Wednesday, September 27, 2006

My Top 25

RankTeamDelta
1 Southern Cal 25
2 Ohio State 24
3 Florida 23
4 Auburn 22
5 Michigan 21
6 Louisiana State 20
7 Louisville 19
8 Texas 18
9 Oregon 17
10 Clemson 16
11 Oklahoma 15
12 Virginia Tech 14
13 West Virginia 13
14 Tennessee 12
15 Iowa 11
16 Notre Dame 10
17 Georgia 9
18 Cal 8
19 TCU 7
20 Nebraska 6
21 Boston College 5
22 Florida State 4
23 Georgia Tech 3
24 Washington 2
25 Boise State 1

Dropped Out:


A few thoughts:

1. I'm sticking with Southern Cal as my top team because their defense has been better than Ohio State's so far and I suspect they'll show more offense when faced with a more threatening opponent than Arizona. The big question with the Trojans is whether they shut down Nebraska or Nebraska shut down themselves out of fear of humiliation.

2. I'm of the opinion that there's nothing wrong with ranking a team that loses a tight game on the road slightly behind (or even ahead of) the team that beat them. For instance, no one who watched the LSU-Auburn game could have come away from it thinking that, on a neutral field, the two teams would not be very even. (Auburn fans, if you wish to dispute this point, then you're essentially arguing that your homefield advantage is worthless, or at least worth no more than a field goal. Do so at your own peril.) I have Florida ahead of Auburn solely because I'm concerned about the Tigers' passing game right now. I might just be bitter because I have Courtney Taylor on my fantasy team...but Steve Slaton keeps me warm at night.

2a. As a corollary to the point on homefield advantage, I'd have no problem later in the year ranking Oklahoma ahead of Oregon, but right now, my concerns about the Sooners' defense, not to mention the fact that they struggled with UAB and then Nebraska and Georgia both destroyed the Blazers, keep OU just out of the top ten.

3. Wake Forest and Missouri are on the cusp of the poll, only being kept out by the "yeah, but it was Ole Miss" rule. I enjoyed sticking Washington into the poll; there's something satisfying about Husky Stadium rocking again. I might still be in aferglow after going to the campus in April and deciding that it was a slightly more caffinated version of the University of Michigan. I have BC, Georgia Tech, and Florida State at the end of the poll and I'm not overjoyed to have any of them in the rankings. They're placeholders right now until some team strikes my fancy, as Washington did this weekend, and then I can dispatch them.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought you were too harsh on UGa. I really think Colorado will finish second or third in the Big XII North. THey will get significantly better by years end. Phil Steele says the same.

Anonymous said...

Wow, tOSU wins at #2 defending state champs, and you give the top spot to USC based on defense (no such thing on Pac-10 teams)?!?!?!?!

Your scUM bias has just cost you credibility again, sir. Or maybe it is a lack of sleep from the new arrival. Let's hope it's the latter.

Michael said...

SC hasn't trailed Cincinnati yet.

Anonymous said...

You must have been drunk when you decided to put Clemson in the top 10 and leave Georgia at 17.

Michael said...

What's the difference between UNC and Colorado? Now explain why Clemson beat UNC by 45 and Georgia beat Colorado by one. Or maybe you can explain how Georgia has done something analogous to winning in Tallahassee.

Anonymous said...

OSU 14-0 against the number since PSU game last year.

USC...not so much

Michael said...

That is an impressive stat, but you have to thank Antony Morelli for keeping that string going last weekend.

Anonymous said...

Keep making excuses, MichaeLLLL....I prefer to credit the D, which is statistically better than 2002.

November will be here soon enough.

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