BlogPoll Ballot: Warhawks, Aggies and Beavers... Oh, my!
As y'all know by now, I adhere to a strict policy of rankings teams based on body of work. Inevitably, that produces some odd results early in the season.
For example, when a 30.5-point underdog knocks off a darkhorse national championship contender, you get a Sun Belt squad ranked in the top five. When Northwestern is the only team to have beaten two foes from AQ conferences, you get the Wildcats ranked ahead of USC and South Carolina and Texas. And on and on.
I not only welcome comments on anything I write, but I encourage them as well. If you have any thoughts on my ballot, I'd love to hear them. Just keep in mind that my rankings tend to fluctuate significantly, especially at this early juncture in the season.
Blatant Homerism Ballot - Week 2
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -- |
| 2 | Georgia Bulldogs | -- |
| 3 | Florida Gators |  22 |
| 4 | ULM Warhawks | -- |
| 5 | Oregon St. Beavers | -- |
| 6 | UCLA Bruins | 13 |
| 7 | LSU Tigers | 14 |
| 8 | Arizona Wildcats | -- |
| 9 | Northwestern Wildcats |  -1 |
| 10 | Utah State Aggies | -- |
| 11 | Tennessee Volunteers | -7 |
| 12 | Clemson Tigers | -10 |
| 13 | Mississippi St. Bulldogs | -- |
| 14 | Iowa St. Cyclones | 2 |
| 15 | South Carolina Gamecocks | -12 |
| 16 | Virginia Tech Hokies | -- |
| 17 | Michigan St. Spartans | -12 |
| 18 | Kansas St. Wildcats | -- |
| 19 | Arizona St. Sun Devils | -- |
| 20 | Wake Forest Demon Deacons | -- |
| 21 | USC Trojans | 2 |
| 22 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish | -11 |
| 23 | Ohio St. Buckeyes | -1 |
| 24 | Ohio Bobcats | -15 |
| 25 | Texas Longhorns | -1 |
| Dropouts: Nevada Wolf Pack, Miami Hurricanes, BYU Cougars, Louisville Cardinals, West Virginia Mountaineers, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Iowa Hawkeyes, Baylor Bears, Oregon Ducks, Oklahoma Sooners | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings »
A few notes and observations:
*With this kind of ranking system, you have to keep in mind that teams often move up and down as much because of what other teams do as what they do. Ohio tumbled this week following a second Penn State loss, for instance. Clemson drops 10 spots when a tight win against Auburn no longers looks quite so impressive.
*If I'm doing "power rankings," Georgia makes a material move up this week. That was an impressive performance Saturday night against Missouri, especially give the suspensions on D. Aaron Murray doesn't make it into the conversation about the country's best quarterbacks very often, but he definitely deserves a spot.
*Speaking of which, as great as USC's offensive weapons are, give me LSU as the nation's No. 2 team. The Tigers play with such an impressive level of physicality on both sides of the ball.
*How bad must Rick Neuheisel have been at UCLA? The Bruins' win over Nebraska last night was the kind of game where they would have rolled over under Pistol Rick.
*They were playing some inspired football out in Arizona this weekend.
*Sorry, Sooner Nation, but no way am I ranking OU yet.