A rant against the college football powers-that-be: Part 1

Maybe it’s an instance of some sort of confirmation bias on my part, but I feel as though a decent number of people feel as though the BCS worked this season.  I’m on the fence (or maybe a fence).  I feel comfortable saying that the two best teams in the country are playing in Glendale.  So, if you want the two teams that I’m fairly certain are the two best in the nation playing for the national championship, the BCS worked perfectly.  However, I also think it’s fair to say that a good number of people (a plurality of people who care about such things, if not a slight majority) favor some sort of overhaul that will eventually lead to a playoff system.  Over the next two days, I’m here to tell playoff opponents why they’re wrong.  Today, we’ll tackle (get it?) the on the field stuff.

Thanksgivageddon

Small poll this week, which I blame on…well, nothing.  People have things they have to do.  And hey, I fill this thing out after everyone else anyway.  With that in mind, there’s a surprising amount of shakeup, given that three of the top four teams didn’t play.  As the Joker said, here we go.

Oregon (5)	1	150
Boise State	2	140
Auburn	3	137
TCU (tie)	3	137
Stanford	5	122
Wisconsin	6	121
LSU	7	111
Ohio State	8	108
Oklahoma State	9	101
Michigan State	10	99
Alabama	11	89
Arkansas	12	81
Virginia Tech	13	76
Missouri	14	68
Oklahoma	14	68
Nevada	16	59
Nebraska	17	53
Texas A&M	18	52
South Carolina	19	45
Arizona	20	30
Utah	21	24
Florida State	22	22
NC State	23	17
Mississippi State	24	8
Hawai’i	25	6
Northern Illinois (tie)	25	6

Others receiving votes – Iowa (5), Miami (2)

Week (weak?) 11

Oregon (6)	1	220
Auburn (2)	2	211
Boise State	3	210
TCU (1)	4	205
Wisconsin	5	179
Stanford	6	177
LSU	7	174
Ohio State	8	161
Nebraska (tie)	8	161
Oklahoma State	10	139
Alabama	11	132
Michigan State	12	121
Arkansas	13	112
Virginia Tech	14	104
Missouri	15	99
Oklahoma	16	93
Nevada	17	81
South Carolina	18	80
Texas A&M	19	65
Iowa	20	40
Mississippi State	21	34
Arizona	22	21
Miami	23	20
Utah	24	19
USC	25	18

 

Others receiving votes – Florida State (11), Northwestern (8), UCF (7), NC State (6), Hawai’i (4), San Diego State (3), Kansas State (1)

Week 10: Everything Congeals (ew?)

One of the big things I’ve noticed this week is that, for the first time, groups of teams started to stick together on everyone’s ballot.  While the order may have been different, pretty much everyone had the same top five, next five, and so on.  There’s also a pretty stiff competition between TCU and Auburn, which, interestingly enough, has caused Oregon to distance themselves from the pack.  So, here we go -

Oregon (6)	1	222
TCU (1)	2	210
Auburn (2)	3	209
Boise State	4	203
LSU	5	179
Stanford	6	175
Wisconsin	7	174
Ohio State	8	163
Nebraska (tie)	8	163
Oklahoma State	10	137
Michigan State	11	127
Iowa	12	117
Alabama	13	114
Utah	14	110
Arkansas	15	98
Virginia Tech	16	80
Missouri	17	73
Oklahoma	18	70
Arizona (tie)	19	64
Mississippi State	19	64
Nevada	21	57
South Carolina	22	24
Texas A&M	23	19
UCF	24	16
Florida	25	14

Others receiving votes – Kansas State (13), San Diego State (13), Navy (7), USC (4), Temple (3), Miami (1), North Carolina (1), Northwestern (1)

Week 9: We’re starting to look more and more like the BCS

Well, at least we are around the top.  Boise’s still ahead of Auburn, and I don’t know what that means.  I know what it means for ME, as an individual poster, but I don’t know what other pollsters are thinking keeping Boise above Auburn.  And I don’t mean that as an indictment in any way.  I’ve got Auburn behind Boise AND TCU using that old adage that defense wins championships, which we used to hear from SEC fan (are those crickets?)  Anyway…

Week 8: Finally, we’re all back together!

For the first time since the first week of the poll, everyone’s voted.  The only thing that makes this particularly interesting is that there end up being more teams in the “others receiving votes” category.  Also, for the first time since week 2, a team makes an appearance despite never haivng been on anyone’s ballot (welcome, Baptists of Waco!)

Oregon (6)	1	246
Boise State (3)	2	242
Auburn (1)	3	226
TCU	4	225
Michigan State	5	201
Missouri	6	194
Utah	7	193
Alabama	8	187
Wisconsin	9	169
Ohio State	10	153
Oklahoma	11	150
LSU	12	129
Nebraska (tie)	12	129
Stanford	14	123
Arizona	15	110
Florida State	16	107
South Carolina	17	76
Iowa	18	71
Arkansas	19	69
Oklahoma State	20	57
Virginia Tech	21	53
Mississippi State	22	42
Miami	23	28
Baylor	24	23
USC	25	14

 

Others receiving votes: Nevada (8), Clemson (4), Michigan (3), Air Force (1), Northwestern (1)

I have nothing of note to say about week 7

Oregon (7)	1	199
Boise State (1)	2	191
Oklahoma	3	178
TCU	4	175
Auburn	5	172
Utah	6	152
Michigan State	7	147
LSU	8	145
Alabama	9	144
Ohio State	10	124
Wisconsin	11	116
Iowa	12	113
Oklahoma State	13	90
Florida State	14	87
Missouri	15	87
Stanford	16	84
Arizona	17	82
Nebraska	18	73
South Carolina	19	39
Arkansas	20	39
West Virginia	21	39
Virginia Tech	22	33
Texas	23	30
Mississippi State	24	20
Kansas State	25	13

 

Others receiving votes: UCLA (7), USC (5), Miami (3), Clemson (1)

Week 6: A new number 1 (again)

So, did you hear Alabama lost?  No?  Yeah.  So, that gives a new number one, and by an unsurprisingly narrow margin.

Ohio State (5)	1	220
Oregon (4)	2	217
Boise State	3	210
TCU	4	193
Nebraska	5	189
Oklahoma	6	178
Auburn	7	167
Alabama	8	155
Utah	9	149
LSU	10	139
South Carolina	11	137
Michigan State	12	129
Arkansas	13	114
Stanford	14	104
Iowa	15	102
Florida State	16	84
Wisconsin	17	78
Arizona	18	67
Nevada	19	64
Oklahoma State	20	59
Missouri	21	46
Florida	22	31
Air Force	23	27
UCLA	24	9
West Virginia	25	8

 

Others receiving votes:  NC State (7), Oregon State (7), Virginia Tech (6), Michigan (3), Texas (3)

Week 5: Arkansas wins by not playing

It’s like Ryan Schreiber’s closet…lots of ties.

Alabama (7)	1	198
Ohio State (1)	2	185
Oregon (tie)	2	185
Boise State	4	184
TCU	5	166
Oklahoma	6	157
Nebraska	7	156
Auburn	8	139
Utah	9	124
Arizona (tie)	9	124
Florida	11	102
Arkansas	12	101
LSU	13	98
Iowa (tie)	13	98
Miami	15	94
Michigan	16	87
Michigan State	17	79
Stanford	18	75
Wisconsin	19	41
South Carolina (tie)	19	41
Nevada	21	32
Oklahoma State	22	28
Florida State	23	21
Missouri	24	13
Air Force	25	9

 

Others receiving votes: UCLA (8), Houston (7), Northwester (7), USC (5), Texas (3), NC State (1)

Week 4: OK, So I Was Wrongish About Arkansas

…that being said, someone agreed with my assesment of Arkansas, at least a little big.  Ohio State made up some ground on Alabama, picking up a second (gasp!) first place vote.  As usual, first place votes are listed parenthetically.

Alabama (7)	1	222
Ohio State (2)	2	214
Boise State	3	207
Oregon	4	202
TCU	5	189
Nebraska	6	174
Florida	7	169
Oklahoma	8	164
Wisconsin	9	144
Stanford	10	137
Auburn	11	135
LSU	12	124
Utah	13	122
Arizona	14	101
USC	15	78
Iowa	16	77
Arkansas	17	75
Michigan	18	71
Miami	19	69
Penn State	20	52
South Carolina	21	47
Texas	22	40
Michigan State	23	39
NC State	24	29
Nevada	25	14

 

Others receiving votes: Missouri (7), Houston (6), UCLA (6), Oklahoma State (5), Air Force (3), Florida State (3), Clemson (1), Kansas State (1)