Tuesday, September 04, 2012

BlogPoll Ballot: 'Bama #1, Any Questions? Didn't Think So.

Now that we've moved beyond the opening week of the season, actions on the field take precedence over preseason perceptions.  And so, teams that played well against opponents perceived to be good take precedence over teams that struggled against not-so-good opponents.  Got that?

In short, Alabama goes to #1.  Southern Cal moves to #2 with a blowout of Hawaii.   After that, well, it's a muddled mess at this point where we have to start using perception.  Oregon looked good in the first half, then mailed in their second half.  South Carolina looked somewhat meh against a meh opponent. Florida State blew out a nobody while Oklahoma struggled with UTEP.


So then comes the homer pick: Nebraska at #9. Yep, that's right...#9.  Southern Miss was a bowl team and C-USA champs last year and got beat badly.  There aren't a lot of teams that played an opponent like that in week one and beat that opponent like that.  So I'm putting the Husker there for now.  We'll see if they stick there, especially when they play Arkansas State in two weeks followed by Idaho State.  Those won't be impressive opponents.

Ohio at #16?  Yeah, that's a sentimental pick...but they did rack up 499 yards against Penn State, and while the Nittany Lions lost all of their offence from last year, the defense last year was solid and should be decent this season.  No Ohio State?  Yep...NCAA sanctions.  No Michigan State?  Yep... the Spartan offense was down right offensive considering Boise State only had two returning starters on defense.  Michigan at #12?  That might be a little high, but my take is that Alabama may be that good.  And let's be honest...if we want matchups like Alabama/Michigan, we can't penalize teams for losing and then reward teams like Oklahoma State for running up the score on Savannah State.

Wisconsin #14?  Well, they probably shouldn't even be rated after that performance against Northern Iowa, but I decided to leave 'em in based on perception.

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