WWAHT Blogpoll Ballot for Week 14

by Sam @ WWAHT on Dec 7, 2009 10:00 AM EST Comment 4 comments

Rank	Team	Delta

1	Alabama	2
2	Texas
3	TCU	1
4	Cincinnati	2
5	Boise State
6	Florida	5
7	Oregon
8	Ohio State
9	Iowa
10	Georgia Tech	5
11	Penn State	1
12	Virginia Tech	1
13	Miami (Florida)	1
14	LSU	1
15	Pittsburgh	1
16	Oregon State
17	Oklahoma State	2
18	Stanford	2
19	Nebraska	4
20	West Virginia	5
21	Utah
22	Clemson
23	Brigham Young	1
24	East Carolina
25	Arizona
Last week's ballot

Dropped Out: Houston (#17), California (#18), Southern Cal (#21).

Here it is, the final pre-bowl ballot.

That SEC championship game might be the most dominant three-and-a-half hours of football I've seen in a game between two elite football programs at the height of their power since... the '07 title game? Florida has no excuses; for whatever reason, a title team that returned all but a few starters completely laid an egg upon facing the stiffest test of the season. Bama is no slouch, but I did not expect that Gators to just lie down and die a slow death. They'll be fine, as they'll get Cincinnati to feast upon in the Sugar Bowl.
Speaking of Cincy, I've been down on them all year, but I can't deny that they have at least taken care of business and gone unblemished in a BCS conference, even if that conference is just as bad, if not worse than the Big Ten. They did all they could, and they beat Pac-10 runner up Oregon State by double-digits on the road. Despite having earned everything they've gotten, they have yet to face an elite defense, which is exactly what Florida - SEC title collapse notwithstanding - will bring to the table. Add onto that the fact that Cincy has surrendered 36 or more points in three out of their last four games (all to offenses ranked outside the top 40 in total O), and it's looking like a nice, comfy Gator win to send Tebow out tearless.
Meanwhile, if you're a Texas fan, how are you not crapping yourselves at this point? I suppose any team looking at Bama right now feels as if its peering down the barrel of a loaded gun, but Texas actually has to face these guys. Is there a scenario in which Terrence Cody is not Ndamukong Suh? Is there a scenario in which Texas can actually establish something resembling a balanced offensive attack with a functional running game? I suppose there is, but there are a lot of "ifs" involved. This pains me, not only because just a couple weeks ago I was calling Texas "the most well-rounded team in the country", but because I like UT and can't bear to see another SEC team walk away with a championship. Here's to UT pulling some of that '06 Rose Bowl magic out of their ass.
Georgia Tech gets the bump for winning the ACC championship; I didn't feel like having a conference champion inexplicably outside my top 15, so there they are.
Iowa is going to make a BCS bowl, and it will deserve it more than Penn State. It's closer than most people realize; however. I personally think Penn State would give Georgia Tech a better game (being the better rush D), but the Hawks still have a chance to prove me completely wrong.
I don't often give credit to the BCS, and it really doesn't deserve much for giving us a system that clearly values intangibles like "program prestige" over things like actual wins, margins of victory, schedule strengths, etc, but there are a few good BCS bowls this year. Boise State-TCU will be a rematch of a very good 2008 Poinsettia Bowl, the Rose Bowl should be a classic, and, outside of Florida-Cincy, I'm not sure any game will be decided by more than 10 points. We shall see, but for once, the BCS is giving us what seems to be a fairly entertaining set of games, rather than Wake Forest-Louisville and Virginia Tech - Kansas.
I have until Wednesday to make any revisions; if you have any recommendations, let me know.

0 recs | Comment 4 comments | Share

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

i cringe when i see va tech at #12...

but seriously, who else are you gonna put there? we have a crazy drop off as far as ‘quality teams’ goes outside of the top 10. i’m not sure about ECU in the top 25, but again, who would i put there over ECU? kudos on not including USC — seriously, how is USC ranked 24th in the country with 4 losses? maybe i’m being the ‘too-sensative-i-hate-USC-sooooo-much’ kind of guy, but the love affair with the trojans is the only reason they’re still in the top 25. any other team with their resume is not #24 in the country.

by davereg412 on Dec 7, 2009 10:48 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Great photo...

.. looks like they are at the ‘H’ in O-H-I-O. Nothing like the Tide singing Carmen after their win.

by KenK on Dec 8, 2009 8:11 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Here are how my final rankings ended up per the formula (this assumes Navy beats Army too):

1. Texas 13-0, 12.00
2. Alabama 13-0, 11.99
3. Cincinnati 12-0, 11.05
3. Oregon 10-2, 11.05
5. Florida 12-1, 10.98
6. TCU 12-0, 10.46
7. Boise St 13-0, 10.29
8. Ohio St 10-2, 10.17
9. Iowa 10-2, 9.84
10. VA Tech 9-3, 9.69
11. GA Tech 11-2, 9.23
12. LSU 9-3, 9.03
13. BYU 10-2, 8.99
14. Penn St 10-2, 8.91
15. Miami FL 9-3, 8.79
16. West VA 9-3, 8.68
17. Wisconsin 9-3, 8.62
18. Pitt 9-3, 8.58
19. Arizona 8-4, 8.51
20. Okla St 9-3, 8.50
21. USC 8-4, 8.46
22. Troy 9-3, 8.44
23. Utah 9-3, 8.24
24. Nebraska 9-4, 8.15
25. Central Michigan 11-2, 8.14

Next five: Ore St, Stanford, East Carolina, Arkansas, Missouri

If I was to rank, I’d slide VA tech back one beind GA Tech. Also, based on tis Texas and Alabama had enough of a lead over everyone else, so based on my formula, they deserve the title match-up.

Bottom 20:

101. Kent St 5-7, 3.05
102. UTEP 4-8, 2.92
103. Tulane 3-9, 2.53
104. Western Michigan 5-7, 2.49
105. Colorado St 3-9, 2.47
106. Akron 3-9, 2.23
107. Army 5-7, 2.16
108. Rice 2-10, 2.07
109. Washington St 1-11, 2.06
110. San Jose St 2-10, 1.93
111. Memphis 2-10, 1.89
112. Miami OH 1-11, 1.85
113.Vanderbilt 2-10, 1.82
114. North Texas 2-10, 1.40
115. Maryland 2-10, 1.39
116. New Mexico 1-11, 0.95
117. Ball St 2-10, 0.70
118. New Mexico St 3-10, 0.61
119. Western Kentucky 0-12, -0.87
120.Eastern Michigan 0-12, -1.20