Posts Tagged ‘BYU Cougars’

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…

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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 College Football BlogPoll hosted by—as you might imagine—CBS Sports.

Week 13

Through 22 November 2008

Well, while my Top 10 remained fairly stable (with the notable exception of the Texas Tech Red Raiders), nearly the entire field in the backend of my ballot from last week managed to lose over the weekend (6 teams from 15-25).  It looks like things are tightening up down the stretch, and we can now begin to see where the teams will land for the bowl season.  Most of my votes should be fairly obvious.  Either way, here is my preliminary BlogPoll Top 25 for this week:

My Ballot for the Week

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama	–
2	Florida	1
3	Oklahoma	1
4	Texas	1
5	Southern Cal	1
6	Missouri	1
7	Utah	2
8	Boise State	–
9	Ohio State	1
10	Penn State	1
11	Texas Tech	9
12	Ball State	–
13	Oklahoma State	–
14	Georgia	–
15	TCU	4
16	Cincinnati	5
17	Oregon State	5
18	Northwestern	7
19	Oregon	5
20	Boston College	6
	Michigan State	4
22	Pittsburgh	6
23	Brigham Young	8
24	Florida State	2
25	Mississippi	1

Dropped Out: North Carolina (#18), LSU (#20), Maryland (#23).

Explanations after the jump…

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Last week offered some great in-conference matchups and a couple turned out to be more lopsided than many thought. The great conference games continue this week, as the races begin to take shape.

Indeed, the conference races will continue to take shape as the temperatures drop around the country (it was 86 in Knoxville yesterday) and leaves start falling everywhere. Yes, I’m avoiding mentioning Tennessee’s now meaningless season by discussing the weather…

Another larger storyline that’s been discussed already this week is the Big 12’s apparent attempt to claim itself as the best conference. While the league is pretty good at the top, I still think the SEC has better depth, even with the struggles of Tennessee and Auburn.

Anyways, here’s the games to watch, and hopefully this time I’ll do a better job picking them – I picked LSU, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and they all lost…

SEC Games

Vanderbilt at Georgia (12:00, RayCom): So much for that little run. Vandy just missed out on a huge opportunity to get to 6 or more wins. There’s still chances with games against Kentucky, Tennessee and Duke, but beating Florida, Georgia and Wake Forest may be a tough order. Vandy’s offensive struggles were exposed last week against Mississippi State, and Georgia’s not the best team to face with an iffy offense…

The questions with Georgia: they left plenty of points to be gotten last week against the Vols, with two picks and kicking four field goals. They better not overlook Vandy, as trips to LSU and the showdown with Jacksonville come in the next two weeks.

Ole Miss at Alabama (3:30, CBS): Alabama comes off the bye looking to continue the momentum from hammering Georgia and edging Kentucky two weeks ago. Ole Miss has been better, yet horribly inconsistent, beating Florida on the road but falling to Vandy and South Carolina at home.

I don’t expect Ole Miss to win, but they should keep it close. I’m still expecting Alabama to lose a game, but it won’t be Saturday. The matchup to watch is the Tide’s offensive line against the Rebels’ defensive front. The only way Ole Miss can win is limiting the turnovers that hurt them in their two home SEC losses.

Arkansas at Kentucky (7:00, ESPNU): Give me some credit, last week I didn’t explicitly pick Arkansas to upset Auburn, but I did say the Hogs were gonna get somebody at some point this year and they did. Can they follow it up? Kentucky’s offense is still struggling, so Arkansas can certainly keep it close. This is a big game for UK’s bowl hopes, as they sit at four wins on the year.

This 63-yard TD run by Michael Smith led Arkansas to the upset over Auburn. Can they Hogs get UK this week?

Mississippi State at Tennessee (7:00, PPV): Ugh. Good thing this game is on pay-per-view…who wants to watch these offenses?

Uh oh...Mississippi State held Vanderbilt to 107 yards of total offense...

Obviously I do, because I’ll be there in the fourth row. I’m expecting an ugly game with points few and far between. Tennessee can’t really lose at home to Mississippi State, can they? State has played decently the past two games, and no doubt have some momentum coming into Knoxville. How does Tennessee show up with nothing but pride to play for? Is Phil Fulmer the next coach to be Croomed like Ron Zook and Mike Shula?

LSU at South Carolina (8:00, ESPN): Ouch. Didn’t see that coming. LSU got crushed by Florida, and now they travel over to Columbia to a Carolina offense that’s gained some confidence with SEC road wins in Oxford and Lexington. Whoever’s been playing QB for the Gamecocks – Chris Smelley and/or Stephen Garcia – have actually done pretty well.

LSU’s defense isn’t what it was last year – they’re 9th in the league in total defense. Carolina’s defense is going up against an inexperienced QB and an offense that got beat physically by Florida last week. How do they respond?

Honestly, I want to say Carolina will win. But this is historically one of those “almost” wins for the South Carolina program. “Almost” as in they “almost” win a huge home game over a better opponent. That said, I think LSU bounces back, setting up that showdown with Georgia next weekend.

Florida is off this week, but I want to give a little shout-out to Brandon Spikes. Now I hate the Gators and hope they fail at everything, but when something’s funny, it’s funny. Here’s Brandon Spikes’ attempt at a punt into the stands after a pick-six…

OTHER CONFERENCES

Some Mountain West love: big game tonight for unbeaten BYU, as they travel to TCU tonight. The unbeaten Cougars essentially have two tests between them and a BCS Bowl: tonight and the season finale at fellow unbeaten Utah. Keep an eye on this game…

The Weekly Duke Update:After a bye week, the 3-2 Blue Devils are back in action with a big game, at home against young Miami. Just 4.5-point dogs, Duke looks for the upset. This game is on ESPNU at 3:30, so if Alabama starts killing Ole Miss (and you actually have ESPNU), switch on over and see if the missed Coach Cut can lead Duke to the upset. The emptiness of Duke’s stadium won’t have any adverse effects on the Canes – they’re used to it…

Big XII

Kansas at Oklahoma (3:30, ABC): Oklahoma and Bob Stoops is going to be pissed off. Poor, poor Kansas. They avoided OU and Texas last year. Er, not this year. How Kansas stops OU I have no clue. Then again, the Sooner defense got worn down watching Texas go up-and-down the field on them in Dallas. Kansas keeps it close – for a half.

Missouri at Texas (8:00, ABC): So much for Missouri beating Oklahoma State by three TDs. The Tigers essentially gave the game away, and now face a make-or-break game at #1 Texas. I say make-or-break because Missouri’s schedule is pretty clear sailing after this game, and they obviously have to win to stay relevant in the title race.

Can Texas return to earth after beating their hated rival last week? This should be a pretty high-scoring game (duh, it’s the Big XII new Pac 10…), and entertaining. I think Texas wins the game in the fourth quarter.

Javon Ringer faces a tough Ohio State defense Saturday afternoon

Big Ten

Ohio State at Michigan State (3:30, ABC):
Yes, people, Michigan State is very much in the Big Ten race. Of course they have to beat Ohio State to stay there. The Spartans are led by HB Javon Ringer, but the Ohio State defense is tough up front.

Ohio State has been overly impressive on offense. They have actually been kinda bad. If Michigan State doesn’t give up a special teams or defensive TD to the Buckeyes, I like their chances to keep Ohio State’s offense in check. The winner would become the biggest challenger to the dominance Penn State has shown this year.

Michigan at Penn State (4:30, ESPN): I know, I know, Michigan sucks and Penn State is really good. Thought losing to Toledo is bad? The Wolverines better be ready to get blasted Saturday. Penn State is a legit team. Keep in mind two things: (1) Penn State hasn’t beaten Michigan since 1996 and (2) they are at Ohio State next weekend.

Outside of these games, there isn’t much else. We all know USC will win the Pac 10 and whoever wins the Big East doesn’t matter. As it is, enjoy this weekend…

Images Courtesy of: Dave Martin / AP (Daylife) • Rogelio V. Solis / AP (Daylife) • Nam Y. Huh / AP (Daylife)

Here’s my ballot for this week’s CBS Sports College Football BlogPoll which is now—surprise, surprise—hosted by CBS Sports.

Week 7

Through 12 October 2008

Man, oh man, what a weekend of craziness this was!  After all the shake-ups this weekend in the world of college football, there are major changes at the top in my BlogPoll ballot for this week.  Most of these should be fairly obvious.  Either way, here’s my ballot:

My Ballot for the Week

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama	1
2	Texas	4
3	Penn State	2
4	Oklahoma	3
5	Southern Cal	2
6	Texas Tech	2
7	Georgia	2
8	Florida	3
9	Missouri	6
10	Ohio State	–
11	LSU	7
12	Utah	1
13	Oklahoma State	4
14	Kansas	1
15	Brigham Young	1
16	Boise State	–
17	Wake Forest	1
18	North Carolina	2
19	California	–
20	Vanderbilt	8
21	Michigan State	4
22	Virginia Tech	1
23	Ball State	3
24	Minnesota	2
25	Oregon	1

Dropped Out: Northwestern (#21), Auburn (#22), Wisconsin (#24).

Explanations after the jump…

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Here’s my ballot for this week’s College Football BlogPoll which, as always, is hosted by MGOBlog.

Week 2

“Adjustments” in the Works

I have no business trying to rank all of the teams in the country, and this week’s ballot makes that obvious.  More on this week’s changes after the ballot.

My Ballot for the Week

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Georgia	–
2	Southern Cal	1
3	Ohio State	1
4	LSU	–
5	Missouri	1
6	Florida	1
7	Oklahoma	–
8	Auburn	–
9	Kansas	–
10	Wisconsin	1
11	Penn State	1
12	Texas	1
13	Alabama	1
14	Oregon	–
15	Wake Forest	–
16	Arizona State	1
17	Texas Tech	9
18	Utah	1
19	East Carolina	7
20	Colorado	2
21	Fresno State	1
22	Brigham Young	1
23	South Florida	–
24	California	2
25	Illinois	1

Dropped Out: West Virginia (#16), Clemson (#20), Bowling Green (#24), Tennessee (#25).

Comments,  Explanations, and Excuses

The high-points of the week’s changes after the jump:

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