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Smoking Musket Ballot - Week 12
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | LSU Tigers | -- |
| 2 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -- |
| 3 | Oregon Ducks |
 4 |
| 4 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys |
 -1 |
| 5 | Oklahoma Sooners | -- |
| 6 | Arkansas Razorbacks | -- |
| 7 | Stanford Cardinal |
-3 |
| 8 | Georgia Bulldogs |
3 |
| 9 | Houston Cougars |
3 |
| 10 | Virginia Tech Hokies |
3 |
| 11 | South Carolina Gamecocks |
9 |
| 12 | Boise St. Broncos |
-4 |
| 13 | Clemson Tigers |
-4 |
| 14 | Kansas St. Wildcats |
7 |
| 15 | Michigan St. Spartans |
-1 |
| 16 | USC Trojans |
-1 |
| 17 | Wisconsin Badgers |
2 |
| 18 | Nebraska Cornhuskers | -- |
| 19 | Penn St. Nittany Lions |
-9 |
| 20 | Southern Miss. Golden Eagles |
3 |
| 21 | Michigan Wolverines | -- |
| 22 | Baylor Bears | -- |
| 23 | Florida St. Seminoles |
2 |
| 24 | Tulsa Golden Hurricane | -- |
| 25 | TCU Horned Frogs | -- |
| Dropouts: Cincinnati Bearcats, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Ohio St. Buckeyes, Texas Longhorns, Virginia Cavaliers | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "
There's almost nothing rational about this outside of the top few spots. I think I could put Oklahoma State above Alabama if their defense was a little more consistent. It's two teams that are almost mirror opposites of each other. No matter how eye popping the offense in question is, it's the inconsistent defense that would allow a team like Alabama to hog the ball and make every possession a must score situation for OSU's offense. The same is true for Oregon.
I don't know if anyone would expect me to move Stanford down more than I did, but number seven seems about right to me considering their body of work. Georgia's body of work may not be worthy of number eight, but they seem like a team that is peaking at just the right time. This team reminds me of the team from Stafford's freshman year. They started out average, but were one of the best teams in the country by the time they plastered Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl.
It's impossible to put everything else aside, but Penn State played extremely well considering what they were faced with. Likewise for Nebraska. No Big East teams make the poll this week. I'd like to move West Virginia back in there, but I think we need to see it multiple weeks in a row before we can do that. And sadly, we've got a bye week looking us in the face. The rest of the top 25 can best be described like so...
