BLOGPOLL FINAL BALLOT, 06-07: WOO HAWAII!

The final ballot for this season. Keep in mind that we're going absolute value/resume, here: each team is ranked by where we think their absolute value is at the end of the season divided by their overall resume. Toss in a whiff of their bowl finish, and you've got the order.

Note: like all our ballots, it's a weeping mess.

The one spot. Florida, natch. Derrick Harvey just stole Troy Smith's car, and Troy thanked him for it.

Boise at two. This is as much a protest vote as it is a reflection of Boise's ability to win under the duress of being a smallish program going undefeated, even when matched against superior competition in their bowl game. Boise, in theory, deserves at least the icing off the national title game. Them not getting the chance to be "the George Mason" of the proposed playoff tourney is one more reason Jim Delany should be thrown in a vat of starving minks.

LSU #3, USC #4. Both destroyed opposition in their bowl games, an indicator that the better matchup would have been for these two to play each other. A dispirited Michigan crew and hopelessly outmatched Notre Dame squad fluff the feathers a bit for both of these chickens; however, their glittering shelves of blue chippers, coaching staffs,and records during the season validate a mini-tie here. LSU gets the nod because we saw them in person versus the national champs, and USC lost to Oregon State and UCLA, two teams = not real good.

Ohio State, gimme five! Coasted through a down Big Ten and then got exposed as slowish on the lines and inflexible in gameplanning. Never really tarred and feathered anyone of substance during the season, and snuck in on Texas before Colt McCoy realized his own awesomeness. After watching the game on Monday, run the hypotheticals in your head between Ohio State and anyone of the above (save the protest vote with Boise, of course.) Would it have looked drastically different with any of them? Would OSU have beaten any of them? We say nay.

The rest:

A strong tailwind helps. Wisconsin bumps upward because of their mean finish. The Big East, 5-0 in their admittedly choice bowl scheduling, remains in a clot just above and around Michigan. (You think a WVU/Michigan game wouldn't have been a 49-42 scorefest? And that Lloyd Carr wouldn't have done something conservative that would have hobbled their chances at winning? And that Rich Rodriguez wouldn't have pulled some fake punt/hook and ladder/Kobayashi Maru scenario widget out of his playbook to win it?)

Other teams gusting up: WOOOO HAWAII! Underdog sympathies float them high, but they looked shockingly physical against Pac-10 competition, and Colt Brennan on further review may not be the second coming of Timmy Chang/Kliff Kingsbury/David Klingler/system qb reaping benefits of pass-wackiness vs. weak scheduling. Mormon nice fellas BYU got downright rude against Oregon to rise here, and Georgia pulled a MacGyver, using a roll of duck tape, some spare nuts and bolts, and two tablespoons of peanut butter to make a bomb and blow their way into the polls at the end of the season.

And Oregon State went for two to win their bowl game, which just deserves some kind of testicular bonus points.

And going limp never impressed anyone, especially Tera Patrick. For those who got to the big scene and couldn't perform, consequences are harsh: Notre Dame, Virginia Tech (though we really wish we could write in subscript the name "Sean Glennon" here,) and Arkansas all feel the wrath of the scorned pollster porn starlet, who can find someone else to do her scene with, thank you very much.

Yarr. Texas Tech comes back from 38-7 to win 44-41 and get Glen "If I Only Had a Stadium" Mason fired. If you have to have fun with the 25 spot, it must be Texas Tech.