Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Final BlogPoll: On Top of My Ballot is ... Oklahoma State?!?!?!?!?

It's a principle thing. Is Alabama the best team in the country? Possibly. But let's not forget that the BCS tells us over and over that the regular season matters.  Alabama had a chance on their home field in November...and lost to LSU. So while the BCS formula gave us a rematch, the rematch runs counter to the foundation of the BCS. So forgive me when I question the relative motivation levels for Alabama and LSU.  Alabama had revenge on their mind...while LSU is told to nevermind the first game, you've got to do it all over again. Two completely different mindsets.  Yes, it was the big stage. But note the history of mulligans in bowl games.  1978 Nebraska/Oklahoma.  1996 Florida/Florida State.  2010 Nebraska/Washington.  It's tough to ask teams to do it all over again.

LSU has a fine resume:  they defeated both West Virginia and Oregon impressively. Plus an SEC championship game against Georgia.  Alabama's best non-conference game?  Penn State....with Rob Bolden at quarterback.

So why Oklahoma State?  I'm going to forgive the loss to Iowa State.  It was on the road (unlike the Tide), and the circumstances of the plane crash earlier that day were a huge distraction. (Hey guys, don't forget that later tonight, you'll be getting on a plane too!)

So Oklahoma State gets my vote for #1.  Alabama stays #3 because, well, they are the only one-loss team to get a mulligan. Positions 3 through 14 stay exactly the same.  I can't drop Wisconsin or Stanford for narrowly losing to great teams ranked above them; who should get bumped ahead of them?

Nebraska stays ranked at #21.  If you think that's a homer pick; fine.  Just remember I dropped the Huskers more than any other team. At the bottom of the rankings, I struggled with teams to put in the rankings.  Virginia Tech actually rises for giving Michigan everything they could handle.  Missouri enters the poll for a solid season.
I'll probably get a whack-job ballot for it; that's fine.

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