Here’s my ballot for this week’s College Football BlogPoll Top 25, hosted by SB Nation. As always, I submit my humble ballot for your consideration, comment, and criticism (and unmitigated complaints and insults will be accepted).
Week 2
Through 7 September 2010
We learned a few things from the first round of games in the 2010 season, but we didn’t learn a lot. After the past week in the world of college football, we have come to understand that simply being better than your opponent will not always lead to success, simply showing up can make a difference, and simply being awful … well that just plain sucks. At any rate, here are the changes in my BlogPoll Top 25 ballot for Week 2. Most of these should be fairly obvious. Either way, here is is:
My Ballot for the Week
The VolNation Blog Ballot – Week 2
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama Crimson Tide | — |
| 2 | Boise St. Broncos |  3 |
| 3 | Ohio St. Buckeyes |  -1 |
| 4 | Oregon Ducks | — |
| 5 | TCU Horned Frogs | 3 |
| 6 | Texas Longhorns | — |
| 7 | Oklahoma Sooners | — |
| 8 | Wisconsin Badgers | 2 |
| 9 | Florida Gators | -6 |
| 10 | Nebraska Cornhuskers | 1 |
| 11 | Iowa Hawkeyes | 3 |
| 12 | Miami Hurricanes | 1 |
| 13 | Arkansas Razorbacks | 2 |
| 14 | Virginia Tech Hokies | -5 |
| 15 | Penn St. Nittany Lions | 1 |
| 16 | Pittsburgh Panthers | -4 |
| 17 | Missouri Tigers | 2 |
| 18 | USC Trojans | -1 |
| 19 | Florida St. Seminoles | 2 |
| 20 | Utah Utes | — |
| 21 | Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets | 3 |
| 22 | LSU Tigers | -4 |
| 23 | Georgia Bulldogs | — |
| 24 | Auburn Tigers | -2 |
| 25 | West Virginia Mountaineers | -2 |
| Dropouts: North Carolina Tar Heels, Connecticut Huskies | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings »
Explanations after the jump…
Comments, Explanations, and Excuses
Here are the high-points of the week’s changes:
Top of the Heap:
I am probably going to be disliked by some for keeping the Alabama Crimson Tide at the top of my poll rather than giving Boise State the nod at No. 1. All I can say is that Boise State is deserving of a number-one ranking … but in my mind so is Alabama. Thus, until the Tide falters, I am not going to drop them simply because they spent their weekend beating up some no-name school while the Boise State Broncos bested the Virginia Tech Hokies in a classic battle.
This is not me trying to dog Boise State, but rather reflects my belief in how the polls should work. If you earned the spot, then you keep it. After all, if Boise State stays at No. 2 all season, then they will get a chance to play the No. 1 in the BCS Title game.
That said, feel free to flame away…
Movement, Movement, Everywhere…:
Once you get past the top few spots, however, everyone starts jockeying for positions. A whole lot of changes in my ballot this week due to actual or perceived gains or losses on the part of many teams.
The Florida Gators fell 6 spots without even losing, but their lackluster performance against Miami of Ohio convinced me that I was right in concluding the Gators were overrated in my pre-season ballot. Don’t get me wrong, the Gators are by no means a bad team, and I seriously doubt that their woes snapping the ball will continue. For now, however, they have not demonstrated to me that they are deserving of a top-5 ranking. We’ll see if I still feel that way after they take on the Vols in a few weeks.
Similarly, I dropped the LSU Tigers for being anything but spectacular in their opening contest against a horribly depleted North Carolina Tarheels squad. While the Heels are anything but a pushover, after losing 15 starters, the Tigers should have beaten them handily. LSU, however, got lazy and came within a few plays of giving the whole game away.
I dropped the Pittsburgh Panthers four spots for losing to a Utah Utes club that was simply better. There’s no shame in losing to a better team. There is great shame in scheduling the Coastal Carolina Chaunticleers, which is why I dropped the West Virginia Mountaineers two spots.
That leads us to the Ole Miss Rebels, who weren’t in my poll to begin with, but after losing to Jacksonville State, I’m pretty sure they never will be. I firmly believe that, unless you have an intra-state tie or traditional linkage with a sub-divisional school, an FCS team has no business scheduling FBS schools. FBS teams in those positions have nothing to lose, and everything to gain. Just ask Mee-che-gun how that turned out for them a few years ago.
There, I spoke my piece.
Returners & First Timers:
Along with Utah, the Georgia Bulldogs make their debut in my 2010 poll ballot for the first time. Whether they will stay there is another story.
Parting Thoughts
Having taken the time to consider my feeble attempt at ranking the powers in college football, feel free to try and convince me that I am wrong — which is part of the way the BlogPoll is supposed to work. I promise that I will consider all insults comments.
You can view the final results of this week’s poll over at SB Nation later this week and check out an analysis of how the collective blogging brain-trust arrived at this week’s result. If you’re craving even more BlogPoll goodness, you can also check out how other bloggers voted and see how your team fared across the Blogosphere.
Alrighty, flame away, my friends. Flame away…
— So it goes … 
