Tuesday, August 18, 2009

In 2009, the PowerPoll Joins the BlogPoll

Back in 2007, I was asked to join the ranks of college football bloggers who vote in the "BlogPoll" but I declined at the time. Part of the problem is that rankings start too early and perceptions start becoming reality and end up affecting the final rankings. But I've realized that by not being part of the conversation, I'm not helping change those perceptions. So this year, I'm expanding the PowerPoll to 25 and submitting it into the CBS Sports BlogPoll.

That, in turn, creates a new dilemma. The whole idea of the PowerPoll is to rank teams based on what they've done without the influence of expectations. But what do you do for a preseason poll? Well, I'm going to have to submit my expectations, since I have nothing else to work with. But by that same manner, this all gets thrown out in September when the games actually kick off.

RankTeam
1 Florida
2 Texas
3 Oklahoma
4 Southern Cal
5 LSU
6 California
7 Alabama
8 Boise State
9 Virginia Tech
10 Ohio State
11 Penn State
12 Oklahoma State
13 Georgia
14 Brigham Young
15 TCU
16 Mississippi
17 Oregon
18 Utah
19 Kansas
20 Nebraska
21 Georgia Tech
22 Florida State
23 Oregon State
24 Miami (Florida)
25 Texas Tech

So here's my initial submission. I don't see anyway to vote anybody other than Florida at the top for now. Texas edges out Oklahoma for now, but that'll probably change after week 1. I'll have to give Oklahoma much more credit for playing BYU than I give Texas for playing Louisiana-Monroe.

My bias against Big Ten teams shows here as well. They're going to have to prove themselves. I really wanted to rank Virginia Tech higher, but I had to drop them due to the injury to Darren Evans. (Again...this poll has to be based on perception, so sadly, they get dropped down here.)

This is a draft ballot, so I'm looking for feedback. I've got to admit, I'm really guessing on some of these teams so let me know what I've done wrong. Unless of course, you try to convince me that Notre Dame is worthy of a vote. They're not quite as dreadful as they were in 2007...but "less dreadful" doesn't equate to Top 25.

3 comments:

AJ said...

CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG! OH YEAH!!! Sez the Kool Aid man.

Husker Mike said...

Oops... My bad.

1. Mizzou
2. Florida

...etc...

Zathras said...

I think you were still too generous to the Big Ten. Ohio State is #10 is okay, but Penn State does not deserve #11.