RTT final BlogPoll ballot: week seven

by Joel on Oct 15, 2008 6:25 AM CDT in College Football

Rank	Team	Delta

1	Alabama	1
2	Texas	2
3	Penn State	2
4	Oklahoma State	21
5	Texas Tech	9
6	Oklahoma	5
7	Southern Cal	8
8	Florida	18
9	Ohio State	3
10	Utah	3
11	Michigan State	13
12	Boise State	1
13	Missouri	10
14	Kansas	6
15	Georgia	6
16	Brigham Young	6
17	South Florida	1
18	North Carolina	1
19	Virginia Tech	7
20	Wake Forest	6
21	TCU	--
22	Ball State	2
23	Vanderbilt	12
24	California	2
25	LSU	13

Dropped Out: Florida State (#16), Kentucky (#19), Georgia Tech (#23).

Tweaked based on the discussion here. You can see the raw, unadjusted computer results for this week below the jump. I decided the following computer quirks might actually be right and decided to live with them rather than follow the herd of humans:

Michigan State. The Spartans are 20th and 17th in the major polls, so the computer having them at 9th would seem too high. Still, they're 6-1 halfway through the season with only a respectable loss to Cal in the first game of the season. Yeah, no marquee wins yet, really, but their pass efficiency defense and opponent points per game stats are respectable. I wonder if the computer might be more reliable here than the human polls. After all, the computer doesn't know that THIS IS MICHIGAN STATE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD.
LSU. 13th and 14th in the major polls, 15th in the BlogPoll Monday Draft, and 33rd according to the RTT computer. We'll see in a couple of weeks, but here's the thing. They've beaten Appy State, North Texas, Auburn, and Mississippi State, and they got manhandled by one-loss Florida. Even against that competition, their numbers aren't all that impressive. The computer neither knows nor cares that THEY ARE THE DEFENDING NATIONAL CHAMPIONS HAVE A GREAT DAY!
Florida. The RTT computer has the Gators at 17, while the BlogPoll Monday draft has them at 4. They have solid but not extraordinary numbers. What the computer doesn't know is that they seem to have fixed whatever ills they had early in the season. Of course, the computer doesn't care, either. It's designed to be strictly a resume system and only cares about the past. If the humans are right that Florida is primed for a run, expect the computer to be along shortly.
BYU. The BlogPoll Monday draft says 10, but the computer says 16. The Cougars sport the nation's best third down offense and the nation's second best points per game for opponents, but they've played no one: Northern Iowa, Washington, UCLA, Wyoming, Utah State, New Mexico. I'm going with the computer, considering the competition.

Raw, unadjusted computer rankings (1-34) after the jump.

Rank	Team	WL	SOS	PED	RD	3DO	TD	PEO	EXP	OPPG	TO	3DD	AVG R	W AVG
1	Alabama	1	42	19	2	26	10	55	95	12	52	7	29.18	76.35
2	Texas	1	30	61	3	9	40	3	116	18	11	38	30.00	81.13
3	Penn St.	1	59	7	11	6	8	15	38	6	9	5	15.00	83.24
4	Oklahoma St.	1	51	38	52	11	62	4	45	55	8	8	30.45	94.91
5	Texas Tech	1	56	50	24	8	64	10	68	43	2	4	30.00	99.53
6	Boise St.	1	71	17	62	27	36	7	114	7	22	10	34.00	118.80
7	Ohio St.	11	27	13	23	69	12	51	59	13	94	63	39.55	122.70
8	Utah	1	94	57	8	41	7	25	14	37	43	15	31.09	140.49
9	Michigan St.	11	38	24	60	80	68	62	68	25	62	75	52.09	143.42
10	Oklahoma	16	4	15	25	16	23	2	59	37	6	17	20.00	149.99
11	South Fla.	16	28	26	6	23	11	31	66	31	25	20	25.73	155.58
12	Minnesota	11	46	68	46	79	83	29	112	36	66	38	55.82	157.52
13	Georgia Tech	16	16	3	32	58	6	23	109	4	53	58	34.36	159.24
14	Kansas	16	44	20	12	3	34	11	32	27	14	40	23.00	160.26
15	Georgia	16	12	64	4	19	15	27	90	31	23	29	30.00	160.33
16	BYU	1	114	29	38	1	31	8	49	2	16	76	33.18	162.02
17	Florida	16	43	23	17	28	18	20	116	10	37	29	32.45	165.64
18	North Carolina	16	20	33	61	47	74	32	72	41	91	76	51.18	168.72
19	TCU	11	93	14	1	10	1	100	26	9	39	3	27.91	168.72
20	Missouri	16	24	71	33	14	82	6	32	46	3	80	37.00	169.15
21	Ball St.	1	111	21	87	4	55	9	53	20	15	65	40.09	169.29
22	Northwestern	16	48	46	37	20	37	96	59	23	51	23	41.45	175.06
23	Connecticut	16	41	31	52	52	33	112	109	29	42	60	52.45	179.13
24	Virginia Tech	16	29	83	54	66	35	81	105	34	107	42	59.27	185.19
25	Vanderbilt	16	53	22	51	92	39	106	90	22	117	71	61.73	189.43
26	Cincinnati	16	61	77	13	85	47	19	59	37	40	57	46.45	190.88
27	Tulsa	1	118	104	75	2	101	1	49	71	1	103	56.91	200.02
28	Western Mich.	11	113	62	59	51	60	21	14	54	27	83	50.45	201.74
29	Southern California	29	19	4	10	29	4	12	72	1	19	16	19.55	267.05
30	Florida St.	29	26	12	5	7	2	83	53	21	28	1	24.27	269.71
31	Wake Forest	29	40	1	48	77	17	52	49	16	86	45	41.82	278.10
32	California	29	47	9	14	92	25	43	90	27	33	21	39.09	280.95
33	LSU	29	54	44	28	57	32	47	77	52	36	35	44.64	282.40
34	Pittsburgh	29	49	53	40	44	27	85	77	48	70	44	51.45	283.41