No movement up top, but a ton of movement in the upper-to-middle tier of teams.  This week is bound to likely not move the top either, barring a WVU upset of Cincinnati on Friday night or Alabama falling in a trap game at Mississippi State (a real possibility).

Here are my other thoughts:

• I still believe Cincinnati is the best of the unbeatens out of the top three.  While their defense looked a little suspect against UConn, they have one of the most dynamic offenses in the country.  Their schedule also gets much tougher, so if they win out, I believe they will be in a position to take the national championship spot should one of the top three stumble early.
• Did my best to keep Oregon above USC and USC above Ohio State.
• Iowa finally got exposed, and with their starting QB out for awhile, I dropped them like third period French.
• Pitt at #8?  Yuck.  But they're playing extremely well.  Great running game and strong in the trenches.  Remember when WVU used to be strong in the trenches?
• Utah is getting 17 points at TCU this weekend.  That seems awfully high.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Texas
2	Alabama
3	Florida
4	Cincinnati
5	TCU
6	Boise State	1
7	Georgia Tech	3
8	Pittsburgh	4
9	Utah	4
10	Miami (Florida)	4
11	LSU	2
12	Oregon	4
13	Southern Cal	2
14	Ohio State	6
15	Houston	1
16	Arizona	1
17	Penn State	6
18	Oklahoma State	1
19	Iowa	13
20	Wisconsin	4
21	Brigham Young	1
22	South Florida	1
23	Virginia Tech	2
24	Stanford
25	Auburn
Last week's ballot

Dropped Out: Notre Dame (#18), California (#21).

Remember, if I've made any glaring mistakes, I have until tomorrow morning to alter my ballot. Let me know your thoughts and try to convince me if you must. Have at it.

Well, I have a distinct feeling that I won't win the Coulter/Kos award again this week (which, if you didn't know, is given to the biggest douche -- AKA the biggest homer).  I also have a feeling that we won't be seeing WVU on my many -- if any -- ballots this week, so my leaving them way, way off the ballot won't be out of line.

Here are my thoughts:

• The top three are fluid and will remain fluid unless one loses or starts beating people by 147 every game.  Honestly, I don't think it matters, because if they win out (until the SEC Championship), two of those three are in the big game.
• I really, really, really want to rank Oregon ahead of Boise State.  Oregon is the better team, at least not.  They obviously weren't when they played, but teams change.  And Oregon is killing people.  I doubt Boise State would put that performance on USC, but that's just me.
• The rest is all pretty standard.  Some teams won, some teams lost, and outside of Oregon (and maybe Texas), no teams really impressed.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Texas	1
2	Alabama	1
3	Florida
4	Cincinnati
5	TCU
6	Iowa
7	Boise State
8	Oregon	2
9	LSU	1
10	Georgia Tech	1
11	Penn State	2
12	Pittsburgh	3
13	Utah	3
14	Miami (Florida)	4
15	Southern Cal	6
16	Houston	3
17	Arizona	4
18	Notre Dame	4
19	Oklahoma State	7
20	Ohio State	3
21	California	3
22	Brigham Young
23	South Florida
24	Wisconsin
25	Virginia Tech	8
Last week's ballot

Dropped Out: West Virginia (#14), South Carolina (#20), Central Michigan (#25).

Ok, so The Smoking Musket's version of the Blog Poll took a few weeks off, mostly because I was too busy out on the streets moonlighting as a masked superhero, risking the life of one to save the lives of many (or I lost the link to the voting page and was too lazy to ask someone for help.  Good excuse, right?).

But, no matter what the national emergency that kept me away (completing forgetting that I admitted my stupidity a paragraph earlier), we're back with a vengeance.

Mark my words, Florida will lose before the SEC Championship.  Their games look like the WWE they're so fixed.  Honestly, Vegas should spot them an extra three points just for the referees, and in reality it's been more valuable to them than just three.  Also, TCU seems to be for real, and have actually played a decent schedule to prove it.

So, that's all of my comments...

Rank	Team
1	Alabama
2	Texas
3	Florida
4	Cincinnati
5	TCU
6	Iowa
7	Boise State
8	LSU
9	Southern Cal
10	Oregon
11	Georgia Tech
12	Oklahoma State
13	Penn State
14	West Virginia
15	Pittsburgh
16	Utah
17	Virginia Tech
18	Miami (Florida)
19	Houston
20	South Carolina
21	Arizona
22	Notre Dame
23	Ohio State
24	California
25	Central Michigan

...please, tell me where I'm wrong, because I know I am.

Week three has come and gone and I am just now getting dried out from my trip to Auburn.

Speaking of Auburn, you don't see them in my top 25.  While I think they're a good team, I still feel that an eleven point win over a team that commits six turnovers just isn't that impressive.  They're still probably #26 in my book, but that can easily change as it's only week three.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Florida	1
2	Alabama	1
3	Texas	1
4	Penn State	1
5	Mississippi	1
6	California	3
7	LSU	1
8	Cincinnati	5
9	Miami (Florida)	9
10	Ohio State	1
11	Virginia Tech	5
12	Southern Cal	11
13	Oklahoma	1
14	Georgia	1
15	Michigan	2
16	Houston	3
17	Pittsburgh	5
18	Florida State
19	Oregon State	5
20	Utah
21	Brigham Young	11
22	Boise State	3
23	Georgia Tech	16
24	Nebraska	1
25	Oklahoma State
Last week's ballot

 

Dropped Out: West Virginia (#21), North Carolina (#24).

We're a week into the season and things are only just a little more neatly sorted.

Of course, not a week goes by after I call Oklahoma State "for real" that they go out and lose to an unranked Houston at home.  Ouch.  Also, Michigan State did its best Michigan impression from last year and stunk up the joint against the MAC.  Both fell out of my poll. Update: Nothing to see here, please move along.  Oregon State's loss wasn't quite as bad, but still, c'mon -- you have to do better than that.  Hope you heeded my warning.

Here's the full ballot, with a few more comments after the jump...

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Southern Cal	3
2	Florida	1
3	Alabama	1
4	Texas	1
5	Penn State	1
6	Mississippi	1
7	Georgia Tech	3
8	LSU	3
9	California
10	Brigham Young	2
11	Ohio State	3
12	Oklahoma	2
13	Cincinnati
14	Oregon State	2
15	Georgia	4
16	Virginia Tech	4
17	Michigan
18	Miami (Florida)
19	Houston
20	Utah	2
21	West Virginia	3
22	Pittsburgh	1
23	Nebraska
24	North Carolina	6
25	Boise State
Last week's ballot

Dropped Out: Oklahoma State (#5), Michigan State (#13), Notre Dame (#15), Missouri (#17).

Continue reading this post »

Well, boys and girls, we're (nearly) a full week into the college football season, and quite a few things have changed. Oklahoma's probably done, BYU looked good, Oklahoma State and Alabama are for real, and despite the loss, I was impressed with Virginia Tech.

My first week ballot follows, with assorted comments after the jump.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Florida
2	Alabama	2
3	Texas
4	Southern Cal	1
5	Oklahoma State	8
6	Penn State	2
7	Mississippi	1
8	Ohio State	1
9	California	3
10	Georgia Tech	1
11	LSU	1
12	Brigham Young	13
13	Michigan State	3
14	Oklahoma	12
15	Notre Dame
16	Oregon State	5
17	Missouri
18	North Carolina	1
19	Georgia	8
20	Virginia Tech	5
21	Pittsburgh	1
22	Utah	4
23	Nebraska	3
24	West Virginia	7
25	Boise State
Last week's ballot

 

Dropped Out: Oregon (#14), TCU (#23), South Florida (#24).

Continue reading this post »

The Smoking Musket has been invited to participate in this year's Blog Poll, and it will be your's truly who will be responsible for the ballot.  Why me?  Because 5YS would vote us first, The 25314 would vote us last, and Country Roads and WVUIE97 are too new.  So that leaves me.  Every Monday, we'll post our newest ballot, free for everyone to either laud or skewer.

Below is the pre-season version (which matters very little, but it's a requirement).  Enjoy.

Rank	Team
1	Florida
2	Oklahoma
3	Texas
4	Alabama
5	Southern Cal
6	Mississippi
7	Ohio State
8	Penn State
9	Georgia Tech
10	LSU
11	Georgia
12	California
13	Oklahoma State
14	Oregon
15	Virginia Tech
16	Michigan State
17	West Virginia
18	Utah
19	North Carolina
20	Nebraska
21	Oregon State
22	Pittsburgh
23	TCU
24	South Florida
25	Brigham Young