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

Week 5

Through 26 September 2009

This was one screwed-up week for my ballot.  I suppose this is my proverbial “adjustment week” wherein I re-align everything now that I’ve had a chance to actually see how teams are going to play.  That said, some the weeks changes are the result of nothing other than the unexpected highs and lows for the teams across the country.  Lots of movement this week in my BlogPoll Top 25 ballot.  Most of these should be fairly obvious.  Either way, here’s my ballot:

My Ballot for the Week

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

Explanations after the jump…

Comments, Explanations, and Excuses

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

Into the ground like a dart:

The 42-3 implosion experienced by the California Golden Bears (23) this weekend against the Oregon Ducks (NR) is the stuff of legend.  I personally cannot remember a team in my top 5 having ever been so obliterated by an unranked opponent.  As a result, Cal’s 18 position drop this week represents the single largest drop that I have ever had in my ballot over the last two years.  Some might say that this is wholly unfair—they lost a single game.  The fact of the matter is that they did not just lose a single game.  They were absolutely obliterated by an opponent that, while tough, never should have ridden over them like roadkill.

Think of it this way.  Cal received the opening kickoff and, with 14 minutes remaining on the clock in the first quarter, score a 47 yard field goal.  From that point—the next 59 game minutes—Cal allowed 42 unanswered points.  Mind you this occurred despite the fact that Oregon lost three fumbles and had 120 yards in penalties.

Last week, I was singing the Golden Bears’ praises—talking about how they might have a real chance to win the Pac-10.  I was wrong…

None of this is to say that Cal is not a solid football team—because they are—it merely means that they proved that they do not belong anywhere close to the top 10.  Thus, while I do think that they are a top 25 team, they are definitely near the bottom of that list at present.

An Adjustment of Sorts:

Over the weekend I came to the conclusion that I had seriously under-ranked two teams: the Virginia Tech Hokies (12) and the Houston Cougars (18), thus I have corrected this by giving both substantial boosts this week.  Virginia Tech rises from number 19 last week, while Houston makes its first appearance in my ballot, rocketing from the depths of the unranked and passing seven teams along the way.  All I can say on each of these is that I think their rank in this week’s ballot better reflects their merits.  Given the fact that the early season ballots are based only on little more than guessing, these sorts of things do occur.  Thus, I wanted to fix them this week.

That Uncomfortable Feeling:

No, I am not talking about the feeling resulting from having a breakfast consisting of a half-gallon of chili and a quart of cheap gin…

There are number of teams in this week’s ballot that I don’t feel comfortable with.  Actually, there are a lot of them.  The problem is that I really cannot justify not ranking the following teams as I have: the LSU Tigers (4), the Boise State Broncos (5), the Georgia Bulldogs (15), the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (17), and the Miami Hurricanes (19).  My gut, tells me that Miami (and probably next door neighbor Houston as well) should probably be a little higher and that the rest should be lower.  I cannot, however justify making those changes at this point in time.  Thus, I guess I am simply hoping for the remaining games of the season to help sort these things out.  In the meantime, I feel uneasy about all of these teams’ current rankings.

“Now Departing at Gate 21…“:

As a result of the Florida State Seminoles’ (NR) upset at the hands of the South Florida Bulls (NR), FSU makes a hasty departure from my ballot this week.  Not much to say about that except that it is never a good idea to lose to an intra-state directional school when you are supposed to be a juggernaut.

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.

There you have it…

– 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

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• 2009 CBS Sports BlogPoll Top 25 Ballot: Week 6 (0)
• 2009 CBS Sports BlogPoll Top 25 Ballot: Week 4 (5)
• 2009 CBS Sports BlogPoll Top 25 Ballot: Week 14 (2)

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