Soliciting reader contributions for BlogPoll Roundtable

by Joel Hollingsworth on Sep 5, 2006 5:58 AM EDT in Tennessee Volunteer Football

Bruce Ciskie is hosting this week's BlogPoll roundtable. The questions this week deal with how preseason expectations matched up (or didn't match up, as the case may be) with the first weekend's game results.

Tennessee's big win over Cal will likely figure prominently into the conversation, so I'm soliciting feedback from all of the Rocky Top Talk folks.

Here are the questions:

What team best met your overall expectations of them in their opener? In other words, which team that you expected to be either really good or really bad (or somewhere in between) came the closest to making you look good?
What team jumped off the map and surprised you the most? (Bonus points to anyone who can make an argument for someone besides Tennessee.)
What team best moved themselves into a position to surprisingly contend for a national title?

I'll be posting answers this evening.

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Blogpoll

Notre Dame. Just enough to get by Georgia Tech (This game was GT's to steal).
South Carolina really surprised by not looking sharper offensively. Credit to MSU, but SC should have posted 24 or more.
Tennessee enters the discussion, as Cal exits.

by GameDayVol on Sep 5, 2006 4:56 PM EDT reply actions

Blog Poll

1.Miami and Florida State. Both teams looked terrible and ranked too high.

2. Tennessee, though Montana State isn't even the best team in their own state!

3.Notre Dame, that trip to Atlanta was a trap and they came out with a win. Tennessee still has a few teams (Florida) to beat before we start with the "NC" word

by Smitty @ Rocky Top Talk on Sep 5, 2006 7:55 PM EDT reply actions

Answers

Cal. I always think the Pac-10 is overrated. They proved me right.
Notre Dame. I didn't think they were capable of winning a grind-it-out game. They did. I'm a bigger believer in the Irish now than I was three days ago.
Florida State. All of their remaining difficult games--Clemson, BC, Florida--are at home. They very well could be undefeated going into the ACC title game.

Here's my question: Shouldn't the polls be a reflection of what has happened thus far this season?

I wrote on my site about how Cal flopped but it should also be noted that Tennessee was pretty dominant. If one is voting based on known quantities (things that have actually happened) as opposed to unknown quantities (things we think are going to happen but may not), I don't see how Tennessee isn't first.

My ballot, if I were in the BlogPoll (and I didn't apply to be because after Week 1, I don't see games live; I watch about 25 Tivoed games a week from Monday-Thursday though):

Tennessee - Slaughtered a highly thought of Cal team. One of only two teams with a win over a ranked opponent.
Florida State - Won at the Orange Bowl for the first time since 1998. One of only two teams with a win over a ranked opponent (and on the road, no less).
Southern Cal - Went on the road and hung 50 on a team with a good defense.
Notre Dame - Most were disappointed in their performance, I was impressed with it. I didn't think this team had the defense to win a grind it out game, especially on the road. I'm more of a believer in Notre Dame now than I was 72 hours ago.
Oregon - I don't think they'll be better than Ohio State, Auburn or Texas but a home blowout over Stanford is better than a home blowout over Northern Illinois, Washington State or North Texas.
Ohio State - Ran it up in the first quarter; could have scored 70 if they wanted to.
Auburn - Slaughtered a Washington State team many thought was much improved.
UCLA - Some have said Utah could be a BCS team this year and UCLA beat them by three touchdowns.
Texas - Nice start to the Colt McCoy era.
Florida - I think Southern Miss is better than Akron, Vanderbilt, UL-Lafayette, Marshall, UAB, Kentucky, Louisiana Tech and all the other crummy teams that the powers beat up on.
Colorado - Lost at home by nine to DI-AA Montana State.
Duke - Got shutout at home by DI-AA Richmond.