CollegeJersey.com

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Blog Poll Ballot, Post-Week 8: This Is Exhausting

RankTeamChange
1Ohio State (8-0) --
2LSU (7-1) 2
3Boston College (7-0) --
4Oregon (6-1) 1
5Oklahoma (7-1) 1
6Arizona State (7-0) 1
7Kansas (7-0) 6
8South Florida (6-1) 6
9West Virginia (6-1) 2
10Virginia Tech (6-1) 2
11Missouri (6-1) 3
12Florida (5-2) 3
13Southern Cal (6-1) 3
14Kentucky (6-2) 4
15Virginia (7-1) 3
16Texas (6-2) 8
17Hawaii (7-0) 2
18California (5-2) 10
19Penn State (6-2) 1
20Wake Forest (5-2) 2
21Auburn (5-3) 4
22South Carolina (6-2) 13
23Rutgers (5-2) 3
24Michigan (6-2) 2
25Clemson (5-2) 1

Dropped Out: Kansas State (#21), Cincinnati (#23), Texas Tech (#25)

Ballot Meditations
>>> Soft schedules or not, it's time to really pay tribute to Ohio State, Boston College, Arizona State, and Kansas (and Hawaii too, I suppose) for surviving the insanity of this season unscathed thus far. It takes some stones and some ice water in the veins to do that. That said, none of them will finish with a goose-egg in the loss column.

>>> LSU vaulting BC? Yep. It took 3 OTs for LSU to finally lose last week, on the road, when Kentucky had a few extra days to prepare for them. Let's just say the Tigers have the most respectable and understandable loss of anyone this season. Combine that with their demolition of Virginia Tech and gut-check wins over Florida and Auburn, and they deserve at least the #2 spot. Ohio State's killer defense is what keeps the Buckeyes at #1 for this week (don't let the Michigan State score fool you...the Spartans had two defensive touchdowns).

>>> Hmmm, lookie there...I've got 5 ACC teams in the poll. Clemson may be a stretch, but who else should be in there ahead of them? Alabama? The Tide lost to Florida State for God's sake. UCLA? Their two losses to Utah and Notre Dame by a combined score of 64-12 equal banishment from the poll for a long while. Georgia? A 35-7 thrashing at ridiculously overrated Tennessee keeps them out. Purdue? Outscored 71-28 by Michigan and Ohio State. Wisconsin? Umm, just no.

>>> Cal and South Carolina could be riding the express train from the Top 10 last week to out of the poll by next week. The Bears travel to Arizona State next Saturday while the Gamecocks visit Tennessee; even an ugly win over the Vols could result in Carolina dropping out, while a loss in Knoxville certainly will.

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