A little shifting around from #3-15 and then at #25. Otherwise, not a lot of movement. Probably no more polls until the end of the bowl season. Others who have cast their ballots can be tracked here if you want to see their justifications.
- Southern California — Did nothing to change this spot
- Texas — Ditto
- Penn State — Everyone keeps talking about those 2 seconds in Michigan, that cost them a chance. I see a different alternate reality where they don’t convert that 4th down play against Northwestern in Late September to lose. A game where Michael Robinson would have been a goat with a handful of interceptions, the fans completely turn on him, the coaching staff loses trust and goes more conservative and risk averse, and calls for the Morelli era to begin are intense
- Ohio State — Speaking of alternative realities, Troy Smith could have been sitting out this year following a transfer from OSU if Justin Zwick hadn’t been injured midway through last season
- Notre Dame — Charlie Weis with a month to scheme, prepare and practice.
- West Virginia — They earned the BCS bowl without backing into it, now they have to actually win a bowl game. Something they just haven’t been doing
- Georgia — If not for the Shockley injury for a couple games, they’d get to be this year’s Auburn
- Auburn — That Georgia Tech loss to start the season seemed to buried them in the polls for half the season
- Oregon — East coast bias. Screwed by Domers. Yeah, whatever. Consider it the price you pay for being the athletic apparel test dummies for Nike
- Louisiana State — I’m still waiting for them to show up for the SEC championship game
- Miami (Florida) — I’m still trying to figure out how they choked so badly against GT
- Virginia Tech — As the Hokies choke on turkey bones for the rest of the year, they also can suffer this thought: if Miami had won against GT, they would have faced FSU in the ACC championship and regardless of the outcome, VT probably would have ended the season in contention for an at-large bid in the top 8
- TCU — A very good season in mostly anonymity after blowing the SMU game
- Louisville — Another team possessing a WTF loss on their resume. Don’t like their chances in the Gator Bowl without QB Brohm
- UCLA — End of season example of the gap between USC and the rest of the PAC 10
- Florida — What should have been a positive, respectable start became a disappointment because the offense was Meyer’s expertise, and that was the big struggle
- Wisconsin — It’s hard to generate any strong feelings one way or another regarding Wisconsin
- Alabama — Lack of depth really caught up at the end
- Michigan — Completely unimpressive this year
- Texas Tech — For some reason I picture Mike Leech in his office drawing up offensive plays and cackling “I am the puppet-master!”
- South Carolina — Count me among those who are now convinced that Spurrier can contend and win here.
- Boston College — It doesn’t matter the conference, BC is usually the reliable demarcation team between the upper and lower teams
- Georgia Tech — Along with Al Groh, the flipside to Pete Carroll. Winning just enough to keep people unsure.
- Toledo — If someone could lure Amstutz from his alma mater, he would be a great get as a coach
- Florida State — Quiz time. Did FSU’s victory in the ACC Championship make a mockery of a) VT; b) conference championship games; c) the BCS system (again) by garnering the auto-bid despite obviously not being that good; d) all of the above
IN: FSU
OUT: Oklahoma
Games seen in whole or in part: Akron-NIU; Army-Navy; Texas-Colorado; UCLA-USC; Georgia-LSU; and VT-FSU
