SB Nation BlogPoll Top 25: Week 5

Beat Notre Dame, get ranked.

Looks a lot like my vote would (or did).

I actually think you are unduly punishing Arkansas, not A&M. Six, meet half-dozen. That argument will be settled in five days.

I haven’t quite bought Arizona State yet, or Virginia Tech, for that matter.

I am most interested in how Nebraska shows v. Wisconsin.

Fevrier -
 
You have a point. Michigan and South Florida probably owe a lot of their ranking to that fact. After we get past #5 or so on these rankings, it’s a lot of Wild Ass Guessing.
 
jonestopten -
 
I watched the game and thought Arkansas played more poorly than Penn State had. Coming on the heels of a close game with Troy, I’m left wondering how good the Razorbacks really are.
 
Virginia Tech has an incredibly easy path, but they’re called the Chokies for a reason.
 
Nebraska and Wisconsin should be pretty entertaining and a legitimate shootout.

1. Alabama
2. LSU

imo

nordberg -
 
You may be right. And it’s quite possible that Alabama would have cruised through LSU’s schedule similarly, but if your poll has some evidence-based aspect, it’s kind of tough not to rank the Tigers.
 
Unfortunately for LSU, Alabama is a tough matchup for them unless they get their passing game moving.

Boise looks good defensively, but I think they are less explosive than last year on offense. Last season they had a complete offense, this year it’s more akin to Texas 2009 (albeit with much better coaching). Basically put a bunch of receivers out there and let your badass QB throw to the open guy. I think Florida is good and I hope they beat Bama or LSU. I don’t get the love for South Carolina. I absolutely think Texas can be better than all of the teams ranked #10 and below, but I understand why fans of other teams would rank them in the 20s. Our process has been very fantastic, but our results have just been decent thus far.

whereiend -
 
Yeah, losing Pettis and Titus Young took away some of their big play capability. I’m referring to team athleticism.
 
I don’t really trust South Carolina at all, but I love their athletes. Garcia is certainly a choke waiting to happen. The question is: which teams are you jumping over them?

Does the Big 10 desperately need a new recruiting base? Some place largely due south of them? Would they even consider a team with its own network and perhaps another school that makes Nebraska look like an Ivy? It seems like a good compromise if they want to try and resuscitate what’s looking like a competitively moribund conference.

So if both Bama and LSU play in BCS bowls, might we be looking at a Texas vs. Florida Cotton Bowl? Think that would sell some tickets and turn on some TVs?

nordberg -
 
It’s adorable when you’re speculative and delusional.
 
Ricky -
 
The Big 10 is happy with who and what they are. This conference realignment stuff is shocking in how little its about the on-field product. The Big 12 is easily the 2nd best league in the country this year. Yet places like the Pac 12 and Big 10 are in the driver’s seat.
 
I lost your train of thought on the school that makes Nebraska look like an Ivy. Who?

I think he means OU. I agree that it’s hard to find anyone who should definitely be moved ahead of USC. To me there is a big drop off after #9. #10-25 look like basically equal teams at this point.

or actually he might mean Tech.

I will take that as a “yes”.

Arkansas is a complete enigma to me right now. They quit against ‘Bama but Saban’s teams can make you do that and this Bama team is the most physical group I’ve seen so far this season. LSU is other wordly talented, except at QB, so Alabama can make them one dimensional (or no dimensional) and I look for the Tide to beat them at Tuscaloosa.

I think you have Aggy about right for now, although I think those voting them farther down realize this was actually a lot worse than a one point loss after you subtract the intentional safety and add the brain fart by Blackmon. That’s not even taking the called back return TD into account, since one can’t know if the illegal block/hold is what sprung the guy. I openly admit I may be letting my dislike of them color my vision, but Tannehill may not be all that and he doesn’t have the luxury of sneaking up on people this year. Their defense without Miller looks a lot like it did prior to last year. Some big old boys who don’t run very well. If they don’t win this weekend, look out. You have to know that every Big 12 team they play is going to bring their best effort—-welcome to our world, Ags.

I’m unabashedly rooting for Muschamp and the Gators. I think they’ll beat SC and win the weaker East Division and lose to either Bama or LSU in the CCG. Charlie Weiss, although I don’t like him as a person, was a great hire by Will. Even if he is only there a couple of years, he is exactly what Brantley needed. A career salvaged, IMO.

No love for the fighting Bill Synders? How many teams would you have to rank before you get to Kansas State? The job that guy is doing, at 812 years old, is quite frankly amazing to me, and the second time around is harder rather than easier in a lot of ways I think.

Any of the teams below the top ten are a wild guess. It’s like trying to choose a woman at 120 yards. You might guess right but close-ups can get rough.

Wulaw -
 
KSU and Houston lurk just outside my Top 25.

Vegas futures bets are still intact.

LSU at 7:1
Bama at 7:1
OU at 9:2
Texas at 30:1

Here’s to hoping for a Texas v. LSU matchup.

I love watching Denard Robinson play but I don’t think Michigan is a top-15 team. They are still overly reliant on his abilities (see link) and the defense is still a huge work in progress.

http://bit.ly/n3G5VM (Dr. Saturday)

They’ll probably keep their ranking for the next couple weeks (Minnesota and Northwestern), and may finish with an inflated W-L due to weakness of the Big10, but I think they’ll hit a couple rough losing streaks like last year, especially if Denard has any off games or gets dinged.

I’d take teams 16-25 over them. Great poll though.

Ha. Texas at 30:1 is fun, but I’d rather invest in Greek penny stocks.

1. Alabama
2.LSU
3.Florida
4.Oklahoma

One of those top three will eventually have two losses and still be better than everybody else but the top two.

Good listing — and I can’t argue with LSU at #1. They’ve done it hard, on the road, and made it look easy.

I like our chances on November 5th, barring significant injuries. This Bama team is playing with an almost machine-like attitude — not thinking, just playing. (evidence.)

Lurker, I don’t think Florida is that good yet. Certainly nothing to prove it.

They get a chance in five days.

The lone highlight of the Nebraska-Wyoming game was the Husker TE yelling “Scipio, I’m WIDE FREAKING OPEN!” from twenty yards behind the safety.

Of course, Martinez threw him a barely catchable pass.

I really don’t know about Arkansas either. Bama made them curl up into the fetal position, but then they will do that do just about anyone. Still, Arkansas had trouble with Troy.

I believe I will avoid any kind of wagering on the Arkansas-A&M game, since both sides are capable of throwing up a hair ball.

parlin -
 
Nebraska leads all college football programs in open TEs over the last thirty years. Completion rate: 25%. I can vaguely remember Steve Taylor missing wide open TEs for God’s sakes. There’s a history there.
 
Big game this week. I’ve been impressed with Burkhead this year.

Funny how the “Les Miles: Idiot Savant” narrative has died down. You’ve gotta love whoever is in charge of scheduling at LSU, piling neutral site Oregon and away at WVU on the back of an SEC West slate.

Pretty sure Purdue played Rice in Houston.

Les Miles is still an idiot. Good football coach, yes. Generally intelligent person, no. The guy can recruit and motivate players, but that doesn’t make him a genius. There is also a lot left in this season. I’ll believe that LSU can go undefeated when it happens.

For what its worth I think LSU is a very deserving #1. Not trying to disparage that team, I just don’t see it as any sort of proof that Les Miles doesn’t have some sort of down syndrome. JoePa has had some decent teams recently and he has dementia!

To be fair to the pigs, they have been screwed a bit by injuries. It seems the expectations for them didn’t drop despite losing Kniles Davis (the best RB in the SEC), DE Jake Bequette (their best defensive player), their other starting DE and two of their four awesome receivers have been banged up. No way they were hanging in Tuscaloosa with all of that talent missing.

Even with all of this, the ATM line hasn’t budged from 3 or 3.5 since the Game of the Year lines came out in June.