At this point, the routine's relatively straightforward. I'm starting to get a wee bit intimidated of the BlogPoll spreadsheet (somehow, I have this distinct feeling that the first time I try and update that, it'll result in hours lost, vows forsworn, and lots of tears), but if we're thinking that Week 6ish is about the time that we'll have enough data to be of real use, then that sounds like a decent time to deploy. For practical intents and purposes, I'll probably roll the spreadsheet out next week to see how badly we're missing things and what its results look like compared to what we have so far.
For what it's worth, my suspicion is the BlogPoll sheet will do more to clear up the massive amounts of confusion we have in the 13-and-lower range. Until then, we'll just make the best out of the incomplete solution we have. At this point, y'all know the format - regular BlogPoll, SEC Power Poll, reminder that we have no clue what's going on, notes below the fold.
1. LSU
2. Alabama
3. Oklahoma
4. Boise State
5. Oklahoma State
6. Wisconsin
7. Stanford
8. Nebraska
9. Oregon
10. Virginia Tech
11. Texas A&M
12. South Carolina
13. Florida
14. Georgia Tech
15. South Florida
16. Baylor
17. Clemson
18. Florida State
19. Texas
20. TCU
21. Michigan
22. West Virginia
23. Arkansas
24. Arizona State
25. Illinois
Just missing: Iowa State, Texas Tech, Iowa, Michigan State, Houston.
SEC Power Poll:
1. LSU
2. Alabama
3. South Carolina
4. Florida
5. Arkansas
6. Auburn
7. Mississippi State
7. Georgia
9. Vanderbilt
9. Tennessee
MIA. Kentucky
DOA. Ole Miss
Y'all aren't going to be able to talk me out of doing the combined 12 rankings for Kentucky and Ole Miss again, so no need. Notes below the jump, and I actually feel halfway decent about the order this week, so clearly I got none of this right save LSU.
- The Unmovable: LSU. Yeah, they should probably be 0.5 or so based on their play. Two road wins, one neutral site win, 3 wins over teams that were ranked at the time, 1 win over a current top 10 team, and it's only September. This won't last; if it does, we're going to have some awkward "best BCS team ever" conversations at the end of the year. Those conversations will be a product of boredom, but we'll have them.
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The Elites: Alabama, Oklahoma, Boise State, Oklahoma State. A surprise inclusion to the ranks of the top, Oklahoma State also has the second-best skin of the season thanks to a
massive choke jobquality road win over Texas A&M. I'm not sold they stay at this level, but they deserve it right now. Boise State gets bumped down of their own accord, and lordy doesn't that Alabama-LSU game look like turn-your-phone-off appointment TV right now? (And lordy, why do we have to play those teams back-to-back?) - The Waiting Room: Wisconsin, Stanford, Nebraska, Oregon, Virginia Tech, Texas A&M. We're in outside-looking-in territory at the moment here. Fortunately, most of these teams get chances to move up, as five of these six teams get at least one game against a Top 10 outfit to make their mark. That one lone team who gets no chances to do this is Virginia Tech, who ...well, it just feels appropriate to have them end up in the top 10 as an under-the-radar specialist, no?
- The Mini-Tier: South Carolina, Florida. Clearly here, but I don't know how I feel about the order - obviously the SEC Power Poll follows this closely. I feel like Florida should go above South Carolina based on last week, but, well, Vanderbilt >> Kentucky, and did you ever expect to see that written in our lifetime?
- The Honorary Congregation of ACC Teams: Georgia Tech, South Florida, Baylor, Clemson, Florida State. Man, I can't wait until EJ Manuel gets healthy and I get to bug Will by moving Florida State above Clemson. Other than that, this is shockingly looking like a middle tier, which I didn't expect to see for a few weeks still.
- Gigantic Question Marks: Texas, TCU, Michigan. TCU in the top 25 still seems weird, especially since they'll just kind of hang out in this area until shown otherwise. I'm kind of hoping the spreadsheet takes care of them for me, to be honest. As far as the rest, Texas gets a show-me chance against Iowa State, Michigan gets an effective bye, and we'll probably see these guys around the same spot as before.
- The Abuse Cases: West Virginia, Arkansas. Yeah, they have to drop from losses, and both were ugly, but I mean, it's LSU and Alabama. That's just going to happen.
- Yeah, Sure: Arizona State, Illinois. Arizona State has been ranked here, in order, 23-17-13-off-24. I kind of don't know what to do with them. Illinois gets the random guy at the back end of the rankings spot.
- SEC Power Poll Changes: I'd be up to knocking Mississippi State down to 8 proper, but Louisiana Tech is feisty and a half. Vanderbilt, shockingly, has a method of playing football that's fairly effective, although I think that the best way to play them is to try and score off defensive TDs only and keep the ball in Larry Smith's hands for as long as possible. We come down in the wash a bit through no fault of our own, and the bottom stay the bottom.
Remember, I have no idea what I'm doing.