Posts Tagged ‘BCS Championships’

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

Week 8

Through 18 October 2009

After all the craziness of the past week in the world of college football, here’s my preliminary CBS BlogPoll Top 25 ballot for the week without comment.  Most of these should be fairly obvious (perhaps with the exception of Boise State dropping like a stone).  Either way, here it is:

My Ballot for the Week

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

Hopefully, I’ll have something additional later in the day…

– So it goes…

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

Week 7

Through 11 October 2009

Glory be!  Yes, I have succumbed to my inner instincts and have made a change at the very top of my ballot this week.  As for the rest of the changes in the world of college football represented in my BlogPoll Top 25 ballot for this week, hopefully most are fairly obvious.  Either way, here’s my ballot:

My Ballot for the Week

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

Explanations after the jump…

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Due to trials, funerals, and numerous other obligations, this will probably be my only post this week.  I will, however, be back next weekend after the Florida Game to commiserate or celebrate (after the UCLA disaster, I’m afraid I know which it will be).

At any rate, here is my preliminary ballot for this week’s CBS Sports BlogPoll Top 25 for all to attack, without comment:

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

Sorry to be so brief, but duty calls…

– So it goes …

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

Week 2

Through 8 September 2009

After the past week in the world of college football, there have been a bunch of changes, mainly at the back end of my poll.  The other biggie is the Oklahoma Sooners who plummeted after losing to BYU.  In addition, the entire back end of my poll pretty much emptied out as a result of a ton of teams losing.  Thus, there are some new faces, and a few that have departed.

Unfortunately, I am starting a multi-week trial today and am already running behind in getting this posted.  Given my trial schedule, it is doubtful that I will get much of substance posted for the next week or so.  Be that as it may, most of my changes should be fairly obvious.   Either way, here’s my ballot:

My Ballot for the Week

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

Alas, I simply don’t have time to post any real explanations aside from “this is what I think,” but such is life…

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.

Oh, yeah, and if I ever figure out who it is that keeps spamming the comments here at the Gate with random crap offering links to porn sites, Viagra shipped to your home, or moneymaking schemes, I’m going to find his address and tell Eric Berry that the jerk said something nasty about his mother…

– So it goes…

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

Preseason Prognostications

Through 20 August 2009

Well, it’s been almost nine months since last I posted a BlogPoll ballot, and let me tell you that it feels mighty good to be back in the saddle again.  This does not, however, mean that I have suddenly gained any sense or am any more reliable.

As a general rule, I consider preseason ballots to be dubious at best.  They are based upon little more than rumor and innuendo.  There is little to no basis for selecting one team over the other.  Thus, as Hooper has pointed out, this is little more than a turkey shoot.  That said, here’s my preseason Top 25 for everyone to attack:

My Ballot for the Week

Rank	Team
1	Florida
2	Oklahoma
3	Southern Cal
4	Texas
5	Penn State
6	Ole Miss
7	Alabama
8	California
9	Ohio State
10	Notre Dame
11	Georgia
12	LSU
13	Oklahoma State
14	Boise State
15	TCU
16	Virginia Tech
17	Illinois
18	Rutgers
19	Miami (Florida)
20	Nebraska
	Iowa
22	Brigham Young
23	Pittsburgh
24	Clemson
25	UCLA

Explanations after the jump…

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In case you hadn’t heard, the United States Congress has been hard at work lately—tackling the hard-hitting issues that our country is facing.  Our representatives in the House have been addressing monumental concerns impacting the daily lives of all Americans far and wide.  What, you might ask, is the single most important question in the minds of Representatives Joe Barton (R-TX), Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA) and Mike Simpson (R-ID)?

Whether the BCS / Bowl system for determining NCAA football championships needs to be replaced by a playoff system.

As a result, these congressmen introduced a House Resolution in April seeking to have the United States Congress and the United States Department of Justice investigate the Bowl Championship Series.  In particular, this obscenely overstated meaningful legislation resolves that the House of Representatives:

(1) rejects the BCS system as an illegal restraint of trade that violates the Sherman Anti-Trust Act;

(2) demands the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division investigate and bring appropriate action to have the BCS system declared illegal and require a playoff to determine a national champion; and

(3) supports the establishment of an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision Championship playoff system in the interest of fairness and to bring parity to all NCAA teams.

• 111th Congress, House Resolution 68

Heavy stuff, that…

As a result of the tireless grandstanding efforts of these shameless self-promoters champions of the common man, the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection held hearings this past week to look into the actions of the BCS in hopes of determining whether something nefarious is afoot.  This included taking testimony from: John Swofford (Commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference and Coordinator of the Bowl Championship Series), Craig Thompson (Commissioner of the Mountain West Conference), Derrick Fox (President and CEO of the Valero Alamo Bowl), and Gene Bleymaier (Athletic Director of Boise State University).

For those of you out there that hate yourselves, you can view a streaming video of the entire hearing through the committee website.  Note: Apparently the Congressional muckety-mucks are too busy to hire someone schooled in the basic art of video editing.  Thus, you will want to fast forward to approximately 19:45 to view the hearing (that is, unless you just enjoy watching a blank screen for almost 20 minutes).

During the hearing, the Committee specifically looked into whether the BCS amounted to a monopoly, running afoul of federal anti-trust provisions.  With the great all-encompassing seriousness that can only come from the stuffed shirts of Congress and with the aire of the Watergate hearings, the committee set about digging deep into the bowels of college football’s deep dark secret.  Having watched some of the video of the hearing, it was obvious, in the minds of some of the assembled officials, that they felt the very sanctity of our American Republic hung precariously in the balance.

Right…

Don’t get me wrong, I am not opposed to the idea of a college football playoff, in fact I would gladly support such a system—so long as it is fair.  The disdain that is oozing from this article comes not from my opposition to the notion that college football needs a playoff, but rather from the nauseating belief by those in Congress that they are the answer to this problem.  Oh yeah, there is also the minor fact that the entire nation is passed out from the H1N1 flu in the economic toilet of the world with chunks of last night’s General Motors and Wall Street flavored hot dog still clinging to its mouth while these clueless egomaniacs are wasting their time trying to determine how we end our football seasons.

I’d love to sit around in a fancy conference room with hospitality service and get paid to talk football all day as much as the next guy, there’s no denying that.  The thought that our Congressional leaders have nothing better to do than just that, is more than a little bothersome.  The fact that they can do it with a straight face while purporting to represent the best interests of their constituents, makes me think of three words: “explosive projectile vomiting.”  I suppose that this sentiment is precisely what led CBS Sports.com’s Dennis Dodd to note that “Retching is common for these kinds of mundane Capitol Hill gatherings.”

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Probably a bit late, but what the heck…

via: The Onion