CGB Blogpoll Ballot, Week 3 (Final)

If this were later in the season (say, past week 5), I probably would have moved Ohio down below at least USC, and maybe further, based on feedback on our draft ballot. I still considered it, but ultimately decided that my irrational overrating of Ohio was still pretty justified in week 3, when we still don't have a lot of data points to look at.

Anyway, further thoughts and justifications after the jump:

Norcalnick: This is the week when I get tired of seeing crap schedules and punish teams for beating nobody. Let's start with an entire conference with no backbone:

The Big-12's non-conference scheduling is an unbelievable joke. If I went with a pure resume ballot right now, I think Kansas St. is the only team in the entire conference that I would rank. Right now the 2nd best win by a Big 12 school is either Iowa St.'s 9-6 win over Iowa or Texas's win over Mississippi. Pathetic. I dropped every Big-12 school as a pure matter of principle.

ragnarok: I only have one justifying principle for the week, which is that, since there are still more than 25 undefeated teams, I decided not to vote for any team that has lost. That meant that I ended up voting for more Big 12 teams than I probably should have, but I think it's a problem that will solve itself soon enough.

Berkelium97: Texas (9) has scored 111 points over the past two weeks. Let that one sink in for a while...

atomsareenough: #17 Texas had a nice win in Oxford against Mississippi. The Rebels are pretty bad, but what stood out to me was that the Longhorns hung 66 points on them and were scoring every which way in the process. If they've finally gotten their act together on offense, then they're as dangerous as any team in the country. I bumped them up to #11. Last week's #9 Kansas State had a poor showing at home against North Texas, so I dropped them a few slots to #13. Previous #13 TCU moved up a few slots to #10 by winning convincingly on the road, even though it was just Kansas.

Norcalnick: In the ACC, Clemson and Florida St. have combined to play two BCS teams, but Auburn and Wake Forest look pretty bad this year so they won't get a ton of credit for those wins.

Berkelium97: I've been harsh on Florida State (7) all year but that 52-0 win over Wake Forest convinced me that this might actually be a legitimate top-ten team.

atomsareenough: By the way, I'm also feeling rather justified about my early Seminole bullishness. Wake Forest isn't a great program, but they're an ACC school at least, they'd won their first two games, and FSU obliterated them 52-0 like they were Savannah State 2.0. So much talent in Tallahassee, and they seem to be clicking on all cylinders. Clemson will be a stiff test next week, but then it should be smooth sailing until the last game of the season with archrival Florida, whom they will play at home. Anyway, FSU replaces USC and leapfrogs Oregon at #3, but I think the top 4 are all pretty close in quality. Interestingly, there were two 52-0 scores and two 63-14 scores from the top 4 teams.

Norcalnick: South Carolina has just one BCS win, by 4 points over Vandy. Sorry, that's not enough to earn a top 10 spot.

Arguably I should drop Oregon for a similarly pathetic schedule, but the Ducks tried to schedule good teams but Kansas St. (A big 12 school!) cowardly backed out. Add that to the fact that I'm 99% sure Oregon is a top 5 team and they get the benefit of the doubt.

Berkelium97: I was shocked that Notre Dame (7) manhandled Michigan State (16). Michigan State had one of the best defenses in the nation.

atomsareenough: Okay, ironic confession time: I looked at my ballot from last week again, and it turns out I had Michigan State at #10 all along. I was just so shocked to see them up at #2 on Nick's ballot that it made me wonder if I had put them so high, and then when I glanced at my ballot to check, I didn't see them hiding in plain sight at #10. Regardless, my overall skepticism seems to have been vindicated considering they scored just 3 points at home against previously-unranked-by-me Notre Dame. However, due to the lack of decent résumés so far this year, I guess the Spartans can stick around at #25 after all. Notre Dame makes my list as well at #22, but since I didn't think Michigan State was a top-5 team, I'm not going to extend the same credit to the Irish either, at least just yet.

Norcalnick: Florida, Notre Dame and Stanford are all in my top 10. I don't really think that any of those teams will end the season that high. But they have all played legit teams and won. That's more than most teams can say 3 weeks into the season. On that same note, I have five Pac-12 teams in the top 11 of the poll. Play legit teams, win, you get rewarded. It's that simple.

atomsareenough: Previous #3 USC obviously lost to Stanford (now #16), so they get knocked down to #23. I think they're better than #23 with their talent, but their lack of depth puts a real question-mark on their ability to get through the rest of the conference schedule undefeated.

Berkelium97: USC (13) plummets after losing to Stanford (12). I'm still not sold on Stanford, though. I anticipate their offense will struggle mightily if the running game is shut down. Stanford would have risen further if USC didn't look like Steve Marshall took over.

ragnarok: Ok, time for one final thought...

Berkelium97: I really hope someone besides Alabama (1), LSU (2), or Oregon (3) earns a spot in the national championship game.

ragnarok: College football sure is better with some chaos added. I sure hope we see some this year.