ND should be the focus of their attacks on mainland america. I guess financially saving it makes more sense.
I think it’s nonsensical to call PSU pussies for joining a conference and then cite three teams from said conference as proof ND schedules difficult opponents, if we were pussies we would have joined the Big East. I know you’re probably sick of all the “quit queerbaiting and join a conference” talk and I feel your pain. Anyone with two working brain cells knows that ND is not in a conference for exactly the same reason everyone else is in a conference, money. Until ND stops raking it in on its own (or until it gets sick of being identified as independent…just like Temple) ND will not join a conference. ND also has a fair degree of flexibility to schedule quality opponents. The amount earned from their exclusive contract with NBC is quite a bit more on a per school basis than anyone in a conference. This means they don’t have to schedule tomato cans that are willing to come to town for a few bucks and some national press. Given their deal with the BCS they’ve also managed to guarantee themselves a BCS payout for every 2 loss season. This is not criticism of ND, just pointing out that a brand like ND can operate in a much different way than anyone else. This is why we hate them
ADs don’t care if their own students think they’re gay and they really don’t care if some other university’s students think they’re gay. They have one job and that’s to make money for the school. That’s why conference alignments and schedules are the way they are. As a PSU alum and fan, I’m fired up for the PSU/ND home and home. I only wish we could have gotten a preview in the Fiesta.
For everyone crying about a 1 loss Oregon team getting bumped out of an at-large bid by a 9-2 Ohio State or ND, please write this down. Apparently people do care who you schedule OOC (in OSUs case) or in general (NDs case). Please consider this when Houston wants to come over and ya know…hang out and stuff.
Comment by RowdyRoddyPiper — December 3, 2005 @ 3:34 am
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I can’t believe that there is someone out there who is actually taking a stand and saying that the SEC is not the best overall conference. If the SEC is not the best conference, then who the hell is. You sir are crazy.
Comment by bryan — December 2, 2005 @ 11:11 am
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Also, now that I’ve read this, everyone arguing against the SEC being the best overall conference is an utter fool.
Comment by Kevin — December 1, 2005 @ 10:04 pm
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I know a number of Vandy football players. They’re just as dumb here as at any other university.
The University of Florida has a player who got a 1600 and I’ve heard from a bunch of girls there who are groupies that Urban is all bout the academics. Also, Florida has more scholar athletes than pretty much anywhere else.
Comment by Kevin — December 1, 2005 @ 9:57 pm
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Then you should know better than to refer to Tennessee as the creme of the academic crop in the SEC. Outrage! Get your orange hate on man!
Comment by Plowhand — December 1, 2005 @ 8:47 pm
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I see that someone posted about players in the NFL from the SEC. Do you know where i can find this kind of info?
Comment by Zach — December 1, 2005 @ 8:07 pm
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Actually, Rob, the point I’m trying to make is that Notre Dame regularly slates the toughest schedule of anybody in the land, and the notion that they feed off cupcakes is just horseshit.
Yes, they play Navy. They’ll always play Navy. The U.S. Navy saved the university during World War II, when it was in real danger of closing down, and so Navy has a game with ND as long as it wants. And should. (See the contrast here? The game exists as a perpetual payoff of a 60-year-old debt rather than a chance for some I-AA diploma mill to get a fat payoff as a tuneup for Fathead U.) Further, there’s real respect between the two, even though the one always wins. Witness this year, when the ND players went and stood with the Middies after the game. Ditto Air Force and (next year) Army. Fine, call them cupcakes, if you want, but the service academy players are the very best minds and bodies the nation has to offer (and trained killers to boot), and I’d sure as hell rather see my team play them than Western Michigan or Bowling Green or Idaho or some other sorry-assed collection of thick-headed never-will-be’s.
As for the rest of the schedule, ND has standing games with historical rivals Michigan, Michigan State, and Purdue, and (in the best intersectional rivalry in the land) of course with SC. Beyond that, they schedule home-and-home with anybody who has the stones to play them. The series are obviously scheduled sufficiently in advance that there’s no accounting for a down year. UT was decent last year, this year they sucked. This year ND played opponents from SEC, Big Ten, PAC 10, Big East, and WAC, as well as independent Navy. Within the past decade, their home-and-home opponents have included Miami & Penn State (before both pussied out and joined conferences), Florida State, Nebraska, Tennessee, Colorado, Washington, at times (and most times, at that) when all were top 20, and often top 10. Next year, UCLA, Penn State, and Georgia Tech come back on. (BC is back on in ‘07 and LSU in ‘09.) In fact, the Irish OPEN with Georgia Tech, Penn State, and Michigan, which they’ll play while every Big State U is warming up with the likes of Miami of Ohio. Now, in the event, some or all three of these teams may bite by August of next year. But, as it stands now, there isn’t ANYbody, ANYwhere who matches that. End of story.
Plowhard: You probably won’t be surprised to know that my degrees are from Notre Dame and Vanderbilt.
Comment by Schleprock — December 1, 2005 @ 7:09 pm
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I thought the GSBBS05 was about the Gang of Six?
Also, I think there’s a difference between saying that the SEC is a bad conference - which I don’t think - and saying that 9 or 10 SEC teams could go undefeated in the Pac-10 - which is just a teeensy bit overbord. Usually, the SEC is a better conference than the Pac-10 is. Like I said, not by as much as the polls seem to indicate, but they are better… it helps to have 12 teams, true, but it also helps that many of the teams in the SEC have a lot of football tradition which adds a ton in recruiting (and several non-traditional SEC powers have had major success in recent years, like UF).
Either way, the SEC generally is a very good conference - though I’m not sure that’s true this year, they’re not terrible, but I don’t think they’re better than the Pac-10 is (for example, I think Oregon and UCLA could all give any team in the SEC a pretty good game at the least - it’d be fun watching their offenses go up against SEC defenses, and vice versa).
Even if you disagree and think the SEC is still better this season, I find it very hard to believe that THIS year’s SEC is -so- much better that it’s out of the question, which bryan seems to do. That’s what I was responding to.
Comment by Underbruin — December 1, 2005 @ 6:38 pm
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We’ve encountered this fight in a few different variants here, most notably during the Sissy Boy Blogger slapfight of 2005 and its sequel, the Gas Huffing Incident.
Comment by Orson Swindle — December 1, 2005 @ 6:16 pm
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“Take the Pac-10, I would go as far as to say that 80% of the teams in the SEC could go undefeated in that conference. I mean who the hell do you play that is worth a damn.”
You could go as far as to say that. You’d be wrong, but hey, that’s never stopped people on the oh-so-moderated internet before. Saying “undefeated” alone is moronic because it ignores the 800-pound gorilla that is the Trojans. I think that this year, LSU or Auburn might, MIGHT have a shot at going undefeated. Florida had too many troubles mid-season, while injuries to Prothro and Shockley derailed the ‘Bama and UGA teams enough that they would have lost games as well. LSU can obviously be beaten by bad teams (at home, no less) - and they did struggle with ASU. I’m loathe to bring up “close losses” as proof that teams are comparable, and I won’t go that far, but I will say that it showed that SEC teams can be scored on, just like it showed that SEC offenses can score when playing Pac defenses. That leaves Auburn as a possible candidate this year to go undefeated, if they can play up to their level of football every week - which is very difficult to do.
People keep discounting how difficult it is to go undefeated - just look at UCLA. I know, I know, the team’s really not that good. But I CAN guarentee you that they’re a much better team than the Arizona Wildcats (UofA got manhandled by a Washington team that’s one of the worst in the country). Or take the aforementioned Auburn team - they lost at home against Georgia Tech. It’s true GTech’s a good team, but they weren’t playing all that well in the beginning of the season (they struggled against UNC and UConn, lost by 44 to VTech and then got beat at home by a mediocre NC State team).
Comment by Underbruin — December 1, 2005 @ 6:10 pm
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OK guys… to clear something up, ND is the one that dropped the Home and Home with Auburn. Rumors have Auburn trying to get a Home and Home with Maryland (i know it is ACC) but the SEC and Big 10 will not play each other in the regular season, because of the bowl matchups. Most of the bowl tie ins with the SEC are SEC/BIG 10. I agree that the SEC plays too many cupcakes, but it is not always the SEC teams fault. I do not see any team calling Auburn to play except USC wanted to play one game (this season) and it had to be at USC. Auburn is up grading Jordan-Hare Stadium and they have to have 7 home games to justify the cost. I am sure that everyone will continue bitch and moan about the SEC doing something wrong.
Comment by Zach — December 1, 2005 @ 4:34 pm
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Schleprock, shut up. Real students? Maurice Clarett and that brain trust Andy Katzenmoyer seem to jump right out at me. Don’t say that our schools are better because yours suck because that makes it seem like you’ve never attended one yourself.
Comment by rob — December 1, 2005 @ 2:39 pm
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And again, when is the Big 10 and Notre Dame coming on down South?
Comment by Rick — December 1, 2005 @ 2:03 pm
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Not in the SEC (which is what you brought up with the circlejerk comment), but for the sake of argument, fine. One game out of however many “nonconference” games they get to schedule over the next decade. And Tech returns the favor, so that works against the argument that we don’t travel down here.
Comment by LD — December 1, 2005 @ 1:32 pm