Chris is out today, and I spent the afternoon driving back from Knoxville after watching a grand total of one game yesterday. So I'm just throwing something together based on looking at last week, glancing at scores, and throwing things together off the top of my head. Which means this BlogPoll draft has the potential to be crazy. if you would like it to be less crazy, advocate for your less crazy positions in the comments. If you would like it to be more crazy, advocate for your more crazy positions in the comments. Final ballot will be submitted in the morning, so get your comments in tonight.
1. Alabama
2. Oregon
3. Florida
4. Kansas State
Honestly, Kansas State has done enough to warrant consideration to move all the way up to #2, but Florida and Oregon keep being impressive too. Looking at box scores, Kansas State might look even more impressive than Florida. Bill Snyder is a wizard. If you like them, give me thoughts.
5. Notre Dame
6. Oregon State
7. LSU
8. Oklahoma
9. Stanford
10. Southern California
11. Florida State
I don't even know what to think about these teams anymore. Notre Dame keeps winning without offense, Florida State looked underwhelming against Miami (albeit in a rivalry game), LSU keeps winning without offense, Oklahoma is still riding a win over a Texas team that may or may not be good. Oregon State keeps winning ugly, but they did beat BYU a whole lot worse than Notre Dame did. And then there are those undefeated teams ranked a little bit lower to worry about as well.
12. South Carolina
13. Louisville
14. Texas Tech
15. Rutgers
16. Mississippi State
17. Texas A&M
18. Georgia
19. Clemson
I keep saying that all these sections are a mess, but maybe we're just at that time of year where we don't know what to think. The box score makes it look like South Carolina shut down Florida but repeatedly shot themselves in the foot, and I'm inclined to give them a little credit for the former as I take it away for the latter. Also worth noting it's their third straight big game. It's hard to sustain that level of play. Louisville, Rutgers, and Mississippi State are undefeated and have played varying degrees of middling competition. Texas Tech gutted out a road win over a decent team, so kudos there. A&M played a top ten team very close, again, so they again prove that we probably have them in about the right place. Georgia and Clemson still haven't beaten anyone good and have losses to teams who looked iffy this weekend.
20. Ohio
21. Louisiana Tech
22. Arizona
23. West Virginia
24. Toledo
25. Texas
Ohio's win over Penn State looks better and better every week, and the rest of these teams are pretty much all that's left in the "no bad loss" club. And when I say "bad loss," I mean loss to a bad team, not blowout loss. Because WVU has sure had their share of blowout losses. I've been advocating for Arizona for a while, and it's time to put them in. Their only losses are to top ten teams, and they've blown away the average teams on their schedule. Except for Toledo, who is now 7-1 with a win over Cincy and their only loss in Tuscon.
But how many other teams can you think of without a loss outside the top 25? I've got Michigan. I don't have any others. So there's your consideration pile: Michigan. Maybe add Boise State and Utah State for good measure. Anybody else? Oh wait, I should know this one, Tennessee doesn't have any losses outside the top 25. And I guess Washington. But those don't look like consideration pile teams.