Monday, November 20, 2006

My Top 25

RankTeamDelta
1 Ohio State --
2 Michigan --
3 Southern Cal --
4 Arkansas --
5 Florida --
6 Louisville --
7 LSU --
8 Notre Dame --
9 Texas 1
10 Oklahoma 3
11 West Virginia 3
12 Wisconsin 4
13 Auburn 4
14 Boston College 1
15 Tennessee 5
16 Nebraska 3
17 California 6
18 Brigham Young 6
19 Georgia Tech 1
20 Boise State 3
21 Virginia Tech 5
22 Rutgers 13
23 Texas A&M 2
24 Wake Forest 12
25 Oregon State 1

Dropped Out: Maryland (#21), Oregon (#22).


Just so we're clear, I'm totally fine with USC, Arkansas, or Florida go to the national title game ahead of Michigan, but one of my rules when ranking teams is not to drop a team for losing by one score to a team ahead of it, especially on the road. I genuinely think that Michigan is the second-best team in the country, but if USC wins out, they'll have the same record against a tougher schedule and they'll have earned the shot. Likewise for Arkansas if they beat LSU and Florida, although I don't think that their schedule is demonstrably tougher than Michigan's. I'd be OK with Florida being in the title game as well if they finish at 12-1, although they seem to be the least threatening of Ohio State's potential opponents.

2 comments:

Michael said...

Yes, Vick does the occasional amazing feat, but he has to be judged by his overall numbers. You can't judge Vince Carter by his dunks.

Should VT be ahead of Georgia Tech? Or a BYU team that played BC a whole lot closer? VT is right where they should be in a down ACC. I am happy that my pre-season prediction of 10-2 is likely to come true.

Michael said...

BYU has lost two games, both to teams headed to bowl games. Those losses were by three to Arizona and in OT at BC. Virginia Tech has lost two games to comparable foes, only their losses have been by a zillion points. I rank based on resume, not how hot a team is at the end of the season.

Even if Vick played with better receivers (and let's at least acknowledge that he has one of the best tight ends in the league...doesn't that sound gay), he would still be inaccurate and a poor decision-maker. How many above-average NFL quarterbacks are described in that way?

The Falcons went away from the Texas/WVU offense because they only use it as a wrinkle. They ran a couple plays against Baltimore with it. It would require too much creativity for an NFL team to use a totally new offense.