Gate 21

2009 CBS Sports BlogPoll Top 25 Ballot: Week 10

November 2nd, 2009 |

Author: lawvol

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

Week 10

Through 01 November 2009

Well, it appears that silly season has begun as there were multiple losses among the Top 25, some near the top. As a result, there are a few substantial changes in my BlogPoll Top 25 ballot after the past week in the world of college football. Most of these should be fairly obvious. Either way, here it is:

My Ballot for the Week


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

Dropped Out: Mississippi (#12), Virginia Tech (#17), South Carolina (#22), West Virginia (#25).

Explanations after the jump…

Comments, Explanations, and Excuses

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

Hawkeye Harangue:

Yes, only one week after bumping the Iowa Hawkeyes (6) up to the number 6 spot due to their winning ways, I am knocking them back down to number 9 this week because, after watching them flail about against the Indiana Hoosiers (NR), I simply do not believe that they are as good as most of the other teams in the top 10. Iowa has been extremely lucky all year long and has had more sickeningly ugly wins than any other team in the top 25. I personally believe that they will lose—possibly quite badly—to the Ohio State Buckeyes (12) this week in Columbus. If they win, then I will have to re-assess my thoughts on the Hawkeyes, and perhaps move them back up. For now, they are staying near the bottom of my top 10.

Fear the Duck:

The Oregon Ducks (7) put on a clinic this weekend against the USC Trojans (13) and absolutely annihilated Pete Carroll’s men of Troy. It was brutal, and as a result, they have rocketed up seven spots to number 7 in my ballot for the week. Though the Ducks have an early season loss to the Boise State Broncos (10) they are playing as well as anyone right now, and with only a few lightweights remaining in their schedule, look to be the likely winner of the Pac-10.

If they can keep the ship on course, they will almost surely move up in the coming weeks. Of course, I ought to mark them down a few notches for having the ugliest uniforms in the country (and a wide assortment of not-so-fashionable combinations) but this isn’t a style contest. Right now, they look tough.

Slip Slidin’ Away…:

Along with USC, who fell nine spots, a number of teams took a tumble this week including the Oklahoma State Cowboys (20), who were given the backhand by the Texas Longhorns (2). That one will hurt for quite a while. Joining them in the slide are the four teams that departed the poll this week: the Ole Miss Rebels (NR), the Virginia Tech Hokies (NR), the South Carolina Gamecocks (NR), and the West Virginia Mountaineers (NR). All of these teams lost to an unranked opponent and, on the whole, looked bad.

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.

– 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

Print • Email • Share:

Allegedy Related Posts (Computer Generated):

Posted in BlogPoll, College Football, News & Notes |

Tags: 2009, BCS Championships, Big 10, Big XII, Blogosphere, BlogPoll, Boise State Broncos, CBS Sports, Championship, College Football, Columbus, Complaints, Excuses, Football, Gate 21, Indiana Hoosiers, Iowa Hawkeyes, MAC, Ohio State Buckeyes, Oklahoma State Cowboys, Ole Miss Rebels, Oregon Ducks, Pac-10, Prognostication, SEC, South Carolina Gamecocks, Statistics, Texas Longhorns, Top 25, USC Trojans, Virginia Tech Hokies, West Virginia Mountaineers

11 Responses to “2009 CBS Sports BlogPoll Top 25 Ballot: Week 10”

volsbuzztap says:

2 November 2009 at 12:31 pm

Gate 21 >> 2009 CBS Sports BlogPoll Top 25 Ballot: Week 10 http://bit.ly/4TL1t

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

Reply More from author

Tim

says:

2 November 2009 at 2:39 pm

Lawvol,

Iowa has had a number of close wins this season. Ugly? Maybe.

But “extremely lucky”? Please explain.

Reply

lawvol

says:

2 November 2009 at 3:15 pm

Well, they have beaten a number of teams by the narrowest of margins (See: Northern Iowa, Arkansas State, Michigan, and Michigan State) and several of those teams were not even Football Bowl Series (“I-A”) teams. Furthermore, I’ve seen several instances this season where they have had momentum-swinging calls from the referees go their way. I am not saying that the calls were wrong, but they have had great luck at getting good breaks from the zebras.

It just seems to me that a team which is supposed to be among the best of the best should not flirt so perilously with disaster so regularly. On top of that, their offense looked pathetic against Indiana until the 4th Quarter.

Make no mistake, I have nothing against Iowa and honestly like them. I just have questions about whether they are truly as good as their record tends to suggest.

If they beat Ohio State, then all of this is academic, and they move solidly into my top 5.

Reply More from author

Tim

says:

2 November 2009 at 3:24 pm

“flirt so perilously with disaster so regularly”
“offense looked pathetic”
“momentum-swinging calls from the referees”

Sounds like 2002 Ohio State to me.

I’m not going to argue with your opinion, because it’s your opinion.

However…one (Northern Iowa) does not equal “several.”

Reply

lawvol

says:

2 November 2009 at 3:33 pm

Well, you may be right about the 2002 Ohio State analogy.

I actually like Ferentz a lot too. I’d like to see a different champion come out of the Big Ten, and would be perfectly happy if Iowa was that school.

Also, isn’t Arkansas State a FCS (“I-AA”) school as well? I may be wrong on that one.

At any rate, I understand your point, and you could be right…

Reply More from author