SB Nation BlogPoll Top 25: Preseason Ballot

by Scipio Tex on Aug 29, 2011 3:45 PM CDT in Texas Longhorns and Other Football

It's time for wild guesses codified into impressive looking ranking formats meant to cow you into submission at our expert status that will have no bearing to what happens on the field when some dude puts the crown of his helmet into the quarterback's mouth.

This is how 92 college football blogs voted in aggregate for SB Nation's BlogPoll Top 25:

Results for Week 1

#	School	Points/blog	SD	Delta
1	Alabama Crimson Tide (42)	24.33	2.21	--
2	Oklahoma Sooners (39)	24.01	1.28	--
3	Oregon Ducks (7)	22.39	1.44	--
4	Boise St. Broncos (1)	19.32	4.17	--
5	Florida St. Seminoles (2)	19.26	2.84	--
6	LSU Tigers	18.87	3.93	--
7	Stanford Cardinal (1)	18.33	3.83	--
8	Wisconsin Badgers	17.20	3.52	--
9	Nebraska Cornhuskers	15.95	3.67	--
10	Texas A&M Aggies	15.49	3.92	--
11	Virginia Tech Hokies	14.54	4.34	--
12	South Carolina Gamecocks	14.22	3.23	--
13	Oklahoma St. Cowboys	14.04	4.64	--
14	Arkansas Razorbacks	11.95	4.11	--
15	TCU Horned Frogs	11.30	4.65	--
16	Michigan St. Spartans	8.01	4.38	--
17	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	7.97	4.85	--
18	Georgia Bulldogs	7.41	5.00	--
19	Ohio St. Buckeyes	6.59	4.50	--
20	Mississippi St. Bulldogs	5.30	4.43	--
21	West Virginia Mountaineers	4.64	3.86	--
22	Missouri Tigers	4.29	3.79	--
23	Florida Gators	4.15	4.51	--
24	Auburn Tigers (1)	2.89	4.42	--
25	USC Trojans	2.62	3.64	--
Others Receiving Votes: Texas Longhorns \| Penn St. Nittany Lions \| Arizona St. Sun Devils \| Utah Utes \| Pittsburgh Panthers \| Houston Cougars \| Iowa Hawkeyes \| Michigan Wolverines \| BYU Cougars \| Nevada Wolf Pack \| South Florida Bulls \| Central Florida Knights \| Clemson Tigers \| Miami Hurricanes \| Air Force Falcons \| Northern Illinois Huskies \| Tennessee Volunteers \| Mississippi Rebels \| Vanderbilt Commodores \| Boston College Eagles \| Northwestern Wildcats \| Southern Miss. Golden Eagles \| Iowa St. Cyclones \| SMU Mustangs \| Kentucky Wildcats \| Texas Tech Red Raiders \| Colorado Buffaloes \| San Diego St. Aztecs \| Akron Zips \| Washington Huskies \| N.C. State Wolfpack \| Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets \| Arizona Wildcats \| Troy Trojans \| Cincinnati Bearcats \| Ohio Bobcats \| Tulsa Golden Hurricane \| North Carolina Tar Heels \| ULM Warhawks \| Florida Atlantic Owls \| Oregon St. Beavers \| Hawaii Warriors \| Navy Midshipmen \| Dixie State Rebels \| UAB Blazers \| Baylor Bears
Updated: Aug 29, 2011 7:23 AM PDT

SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Rankings 2011

Observations:

- Texas is unranked. I dug into the ballots (play with this by team and by blog, it's fun) and found that although Texas was ranked as high as #10 in individual ballots, we were left off of the majority of ballots altogether. This disrespect must be punished by...going 8-4.

- Auburn is ranked. I find this lazy and utterly mystifying. Anyone who wants to defend ranking Auburn, please come on this thread so I may mock everything you stand for as a human being.

- Alligator Army's Andy Hutchins shares some good observations on the team's with the widest spread of opinion and which bloggers may need Paxil. No one knows where to rank Georgia or Notre Dame. Including Mark Richt and Brian Kelly. And me.

This is how I voted:

Barking Carnival Ballot - Week 1

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama Crimson Tide	--
2	Oregon Ducks	--
3	Oklahoma Sooners	--
4	Florida St. Seminoles	--
5	Virginia Tech Hokies	--
6	Boise St. Broncos	--
7	Arkansas Razorbacks	--
8	LSU Tigers	--
9	Nebraska Cornhuskers	--
10	Wisconsin Badgers	--
11	Stanford Cardinal	--
12	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	--
13	South Carolina Gamecocks	--
14	Texas A&M Aggies	--
15	USC Trojans	--
16	Oklahoma St. Cowboys	--
17	TCU Horned Frogs	--
18	Georgia Bulldogs	--
19	Mississippi St. Bulldogs	--
20	Arizona St. Sun Devils	--
21	Missouri Tigers	--
22	Penn St. Nittany Lions	--
23	Texas Longhorns	--
24	Michigan St. Spartans	--
25	West Virginia Mountaineers	--

SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "

Quick thoughts on my ballot:

- This is not a power poll. THIS IS NOT A POWER POLL

- Even I hate my rankings, so feel free to mock them

- I find pure resume ranking to be insufficient, particularly when there is no resume

- People who rank teams based on last year's accomplishments need to take a long look at Texas 2010. Every year is new

- I generally turn off my homer glands - if anything, I tend to historically underrate Texas because I know our deficiencies

- I wanted to rank USF and BYU but couldn't pull the trigger

- I ranked Texas. Burnt Orange Nation did not. HATERZ!. How dare they not rank a depthless team with a brand new coaching staff with major questions at QB.

Now it's time for you to make me defend my ballot. I won't put up much of a fight. I would have felt more comfortable attaching the 30 best teams to darts and flinging them at a board.

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Comments

How could you have TCU #17? Clearly they are the #14 team in the land!! I kid. A stupid exercise in my opinion since our only data points are practice reports. Begin the rankings after week 5.

by John Galt on Aug 29, 2011 4:01 PM CDT reply actions

I do have a question for you: do you rank them based on where you think they’ll finish the year? You mention its not a power ranking so what criteria do you use? What do others use?

by John Galt on Aug 29, 2011 4:03 PM CDT reply actions

The more I look at Notre Dame’s schedule the more I think they are BCS bound — where they will get bitch-slapped again.

by srr50 on Aug 29, 2011 4:05 PM CDT reply actions

Who is going to take Tomahawk Nation’s ballot away from them?

by Huckleberry on Aug 29, 2011 4:05 PM CDT reply actions

John Galt -

How dare you bring a reasoned and intelligent perspective to this enterprise.

That written, all of us like to try to figure out who will surprise or underachieve before the season begins.

I’ve got bets on Va Tech, USC, Texas, Arkansas, Notre Dame outperforming expectation.

by Scipio Tex on Aug 29, 2011 4:06 PM CDT reply actions

JG -

Yeah, expected year end finish. But there are smidgens of power ranking in there, clearly. Basically, I try to think of how the season will play out, who is most likely to win their bowls (a big factor in rankings often neglected by pollsters), and make general bets on implosions and which teams are set to make strides.

Huckleberry -

Tomahawk filed a protest ballot of sorts. They ranked all teams by SOS. WEIRD.

by Scipio Tex on Aug 29, 2011 4:08 PM CDT reply actions

Ah, now I see the explanation for their ballot.

And I agree it’s weird. They should definitely go alphabetically. Air Force was my preseason #1 every year for a while.

by Huckleberry on Aug 29, 2011 4:08 PM CDT reply actions

srr50 -

ND might draw the Big East BCS bowl opponent. In which case, they’ll win by 3.

by Scipio Tex on Aug 29, 2011 4:09 PM CDT reply actions

I think VT and Wisconsin are under ranked. The Hokies’ schedule is a joke. The Badgers draw Nebraska and Penn State at home and don’t have a road test until late October against Michigan State. I think that by that time Russell Wilson should be fully integrated into their offense.

by manocornuda on Aug 29, 2011 4:18 PM CDT reply actions

iamthe12thman didn’t vote? I was looking forward to A&M at 1, the rest of the SEC 2-13, then repeat but leave out Vandy to make it 25.

by Rex Chapman's Black Girlfriend on Aug 29, 2011 4:20 PM CDT reply actions

Your 8-11 slots gave you a little chuckle, no?

by parlin on Aug 29, 2011 4:29 PM CDT reply actions

Scipio, where can one make those bets if so inclined?

by 4thn5 on Aug 29, 2011 4:38 PM CDT reply actions

I like the dartboard idea.

My sense is that Texas A&M, LSU, South Carolina and Auburn are overrated. Have no idea how the negatives will impact Ohio State, LSU, USC.

Gotta rank Alabama — or whoever you think will win the SEC title — No. 1. Texas will be Top 20, maybe Top 15.

by edsp on Aug 29, 2011 4:56 PM CDT reply actions

Gotta think Holgo the Terrible will do better than end up 25th.

by PatronSaint on Aug 29, 2011 5:14 PM CDT reply actions

I love college football more than anything. How polls are interpreted, perceived, etc. will always baffle me.

I’m with Galt. The coaches (see: SIDs) and AP shouldn’t vote until October.

by ColoradoAg on Aug 29, 2011 5:28 PM CDT reply actions

I am a homer, but don’t think A&M is over rated. At least until I get data points to suggest otherwise. Same goes with Texas – need some new data to warrant a top 25 ranking.

by KilgoreTrout on Aug 29, 2011 5:41 PM CDT reply actions

Kinda strange to see USC on these polls. They can’t play in a bowl game OR win their own conference this year. So the rankings should be moot, right?

I can see it now. They finish the season undefeated and play no conference champ game NOR a bowl game but because everyone else will have a loss they will CLAIM another AP championship. Yuck.

by Orangechipper on Aug 29, 2011 5:54 PM CDT reply actions

manocomuda -

Underranked by me or SB Nation BlogPoll?

parlin –

Sorry, I’m thick today and don’t follow.

4th and 5 -

The bets are metaphorical.

Patron –

I hear you. But WVU lost their defense and the schedule isn’t a complete lay up.

ColoradoAg -

Yep. But fans still want to talk about it.

Orange -

I was tempted to just not rank them, but have to do so if warranted. I think they have the potential to put together a good year. See probation A&M and Auburn teams.

by Scipio Tex on Aug 29, 2011 6:41 PM CDT reply actions

Preseason rankings are like lubing up the external surfaces of a rubber before going out on a date in anticipation. Your just kind of jumping the the gun a bit – There’s just know way to know. It may happen, but it’s just a mess and doesn’t really accomplish anything. Stash that stuff in your glove compartment like a gentleman already.

by James on Aug 30, 2011 6:04 AM CDT reply actions