Here’s what the draft of the ballot this week looks like. It’s a little different this season with Dennis putting a draft version and then I come in and tweak a little. After that, it’s open for comments and I have time to change it a little more before the due time.
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Southern Cal | — |
| 2 | LSU | — |
| 3 | Oklahoma |  2 |
| 4 | West Virginia |  1 |
| 5 | Texas | 5 |
| 6 | California | 1 |
| 7 | Florida | 1 |
| 8 | Louisville | 4 |
| 9 | Wisconsin | 3 |
| 10 | Ohio State | 2 |
| 11 | Rutgers | 2 |
| 12 | UCLA | 2 |
| 13 | Penn State | 2 |
| 14 | Georgia | 5 |
| 15 | Nebraska | 1 |
| 16 | South Florida | 9 |
| 17 | Georgia Tech | 6 |
| 18 | Boston College | 4 |
| 19 | Texas A&M | 1 |
| 20 | Hawaii | 3 |
| 21 | Clemson | 3 |
| 22 | Oregon | 4 |
| 23 | South Carolina | 3 |
| 24 | Virginia Tech | 13 |
| 25 | Auburn | 7 |
Considered/getting close: Cinci, Missouri, Tennessee, Washington, Alabama
Dennis dropped USC down to #3 on their bye week, but as good as LSU has looked, I’m not totally convinced on them yet. They have faced two teams that are offensively challenged, with horrible QBs. I am very impressed by their defense and this time they came out fired up on offense. I just want to see a little more — that and Les Miles doesn’t scare me as a coach.Oklahoma looked fantastic to move past WVU and the concerns about the ‘Eers defense appear legit.
Texas moved up more than maybe they should, but a couple other teams slipped to give them a bigger boost then I actually feel about them.
Like Louisville (again no defense) and Wisconsin (no offense). By all rights Cal shouldn’t have moved up a spot for their weak win, but really there feels like a huge gap in who to put in the second half of the top-ten and where.
That gap is what kept Georgia from slipping further, though I’m still considering putting them lower.
Right now Rutgers and USF look like legit BE contenders because they can play defense. Of course, USF is going to have to hold open tryouts for a kicker.
The last 8 or 9 spots on the poll are just a mess.
GT shouldn’t have moved that high, but no place else seemed quite right either. Texas A&M even moving up a spot is inexplicable even as I look at the blogpoll. Expect them to drop when I think about it a little more.
Dennis completely dropped the Hokies from the poll, but I had to leave them back in. If beating the Hokies that badly was such a statement by LSU that they deserve #1 consideration, then there has to be a belief that VT is at least a top-25 team.
Auburn hangs in by a thread because their defense is excellent, as are special teams and even their running game — yet another reason why Tuberville is so conservative. That will get them some quality wins in the SEC even when they shouldn’t. The QB, on the other hand…
Last week I went with Auburn, USF pulled the upset, Auburn did fumble the game away, great win for the big east, hopefully it snows and is very cold when USF plays us.
Any thoughts on MSU, they won but BGSU gave them a game
PSU – i hate to put them that high with the retard at QB. I would almost be scared that they could run the table because their schedule gets weaker and weaker by the week – it may be the softest in the BCS. They play Wisc who seems to be overrated, and OSU who really hasn’t done much…and other than that…Purdue? If I wasn’t guaranteed Morelli would give away at least 1 game, I would be very, very scared of them making it to the national championship by default if a few other very good teams screws up 1 game or loses to 1 real opponent.
As pointed out, why is Georgia higher than SC? I mean, if it was at SC, ok, but c’mon, keep it real. You are what your record says you are. Thats like PSU saying they’re better then us the last time we beat them 12-0.
Cinci has a real win, and we all knew VT was overrated (at least I was screaming it as loud as i could last week). Put Cinci in VT’s place.
— I completely dropped Virginia Tech because they’ll be starting a new QB this week because Sean Glennon was in way over his head. Also, the VT offensive line is really, really bad.
Texas A&M seems way too high for a team that was lucky to get away with the win.
Washington has been absolutely dominant in their first two games, especially last week against a team with an actual pulse, meanwhile Hawaii was one boneheaded play by the opposite coach away from losing.
How do you justify OSU moving up when they’ve played pretty poorly against weak competition?
I do understand that ranking every team gets to be a difficult task especially this early in the year those were just a couple things that looked odd to me. I did read your notes so I know this isn’t your final poll.