Monday, November 06, 2006

Week Eleven BlogPoll

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

Dropped Out: Texas A&M (#22), Missouri (#25).

Thoughts:
  • No movement in the top six. OSU and Michigan didn't look so hot, but the whole "undefeated" thing counts for a lot. Texas, Cal, and Auburn looked pretty good, but not enough to change the status quo. Florida had some trouble, but I still think they're the most talented SEC team, if they ever get their act together.
  • I reconsidered things, and decided I was probably underrating Notre Dame a bit. They've played a solid schedule, and the one loss came to the #2 team in the country. True, they should have lost to Michigan State, but honestly, that Michigan State team could beat or lose to any team in the country and I wouldn't be especially surprised.
  • Louisville moves up after beating West Virginia. They're undefeated, which is good, but they haven't played much in the way of good teams, which is bad. They beat Miami and West Virginia, which is good, but they struggled with Cincinnati and Syracuse, which is bad. They beat the (supposed) #3 team in the country, which is good, but they looked sloppy and didn't play defense, which is bad. All of this is just to say that they won't crack the top five if they don't crush Rutgers.
  • USC dropped, but only so Notre Dame and Louisville could move up.
  • I'm starting to figure out the SEC. Auburn and Florida are probably the best teams, but Arkansas isn't far behind. That's impressive, considering they're doing it without any meaningful contribution from the quarterback. They've been riding a great running back and some solid receivers to victory, while not letting the QB lose the game for them. Basically, they're having the season Penn State hoped to have.
  • LSU finally gets a meaningful win! Yay! The team looked virtually identical to Ohio State, in terms of scoring offense and defense, but they hadn't beaten anyone worth talking about. But JaMarcus Russell couldn't quite lose this one for the Tigers, and they beat Tennessee, who now find themselves one spot behind LSU.
  • I don't really know what the difference is between Rutgers and Louisville, except that one is Rutgers. And because Rutgers is Rutgers, they're five spots behind Louisville. That's two sentences that seem to make no sense, but that actually make perfect sense to anyone that's followed college football over the past decade.
  • That's about all there is of note. Boise State moves up by default, Clemson continues to anti-Cinderella themselves, and Wake Forest continues to defy any reasonable expectations by climbing even more up the rankings. It's a sign of the apocalypse.

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