Here’s my ballot for this week’s CBS Sports BlogPoll Top 25 hosted by — as you might imagine — CBS Sports.

Week 4

Through 19 September 2009

First things first…

No, I have not abandoned the Gate.  No, I am not dead.  No, I have not defected and become a Florida Gators fan.  I have, however, had more on my plate the last few weeks than I really could possibly hope to keep up with.  Thus, I have had to make concessions here and there.  Regular posting on the Gate (as well as commenting across the web) has been one of those areas.  Between trials, funerals, and trips from one end of the State of North Carolina to the other, I have simply been trying to keep my head above water.  To both of you out there who regularly read the Gate, my apologies.  To those of you who accidentally stumbled upon Gate 21 while searching the web for a place from which you could purchase Viagra, well, you’re in the wrong place, but I’ll apologize nonetheless.

Moving right along…

There were a few surprises over the past week in the world of college football, some which I simply did not see coming and others which, while not expected can hardly be said to be earth shattering.  Bearing this in mind, here’s is my BlogPoll Top 25 ballot for the week.  Most of these should be fairly obvious.  Either way, here’s my preliminary ballot:

My Ballot for the Week

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Florida	–
2	Texas	1
3	Penn State	1
4	Alabama	1
5	California	2
6	Mississippi	–
7	LSU	2
8	Miami (Florida)	2
9	Boise State	1
10	Oklahoma	1
11	Southern Cal	9
12	TCU	–
13	Ohio State	2
14	Iowa	2
15	Pittsburgh	2
16	UCLA	3
17	Georgia	1
18	Notre Dame	2
19	Virginia Tech	4
20	Kansas	1
21	Oklahoma State	1
22	Nebraska	8
23	Cincinnati	1
24	Florida State	NR
25	Michigan	NR
Last week’s ballot

Explanations after the jump…

Comments, Explanations, and Excuses

Here are the high-points of the week’s changes:

Southern Cal and the Unranked Masses of the Pac-10:

I really cannot say that I am dumbfounded over the USC Trojans’ (11) loss to the Washington Huskies (NR), given the fact that the Trojans have had a bad habit of losing to unranked conference opponents since 2006, especially the week after a big “national” game, but I really have to say that I did not expect to see them lose to a team like the Huskies.  That said, Washington did give the LSU Tigers (7) all they could handle only a few weeks ago and appear to be a far different team than they were in 2008 when they just generally stunk it up for the entire season.  Whether this win for Washington signifies that they are for real, or simply reinforces the widely-held perception that USC has a bad habit of playing down to opponents remains to be seen.  Either way, Washington is now on my watch list for the coming weeks and, should they continue their winning ways they could make a debut in my poll ballot as early as next week.  USC on the other hand fell nine spots this week in my ballot for looking past an opponent that they clearly should have beaten.

State College (Pennsylvania) Creeps Up by Default:

The Penn State Nittany Lions (3) now find themselves in my Top 3.  I’ll be the first to say that I am a bit uncomfortable about this, but simply cannot justify the Alabama Crimson Tide (4) leapfrogging them … yet.  If Alabama holds true to form and continues to improve, I anticipate them moving up in the coming weeks.  Furthermore, a team that has impressed me thus far is the California Golden Bears (5), who earned a nice win on the road against the Minnesota Golden Gophers (NR) this past weekend—thereby spoiling the debut of Minnesota’s new palace of a stadium: TCF Bank Stadium.  After the loss by Southern California, the Bears look to be a real contender in the Pac-10, and have a real shot at bringing home a special season if they can hold on.

The Non-BCS Flop:

With both the BYU Cougars (NR) and the Utah Utes (NR) going down in flames this week, and the Boise State Broncos (9) barely escaping with their lives versus the Fresno State Bulldogs (NR), the first two of these non-BCS teams got booted from my ballot while the last dropped despite a win.  I am not trying to be arrogant or preach the “ESS-EEE-SEE” doctrine, but I simply do not believe that these teams have earned the right to be considered in the same breath with the major conferences on a regular basis.  Respect must be earned, and I was anything but impressed with the performances of these three mid-majors.

By the same token, I also still have not moved the North Carolina Tarheels (NR) into my ballot—despite their being ranked in some polls—because I still am not convinced that the smurfs from Chapel Hill are as good as many claim, despite being a member of the ACC.

See, I am a fair guy…

Parting Thoughts

Having taken the time to consider my feeble attempt at ranking the powers in college football, feel free to try and convince me that I am wrong — which is part of the way the BlogPoll is supposed to work.  I promise that I will consider all insults comments.

You can view the final results of this week’s poll over at CBS Sports later this week and check out an analysis of how the collective blogging brain-trust arrived at this week’s result. If you’re craving even more BlogPoll goodness, you can also check out how other bloggers voted and see how your team fared across the Blogosphere.

As a side note, given the fact that I have been so pressed to post anything of substance, I’ll go ahead and re-extend my offer to the masses of earlier this year.  If you think you’d like to write for the Gate, I am actively seeking more writers and would love to have another perspective to add here on the site.  If you are interested, simply email me.

Up later: Thoughts on the Tennessee vs. Florida Game and this week’s SEC Power Poll Ballot…

– So it goes…

About the Author:  "Lawvol" -- I'm just a guy living in North Carolina who has an unnatural fascination with the color orange. Just because I'm a Tennessee alum and die-hard Volunteer fan doesn't mean that I can't poke a little fun at the Big Orange and anybody else for that matter. Feel free to complain all you want. >> Read more from this author

Allegedy Related Posts (Computer Generated):

• 2009 CBS Sports BlogPoll Top 25 Ballot: Week 9 (4)
• 2009 CBS Sports BlogPoll Top 25 Ballot: Week 15: End of the Regular Season (2)
• 2009 CBS Sports BlogPoll Top 25 Ballot: Week 14 (2)

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