Picture Me Blog Poll'in: Week 1, B2

B2's Blog Poll:

1) OSU (0)
2) USC (+1)
3) Oklahoma (-1)
4) Florida (+1)
5) Georgia (-1)

What the rejig? It's my philosophy that you don't drop places after wins. It's also my philosophy that we don't get a sample size for the preseason poll, and early games are hardly an indication of how good a team will be. However, now that we have a sample size - albeit microscopic - we can start to sort through the mess. The bottom line is that these top 5 teams are all really good; they proved it this weekend. Any of these teams are now ranked high enough to be at that magical #2 spot by the end of the season, the rejiggerations are largely cosmetic. Atop the poll is still Ohio State. I thought they were the best team going into the season, and I didn't see anything that would tell me different. The Beanie Wells potential injury is moot because they haven't lost a game yet as a result. USC put their foot on Virginia's throat, and didn't let up for 60 minutes. There was no room for Virginia to even hang around. Because I consider Virginia to be much more "quality" than Chattanooga, they jump Oklahoma. Florida's big concern, on my part, was their defense, and in particular their secondary. They played really well - making Florida a legitimate National Title contender and (again - given the tiny sample size) a more complete team than Georgia.

6) Missouri (0)
7) Penn State (+1)
8) USF (+1)
9) WVU (+1)
10) LSU (+1)

I had Clemson in the top 10. I was wrong, and have done 100 pushups while chanting "never trust a Bowden" as punishment. Missouri - who looked strong against Illinois - gets to stay put, and everyone else slides up a spot. Penn State put 66 on the board - which signals to me that their offense may actually resemble offense this season. I've had them as my Big Ten runner-up over the national pick of Wisconsin from the beginning. I think Penn State is a top ten team, and I think that they'll be in that region at the end of the season. USF gets the nod over WVU because, despite the offense, West Virginia's defense looked like GARBIDGE. Those two still play each other, so the pillow fight will resolve itself. LSU looked good against App State, but it was just App State. That's right - I said it. LSU did exactly what a good team should do against a 1-AA opponent, no matter if said opponent beat Michigan last year.

11) Texas (+1)
12) Auburn (+2)
13) BYU (+2)
14) Wake Forest (+6)
15) Utah (+1)

Texas gets the +1 for winning, and for having a quarterback named Colt. I had Virginia Tech here - BeamerBall! Did you know they play BeamerBall? Special Teams! VT has great Special Teams! - right. Here's the deal though: I don't think that VT is really as bad as they were last week, and I still expect them to contend for an ACC title. That being said, Auburn and BYU both get bumped after victories over Sisters of the Poor and St. Christof's reformatory school for prepubescent boys respectively. Wake Forest gets the biggest boost in the entire pool after dismantling Baylor. Skinner looked impressive, and poses naked, earning him double points. I've also learned that Grobe knows what he's doing, despite looking half asleep at times. The defense is good, the offense is efficient, and I expect Wake to win the ACC again this year. Shame on me for not believing. Utah gets a bump for beating Michigan, but given the disarray that was the Michigan offense, the bump is not significant.

16) Wisconsin (+3)
17) Texas Tech (+1)
18) Cal (+4)
19) Oregon (+4)
20) Arizona State (NR)

Wisconsin let Akron hang around longer than I wanted them to, but I still think that Wisky is built tough. They're not a Ferrari - they don't have the players to blow the doors off you. However, I think that Biliema's squad is built to hang tough with just about anyone in the country. I begrudgingly give Texas Tech the 17 spot, but I don't think they deserve much of a bump after that shaky defensive performance. Cal beat Michigan State, who I had as a ranked team, and as such moves up 4 spots into "solidly ranked" status. Oregon and Arizona State round out the top 20.

21) Alabama (NR)
22) Virginia Tech (-9)
23) Clemson (-16)
24) Central Michigan (0)
25) UCLA (NR)

BUBBLE: Tennessee, Kansas,

While impressive, I'm not aboard the 'Bama bandwagon just yet. However, I will say this: Alabama is much better than I thought they would be this year. You have to throw them in the melting pot of teams that could win the SEC East. As such, I largely expect the rankings to work themselves out regarding 'Bama. They're probably a little low here - but they'll have their chance to work up the ladder. Virginia Tech and Clemson are both big losers, but both capable of threatening Wake's way to the top of the ACC. I still like VT a little better than Clemson, if only for the Bowden factor, and it's reflected here. Central gets a pass - but they are dangerously close to being unranked as bigger teams start winning bigger games. UCLA is in for this week, but I think their victory last night was largely a Tennessee choke job combined with the weird juji that happens when sensible Midwestern teams travel West early.

I'm still not buying Kansas.

Poll Philosophy

This is not a "resume" poll that you see others floating around. Resume, for those unaware, is basically taking a team's "what have you done for me so far" and ranking them as such. Therefore, you get some craziness that would never happen. For example, in this week's resume poll, Eastern Carolina would have to be ranked in the top 10, if not top 5. In order to have this, one has to assume that preseason polls are complete and total garbidge.

However, I set my preseason poll to "shakedown" mode - putting similar teams that play each other in similar places. My basis for this is that there is only one poll that really matters - the last one. Everything from here until there is for media to talk about, and blogs to make fun of. It doesn't matter that Ohio State is 1 and USC is 2 in my poll: they play each other, and we'll get to see who is better. Same with Utah vs. BYU, the ACC shakedown, 'Bama being ranked in the 20's, etc. These first 3 weeks before conference play largely sets up the shakedown, with the premise that any team that actually has a chance at the title game will be ranked high enough to get there if they go undefeated, mostly because they'll have to beat teams ranked in their general vicinity. If nobody goes undefeated, we'll get into resume's, etc. but by that time, we'll have enough sample data to actually do that.