BlogPoll. Comments below.
Barking Carnival Ballot - Week 12
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oregon Ducks | -- |
| 2 | TCU Horned Frogs | -- |
| 3 | Auburn Tigers | -- |
| 4 | Wisconsin Badgers | -- |
| 5 | LSU Tigers | -- |
| 6 | Boise St. Broncos | -- |
| 7 | Stanford Cardinal | -- |
| 8 | Ohio St. Buckeyes | -- |
| 9 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys | -- |
| 10 | Nebraska Cornhuskers | -- |
| 11 | Alabama Crimson Tide |
 1 |
| 12 | Arkansas Razorbacks |
3 |
| 13 | Michigan St. Spartans |
1 |
| 14 | Missouri Tigers |
3 |
| 15 | Oklahoma Sooners |
3 |
| 16 | South Carolina Gamecocks |
5 |
| 17 | Mississippi St. Bulldogs |
 -1 |
| 18 | Texas A&M Aggies |
5 |
| 19 | Iowa Hawkeyes |
-6 |
| 20 | USC Trojans | -- |
| 21 | Utah Utes |
-10 |
| 22 | Virginia Tech Hokies | -- |
| 23 | Arizona Wildcats |
-4 |
| 24 | Nevada Wolf Pack |
1 |
| 25 | Michigan Wolverines | -- |
| Dropouts: Florida Gators, Central Florida Knights | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings »
Oregon escaped Cal with a narrow victory owed to a missed 29 yard Golden Bear field goal caused by a penalty that negated the original make. One errant chip shot and a Cameron Newton suspension may have been the only thing standing between a TCU-Boise State national title game, which would have led to societal mayhem as men who like to overstate points are forced to undergo various humiliations after having categorically stating to a friend during a drunken college football Saturday party weeks before that "if Boise State or TCU ever wins the national title, I will.....(fill in blank with heinous, uncomfortable, or decidedly homosexual act).
Can Cal's brilliant defensive game plan against Oregon - which attacked the empty space behind the zone read to destroy the cutback lanes and held Oregon with only one offensive touchdown - be duplicated by others? My guess is that this is currently the hottest game tape going in college football. The "A Night In Paris" of the gridiron.
TCU had their big win over Utah last week tarnished when Notre Dame pasted Utah in South Bend, but the Frogs still get a narrow nod over the Auburn WarTiger Street Agents. That may all be rendered a moot point if and when the NCAA places Cameron Newton on the pine for the Iron Bowl/SEC title game/National Championship.
Wisconsin dropped a basketball score on Indiana (83-20) without their best player, relying heavily on an archaic device known as "The Run Game." I do not trust this strange and exceptional method of football forward progress and I will monitor this team again to see if it can be repeated.
The rest of the Top 25 is a jumble of opinion, but it must be noted that the Stanford Cardinal are 9-1 with nothing more than a quality QB, a shitload of attitude and bad intentions, and a slow defense. Coaching really matters. How Jim Harbaugh's career plays out will be one of the most interesting career arcs of the next ten years.
Thoughts and opinions always welcome.