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

Week 11

Through 8 November 2009

This past weekend’s slate of college football games were—for the most part—supposed to be dull and boring.  There were very few “key” matchups on the schedule and most thought it might be a snoozer.  Well, that simply did not turn out to be the case.   Thus, there are a number of shake-ups in my BlogPoll Top 25 ballot for this week.  Most of these should be fairly obvious.  Either way, here is is:

My Ballot for the Week

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

Explanations after the jump…

Comments, Explanations, and Excuses

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

The Buckeyes Return to the Fray while the Hawkeyes Fly Away:

I have to admit that, despite being married to a graduate of the Ohio State University, I was surprised at how easily the Ohio State Buckeyes (6) dispatched the Penn State Nittany Lions (16) in Happy Valley.  In all honesty, I had Penn State winning that game comfortably.  Obviously, the Buckeyes had a different idea of how things were supposed to go.  As a result, despite their early season failing against the USC Trojans (9) and their mid-season debacle against the Purdue Boilermakers (NR) the Buckeyes now find themselves back solidly in my top ten.  Of course, having four teams ranked above them either lose or barely win didn’t hurt either.

This week, the Buckeyes will face the Iowa Hawkeyes (15) whose luck finally caught up with them, as their undefeated season came crashing to a halt against the Northwestern Wildcats (NR).  I honestly hate it for Kirk Ferentz and the Hawkeyes, but I cannot say that I am surprised.  If they can manage to beat Ohio State in Columbus, then they have a legitimate shot at returning to the top ten, as well as grabbing a Big Ten Championship.  That said, I’m not holding my breath given their near constant inconsistency and the injury sustained by quarterback Ricky Stanzi.  Still, anything is possible.

Anchors Aweigh, my boys, Anchors Aweigh!:

Yes, the Navy Midshipmen (24) managed to beat the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (NR) again, making me wonder if this might just become a regular thing again.  As a result, Charlie Weiss’ Irish were shown the door in my poll for the week while, amazingly, the Midshipmen debuted in my ballot for the first time ever.  I assure you that this ranking is not merely the product of Navy’s win over a mediocre Notre Dame squad, which did play a part.  The real reason for Navy sailing into my ballot, however, is their 7-3 record and their extremely efficient brand of football.  With only the Delaware Blue Hens (NR), Hawaii Warriors (NR), and Army Black Knights (NR) remaining on their schedule, the Midshipmen have a good shot at finishing the season at 10-3 and going to a bowl.

Here’s something even more intriguing.  Since Notre Dame has slipped to 6-3—with the potential of finishing 8-4—it is possible that Navy and not Notre Dame could grab an independent BCS bowl berth.  I have a feeling that the folks in South Bend are probably not really all that happy about this prospect.  Of course they have not been all that happy with much of anything from Charlie Weiss’ teams over the last year or two, so that’s hardly anything new.

Still, nice win by the Middies…

Ducks Don’t Live in Trees:

The Stanford Cardinal (NR) with along with their silly mascot have proven that the Oregon Ducks (17) cannot live in trees and are, in fact, beatable.  How exactly the Ducks looked past the, now, 6-3 Cardinal is a bit unclear, but suffice it to say that they did—especially their defense.  The final tally in the game was 93 points scored by the two teams, unfortunately for the Ducks, the Cardinal had more of those points.  That’s why I have always said that the team with the most points usually wins.

How’s that for a little brilliant insight?

At any rate, Oregon managed to completely shoot themselves in the foot, and likely took themselves out of contention for a BCS berth.  That is, unless Phil Knight manages to buy them one…

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…

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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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