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So I have custody of the BlogPoll this week, which means I'm taking it to Disneyland and letting it watch PG-13 movies and shooting off fireworks and doing all the fun stuff that Noah won't let it do.
In our preseason poll, we were in agreement over nearly every team in the rankings: Georgia, Oklahoma, and Florida State were overhyped, The Pac-12 gets a homer boost, and we were infatuated with talented QBs (Denard Robinson, Geno Smith, Tyler Wilson). But now that games have been played, it seems we had two very different styles in preparing the Week 1 poll; mainly, Noah is much more levelheaded and prognosticating, while I chose ranking based on the results first, and expecting the rest of the season to weed out the early pretenders. Some interesting notes:
- This poll is still a draft, as Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech play tonight. Noah and I ranked VaTech as if they had a bye, and will change the rankings based on tonight's outcome.
- The biggest discrepancies came in where to place talented teams that had bumpy first games. Noah moved South Carolina from #6 to #5 in his poll after their 17-13 win over Vanderbilt. I chose to jump a number of teams who looked really good in Week 1, and the Gamecocks actually dropped four spots, from 8 to 12. I also severely punished teams like Georgia, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin, dropping all three into the bottom third of my poll. By contrast, Noah ranked none of those three lower than #15.
- Michigan State is the biggest riser this week after defeating Boise State, through a combination of having one of the the three or four best wins this week, and for taking advantage of the inherent fBSU bias. Having to recap both Oregon losses to Boise State to my girlfriend during Friday night's game bumped the Spartans up an extra two or three spots, at least.
- Noah neglected to rank Oklahoma State, they of the 84-points-in-one-game persuasion. Oregon fans think Marcus Mariota's performance was impressive? OK State's Wes Lunt, a true freshman, went 11-11 in only one quarter of play and led five straight touchdown drives. I ranked the Cowboys at #10, because 84 points.
- Michigan is the only 0-1 team to make the list, at #21. This is all Noah's doing, who dropped them from #5 to #14 in his poll. I dropped the Wolverines out of my poll, because they're 0-1. I'm sure they'll get back in the Top 25 at some point, but they're 0-1. On principle, they're out.
- Stanford and Texas actually fell all the way out of the poll, after WINS. Though Stanford beat San Jose State, at home, by three points. That's basically a loss as far as I'm concerned.
Addicted to Quack Ballot - Week 1
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -- |
| 2 | Oregon Ducks | -- |
| 3 | USC Trojans | -- |
| 4 | LSU Tigers | -- |
| 5 | Michigan St. Spartans | -- |
| 6 | West Virginia Mountaineers | -- |
| 7 | South Carolina Gamecocks | -- |
| 8 | Clemson Tigers | -- |
| 9 | Florida St. Seminoles | -- |
| 10 | Arkansas Razorbacks | -- |
| 11 | Nebraska Cornhuskers | -- |
| 12 | Virginia Tech Hokies | -- |
| 13 | Georgia Bulldogs | -- |
| 14 | Oklahoma Sooners | -- |
| 15 | Ohio St. Buckeyes | -- |
| 16 | TCU Horned Frogs | -- |
| 17 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys | -- |
| 18 | Wisconsin Badgers | -- |
| 19 | Kansas St. Wildcats | -- |
| 20 | Baylor Bears | -- |
| 21 | Michigan Wolverines | -- |
| 22 | Utah Utes | -- |
| 23 | Tennessee Volunteers | -- |
| 24 | Louisville Cardinals | -- |
| 25 | Washington Huskies | -- |
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "