While the Big Ten slate last week was absolutely nothing to write home about, there were a few games involving top 25 teams that caused some upheaval in the BlogPoll. Below you'll find my BlogPoll ballot for the week. It doesn't go final until tomorrow, so if you have a good argument for or against any team, post it in the comments.
The Only Colors Ballot - Week 5
Rank | Team | Delta |
---|---|---|
1 | LSU Tigers | -- |
2 | Alabama Crimson Tide | 2 |
3 | Oklahoma Sooners | -1 |
4 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys | 7 |
5 | Stanford Cardinal | -- |
6 | Boise St. Broncos | -3 |
7 | Oregon Ducks | 1 |
8 | Nebraska Cornhuskers | 4 |
9 | Wisconsin Badgers | -3 |
10 | Florida Gators | 3 |
11 | Virginia Tech Hokies | -1 |
12 | Clemson Tigers | -- |
13 | Texas A&M Aggies | -6 |
14 | South Florida Bulls | 5 |
15 | Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets | 7 |
16 | South Carolina Gamecocks | -1 |
17 | Michigan Wolverines | 6 |
18 | Baylor Bears | -1 |
19 | Texas Longhorns | 1 |
20 | West Virginia Mountaineers | -4 |
21 | Illinois Fighting Illini | -3 |
22 | Arkansas Razorbacks | -8 |
23 | TCU Horned Frogs | 1 |
24 | Arizona St. Sun Devils | -- |
25 | Iowa St. Cyclones | -- |
Dropouts: Florida St. Seminoles, USC Trojans, Fla. International Golden Panthers |
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "
Explanations after the jump.
1-5
- LSU's marquee wins -- semi-neutral site against Oregon, at Mississippi State, and at West Virginia. No one else can boast the resume the Tigers have, so they're number one.
- I like Alabama slightly more than Oklahoma. While the teams Oklahoma has played are better, Alabama has just looked too good against their competition so far.
- I'm also certain by ranking OSU this high that they'll fall next week. *checks schedule* *sees Kansas* *maybe not* I really, really like the win against Texas A&M.
- Stanford holds steady during their bye week.
6-10
- Boise State's being swallowed downward due to their strength of schedule. I also expected them to beat Tulsa by more than 20 at home.
- Beating Arizona is a rite of passage for many teams in the top 10; Oregon joins their ranks.
- I'm putting Nebraska ahead of Wisconsin because the Cornhuskers have good wins against Washington and at Wyoming, and Wisconsin has bullied very weak teams. We'll figure out if I'm right Saturday night.
- Florida's looked mighty impressive so far, and worthy of filling out the top 10.
OTHERS:
- I fully expect Virginia Tech to be in the top 10 next week. See below.
- I was afraid to rank Clemson last week due to the ephemeral nature of their quality, but not any longer. However, it would be the most Clemson thing ever to lose by more than two scores to Virginia Tech on Saturday.
- South Florida, Georgia Tech, and Michigan all had good wins, and are rewarded thusly. I'm afraid I might have South Florida a bit high.
- West Virginia doesn't get hit hard for the LSU loss, and I'm thinking maybe I should have left Arkansas off entirely. It was a struggle to fill out the last couple spots however.
- Logic for Illinois is as follows -- they barely beat Western Michigan, while Michigan handled the Broncos thoroughly in their lightning-shortened affair. I know playing in transitives can be sketchy, but there was enough difference to rank Michigan above Illinois. Also, ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOK.
- Arizona State gets back in after thumping USC. Iowa State is in because of all the teams on the periphery, they have the best win (against Iowa).
WHITHER MICHIGAN STATE?
Their wins are Youngstown State, Florida Atlantic, and Central Michigan. No matter how impressively they beat those three teams, that's not worthy of a Top 25 ranking yet. If they beat Ohio State on Saturday they'll probably enter at #25.