BlogPoll Ballot Week 8: Staying with Alabama

Matt Hinton, the "Sunday Morning Quarterback" asked a rhetorical question this morning that made me stop and think about Alabama.  I've been operating under the fog of 'Bama's whitewashing of Michigan, Arkansas, and Missouri -- and just putting them at the top of the ballot by default. Hinton thinks Florida or Kansas State really deserve to be ranked on top.

Bama at No. 1 is no surprise, but unanimity still is. Of 119 AP/USAT voters, only ONE rewards Florida or K-State for beating better teams?
— Matt Hinton (@MattRHinton) October 21, 2012

He does have a point.  Kansas State beat Oklahoma, and Florida just demolished an injury-riddled South Carolina team.  But both teams have "hmmm" games on their list:  Kansas State's six point win over Iowa State, and Florida has a 13 point win over Bowling Green.  Alabama has been consistently impressive all season long...so I'm keeping them on top.

Husker Mike's Blasphemy Ballot - Week 8

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama Crimson Tide	--
2	Oregon Ducks	--
3	Florida Gators	--
4	Kansas St. Wildcats	--
5	Oklahoma Sooners	--
6	LSU Tigers	1
7	USC Trojans	1
8	Oregon St. Beavers	2
9	Clemson Tigers	--
10	Florida St. Seminoles	1
11	Stanford Cardinal	1
12	South Carolina Gamecocks	-6
13	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	--
14	Georgia Bulldogs	--
15	Ohio Bobcats	--
16	Mississippi St. Bulldogs	3
17	Louisville Cardinals	--
18	Michigan Wolverines	2
19	Texas Tech Red Raiders	2
20	Rutgers Scarlet Knights	2
21	Arizona St. Sun Devils	-3
22	Louisiana Tech Bulldogs	--
23	Texas Longhorns	--
24	Boise St. Broncos	--
25	TCU Horned Frogs	--
Dropouts: West Virginia Mountaineers, Cincinnati Bearcats, Iowa St. Cyclones

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I'm giving South Carolina a bit of a pass for losing to Florida with an injury-riddled squad, though South Carolina probably gave that game away at the Swamp.  Or maybe I just want to stick it to Notre Dame for protesting so vehemently last week. :-)

West Virginia was exposed as a fraud, so they are out of the rankings.  Arizona State usually would have fallen further, but I was struggling for teams to add to the rankings.  So they fall just 3 spots.  Louisiana Tech probably deserves some recognition for being 6-1, so in they go.  I hated to rank Boise State, but couldn't come up with anybody else.  Heck, I even considered listing Nebraska here...but held off for one more week.