I have to say I had a feeling. Apparently LeSean McCoy and Scott McKillop can’t win the Big East Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week Award every week.

Instead the Big East went with USF’s Matt Grothe and Rutgers’ linebacker Ryan D’Imperio.

I suppose I have no big problem with D’Imperio getting the defensive award, since they shut down UConn’s Donald Brown for a whole half. And even though the real reason for the Rutgers win was UConn’s kicking game — 3 misses out of 4 including a game winner in the final minute.

A bit more annoyed that Grothe got the offensive when he piled up those numbers against Syracuse. I think that has to discount things a bit.

McKillop and McCoy were tossed the weak bone of “Weekly Honor Roll.”

Good god, it’s a mess.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Texas	1
2	Alabama	1
3	Penn State	—
4	Oklahoma	—
5	Georgia	—
6	Southern Cal	—
7	Florida	—
8	Texas Tech	1
9	Ohio State	2
10	Oklahoma State	3
11	Utah	1
12	LSU	4
13	Boise State	6
14	Pittsburgh	12
15	South Florida	2
16	TCU	10
17	Ball State	3
18	Kansas	4
19	Georgia Tech	6
20	Minnesota	4
21	Missouri	6
22	Brigham Young	10
23	Tulsa	3
24	Oregon	2
25	Virginia Tech	7

Utah didn’t deserve to fall a spot, but Oklahoma St. deserved to be higher. Teams that deserved to fall out, but couldn’t because there was no other team that was worth plugging in, included VT, BYU and Missouri.

I have to admit being very uncomfortable having Pitt so high. I really don’t feel they should be up that high, but there was no one behind them I could say with real certainty should be in front. I do understand why Pitt is lower in most other polls. Looking at body of work — which should be a factor — that BGSU loss has increasingly become a bigger millstone around the team. The Falcons lost again over the weekend to fall to 3-4. There’s no good way to spin a bad home loss like that for purposes of rankings and polls.

Oregon got back into the poll on the bye week, because well, their two losses were at least to ranked team. A close loss to Boise St. and getting abused by USC — the week after Oregon St. upset the Trojans.

Georgia Tech gets a big bounce from all the teams losing. Plus, they pulled out a win over a very emotional Clemson team in Clemson. That counts for something to me, especially with mental toughness. Paul Johnson is doing a great job there.

There’s no way I’m putting Florida St. in there. They may be 5-1, but with 2 1-AA wins and a few close escapes — including the NC State game — they are not good enough.

I hate having Texas Tech that high. I find them an entertaining team, but reality will hit soon. They at least seemed more convincing than LSU.

Last week I noted that BYU just didn’t look like a team to trust. I was right with that. Of course, I was also very high on UNC moving up and then they blew it against Virginia.

As always reasoned arguments are welcome. Just remember, if you think a team should be lower or removed, I need a replacement and/or good reasons why the teams below should be higher.

UPDATE: Here’s what the full draft poll looks like. Pitt comes in at #17 at the moment.

I still think it will get picked up.

Right now, it will be shown on ESPN360.com, according to the Game Notes (PDF) press release.

Here’s the list of broadband providers that have an agreement with ESPN360.com.

If this stays untelevised, it’s just plain humiliating for the Big East.

I probably jumped the shark a long time ago, but this is just a clincher. It also shows how blogs, like radio and other mediums can be used for promoting and selling stuff. Sports Illustrated has a new book being released: The College Football Book.

I received a courtesy copy for review and a chance to talk to someone associated with the book. In this case, David Sabino. He does a lot of fantasy baseball and football these days for SI. This makes sense when you are the Associate Editor in Charge of Statistics. Some are really not impressed by his work. David and I talked on Friday over the phone.

You can listen to the 20 minute conversation — if you can put up with a slew of “ums” and “ahhh” from me. Clearly I need to work on this before I even consider more podcasts. I’ve broken it up into 3 parts, each 6-8 minutes long.

Part 1, is about David Sabino’s background and involvement in the book.

Part 2, covers some of the specifics on Pitt players in the book.

Part 3, is just a bit of a grab bag. Talking a little about the images in the book, future projects, and the changing media.

My thoughts on the book. The photos inside are beautiful as you would expect. There are some of the classic stories from Sports Illustrated through the years, including part of the essay on Tony Dorsett from 1976 written by Myron Cope — the accompanying photo of Dorsett breaking free of some gold helmet wearing defenders trying to arm tackle him is stunning. There are also pictures of Hugh Green and Dan Marino.

Sticking with Pitt players for a moment, the center of the book focuses on All-time College All-Stars. There was also the restriction of limiting it to only one player from a school. Dorsett did ton’t make that list. A tough call, but with Jim Brown and Herschel Walker ahead of him, it is hard to argue too strenuously. Especially since Hugh Green made the cut on the defense. As David Sabino explained, most schools consider their greatest players to be running backs or quarterbacks.

More shocking was Dorsett’s exclusion from the 70s all-decade team. Instead it was Johnny Rodgers (Nebraska), Billy Sims (Oklahoma) and Archie Griffin (Ohio St.). According to Mr. Sabino, that was pretty much by the numbers.

Obviously releasing the book around this time of the year, the hope is that it will be purchased as a holiday gift. It really is a beautiful book, and it is the sort of book that if you stick on a coffee table, will be picked up and paged through.

As I say in the conversation, I got the book a day or two before family came for a visit. My dad — who still loves SI — saw the book and just started paging through it. It just held his attention for a good 30 minutes.

Another bonus is on the decade pages, they show a sampling of program covers from the period. Some great historical stuff. It’s a little sad as program covers have gotten rather boring in my view. It’s hardly worth holding onto the same way.

If you want to get a copy of the book you can find it here and here. Suggested retail price is around $30, is actually sold online for about $20.