BLOGPOLL, WEEK SIX: HUH? EDITION

You’ve got UGA only one spot below SC?!?!? j/k

FUCK Y—

Oh, just kidding? Ha. HA-ha. Yeah.

I can feel the singed nerves from here, Orson.

3 Pac 10 teams in the top 5? Les Miles may go all Hayley L. on yo ass.

3 teams in the top 5 are from the Pac-10 – and Arizona State is way underated at #20. Now that’s what we call a knock-down, drag-out conference.

That will shake out, we think—one of the three is likely overrated.

ASU is starting to glow with evil Ericson firewater luminescence, aren’t they?

Like last year Orson you have midgets scrambling between the legs of giants to climb the mountain, only to be tossed back down in the near future(USF, Missouri, Cincinnati, KY). Meantime, giants who have slipped on a loose rock and slid to the bottom begin climbing with vengance (TX, GA, Auburn).

When the season nears end you will again see nothing but giants at or near the top, everyone else will be where “scenery never changes”

Missouri looks a lil high, even though they are winning, I just assume they’ll shit the bed here soon enough.

Hawaii played two D-1AA teams. That fact alone should eliminate them from BCS consideration.

KANSAS?!?!?? F’in KANSAS??!?!? They have beaten Central Michigan, SE Louisiana, Toledo & Florida International. Give me a break. What a joke. It’s not just here, it’s been elsewhere. Why do they get an ounce of love for winning those games? They should win every game 100-0. I hope K-State wins by 60.

And yes, it annoys me because Kansas is getting the media love and UConn is being called the worst undefeated team in the country.

Whether K-State or Kansas wins, I’m hoping the winning coach “cranks that”.

Brian is dead to me because of last Saturday. Tech knows what they did, or what they allowed us to do to ourselves, which, by my watch, was about a month ahead of schedule.

Dirty, dirty rodents.

I pray we see you in Jax in December, but I will not be that lucky on either score, in all probability. Patrick Nix wants a piece of you! I hope you can taste the mock fear.

Still, hoping Kentucky brings it on Thursday night, but I don’t see South Carolina losing again until November, and definitely not against us if we play anything like we did on Saturday.

To those who are casting their lot with Kentucky, I would point out the following:

Tomorrow night, Steve Spurrier will be coaching the South Carolina Gamecocks.

Tomorrow night, Rich Brooks will be coaching the Kentucky Wildcats.

I’m just saying, if you’re thinking about taking the points, how are you going to feel when they show that split screen on ESPN?

Edsall,

Well, UConn is undefeated thanks to a blown call at the end of the Temple game; a Temple team that lost by 35 to Buffalo the week before. That’d be 1-4, hasn’t threatened anyone since that game, Buffalo. Kansas has at least destroyed all of those shitty teams they’ve beaten.

Remarkably solid, although I echo that Arizona State is undervalued.

Im in ur pacten, dominaten’ yr top fiv.

Humbling objectivity… I like it.

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You are so very, very wrong. The Temple player was bobbling the ball the whole time. That’s why it wasn’t a catch on the field. That’s why it didn’t get overturned. Unfortunately, there was no camera that showed this. The only reason I know is because the play happened about 25 feet in front of me. Granted, they should have won by more but they did win.

I don’t care if Kansas has blown out those four cupcakes, it doesn’t mean anything. At least the other questionable undefeated teams, like Cincinnati, have beaten one marginally talented team. Kansas has not.

Hey Orson, you left off Auburn. Is that your payback for Saturday?

War Eagle!

UConn has a football team?

Good job Swindle. I applaud your homerism-abating decision to place OU ahead of Florida—which I don’t agree with, by the way. And your swift correction of last week’s Buckeye injustice pleases as well. Although I can’t believe West by God is 5 slots better than that sad little Texas team at this point.

1. - dont fool urself, without mangino being larger than life few would know Kansas played football.

Commence bball trash talk between you two though.

Orson..1 or the 3 is overrated? hmmm….since Cal and Oregon played each other and looked good, that pretty much leaves USC, who won’t be tested for another couple of weeks.

I could easily see a 3 way logjam at 8-1 at the end of the year, but then ASU or one of the other middle tier teams could screw things up even more with a key upset or two. After all USC and Cal were co-champs last year with 2 conference losses.

I still have faith in USC though. In Washington a bunch of bad things happened and they still pulled out the win.

just when the fucking lunacy of last saturday begins to wear off…the blogpoll comes out.

Ron Prince as Deion Sanders?

Mark Mangino is likely one of the few people on earth who can properly digest a power towel.

Well built poll. Spots 1-5 are pretty much inarguable, but 6-8 or 9 could probably be shuffled a bit. It doesn’t matter, though, since most of the teams in 6-9 won’t be undefeated at the end of the year anyway.

Beyond those top 9 teams, anyone who says they can accurately rank the rest of the top 25 is a damn liar. Any rankings this year are purely descriptive rather than predictive, given the number of ridiculous upsets.

Edsall – a local TV station’s camera actually had a good angle of it. While it looked like it might be a bad call at first, the TV station’s video clearly shows that he was, in fact, out of bounds and not in control of the ball.

Still – needing that to get by Temple has to be disconcerting.

ASU is still an unknown commodity. They are due for their typical mid-season melt down where they begin to lose random games and end up in the 7-5 range.

They do still have hot co-eds on campus though, and that should at least break them into the top 15. I’m sure pictures can be provided if necessary…please.

Pretty solid poll and I can’t really argue with it. Tough to make such a good poll considering how crazy Saturday was.

I think this upcoming Saturday will give us a lot of info on some teams we aren’t positive about yet.

22 – I was going to accept your “bball” comment aimed at myself and the Jayhawk fan. But then I click on your name and it goes to a Georgia Tech blog. C’mon, really? You’re going to call people out? If you hadn’t noticed, Georgia Tech (with Coach Chan) is a basketball school too.

If anyone can figure the patterns for Chan-ball, I’d love to see them sometimes.

Orson,
Do not let people give you shit about your Blog Poll.

I think this is such quality work I may print it out and post it right on my refrigerator door.

And all of you Kentucky fans attempting reverse psychology on the Football Gods… well played.

USF’s undoing will be this:

The entire offense consists of about 20 plays, and they can’t kick a field goal to save their lives. However, those twenty plays do include appearences by not only the ’Bone, but also the Maryland I.

I am the Woody Allen of USF fans, always freaking out.

Except for the whole under-age-asian-girl-sex thing.

1. - Not when you go bowling 10 times in a row, including 3 gators and a peach, while at the same time your school goes to about 1/2 as many NCAA Tourney’s (though being in the national championship once), I’d call that just all around solid maybe, but not a basketball school.

No Soup for you. Next!

I demand CU be reranked after defeats of Kansas State and Kansas in back-to-back weeks

No 2, No 2 Dept:

A bit steamed that USC is No 2 in the poll, even though they played like “number two” this past Saturday night. I think USCw can run the table, actually.

But, Lou Holthhhh has been going around saying that there will be no undefeated team at the end of the season this year. So, assuming the ‘sage’ is half right, with no major team undefeated at the end of the season, how will it be possible to fairly pick the top two at the end? If something wierd happens at the end of the year, I hope it causes some sort of playoff system to be implemented.

Nice to see Maryland gets some press this week, even if we 1. ran an offense that looks suspiciously like a high school team for the first 4 games of the season, and 2. are now quarterbacked by a third string qb known most “for being popular with the coeds”.

Methinks the Chris Turner honeymoon could end badly, specifically against Georgia Tech.

“Except for the whole under-age-asian-girl-sex thing.”

Isn’t that the best part?

Brian, if you’re looking for consistency, there’s another man named Herb out in the desert who excels at squeaking into the NCAA tourny.

The ACC – we demand national championships in bball, but are estatic with 7-6 bowl bids in football.

ASU?
dunno. San Diego State has played ASU, Wash St, Cincinnati and Portland State. The SDSU offense isn’t bad but the secondary is most kindly described as “inexperienced” and while ASU didn’t exactly struggle to score points, it certainly wasn’t as effortless as Wash St or Cincy. However, I think ASU was missing their best tailback so that might have impacted their performance.

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Don’t let Edsall push you around like that. He’s just upset because UConn isn’t a football school and is barely a Basketball school anymore.

The Bearcats (Cincinnati; you know, the Red Pandas) may be overrated, and they almost certainly will return to form soon, but w/in 5 years, they’ll be right there with West Virginia and Louisville. You know, BCS teams that drop 10 spots with any loss.

I said Gerogia Tech under Chan Gailey has made it a basketball school. Certianly, under Ross and even George O’Leary, it was at least all-around solid. I don’t consider an annual 7-5 record a football school. Unless you’re Alabama and your fans are batshit carazy.

I am upset because UConn’s getting zero love for being undefeated while other, less deserving teams are. It’s one of the things I love/hate about college football. Perception is more than important reality….yet changing that perception is orgasmic. Like when UConn beats UVA in two weeks, goes 6-0, gets ranked and someone like Stewart Mandel writes the “who the heck are these guys??” article. I will wet myself.

1. When the Big East “powerhouses” rack up quality wins against elite programs that won’t happen anymore. Till then, that is the price they pay for too many cupcakes. I

1. (and Orson):

UVA scares me … and I’m a UVA fan. Forget losing to UConn – that’s not happening. There is a distinct possibility that UVA could be 9-1 going into the last two games against Miami and VaTech, both of whom are suspect. Groh will find a way to gak up some games, but … wow.

And to clarify, all of that was – “Really? An Al Groh-coached team could be 9-1? Really?”

The definition of being Al Groh, or Chan Gailey, or Tommy Bowden (basically an ACC coach) is losing games where the fans say, “Forget losing to (insert team), that’s not happening.” That’s exactly when it happens!! UVA 9-1? How bad is the ACC? Or is Wyoming the best team ever?

Edsall – I see you, and I raise you – UConn won’t be the surprise loss; I think I just jinxed the ’Hoos against Middle Tennessee State this weekend.

1. Edsall – my theory on ACC coaches is that their conference rules dictate crazy results every now and then to try to buoy up the conference as a whole under the pretense of parity. As far as I’m concerned, it’s more of an anchor under the pretense of suck-ass than a buoy. Our good lawya, Coop, will be around shortly to object, I’m sure.

I do not place any wagers on ACC games because they make little to no sense. Look at Maryland. Embarassing, gut punch loss to Wake Forest followed by shocking, out of nowhere win over Rutgers. I agree that the league is just a mess of 12 average teams and the results are based on whoever feels like playing good in a given week.

All that being said, a really good coach like Tressel would be undefeated in that league every year.

#35:

Football schools sell out home games consistently – if not always. I believe this disqualifies that institution on North Avenue.

Nor do football schools need help attracting “new consumers” to their “product.” Big Boi? Really?

http://www.ajc.com/gatech/content/sports/gatech/stories/2007/10/01/techfoot_1002.html

And I believe the appropriate saying in Atlanta is “What’ll ya have?”

52 – God, that’s embarassing for any school. I’d rather have empty seats than a packed house because half came to see Outkast at halftime.

Where is the outrage over Wisconsin being so high in this all-important BlogPoll ballot? What have they done to be ranked so far ahead of, say, Purdue?

I hope the redacteds beat their ass and send them tumbling.

1. -

I actually thought Connecticut was a D1-AA school until a few years ago when GT bulldozed them, repeatedly. Remember that, Edsall? Losing to a team headed by Reggie Ball’s infinitely inferior predecessor? Getting lit up for a touchdown on Taylor Bennett’s first play from scrimmage at the college level? Ring any bells?

whew, sorry about that… I may be the world’s only combination GT/KU fan, and hearing shit talked on them both in the same thread is a bit more than I’m used to.

hahaha, well-played. Georgia Tech came up to UConn way back (‘02 maybe, I wasn’t living here) and played in UConn’s old 15,000-seat stadium. My dad went. He said the Tech players look confused all game long.

EisG: Why would the Nats look confused? They’re used to playing in front of 12k. No more. No less.

to take objectivity to the extreme I have a database where I enter game scores weekly to see how the output lines up with the polls. The rules are pretty simple – I take into consideration the win/loss pct of the opponent, margin of victory, home vs road (did you know that to-date this season 70% games are won by home teams?)….let the numbers crunch and pull the top 25. It re-adjusts weekly to take into account ongoing fluctuations (example: oregon’s road win at michigan is re-scored evey week based on UM’s win pct. As UM wins more, Oregon’s win score for that game continues to incrementally increase). The way to view this is a report card of performance to-date, not a “who is the better team”. Anyway, for the curious:

(as of this Monday, before the Kentucky / So Car game)

1. LSU
2. Kentucky
3. Hawaii
4. Ohio State
5. Arizona State
6. Cincinnati
7. California
8. Connecticut
9. *USC
10. Oklahoma

*USC has only played 4 games instead of 5, so they are lagging a bit in the body of work dept. I expect them to make that up later.

Anyway, love the blog – flame away!