Blogpoll ballot

Here it is, Week 4 in all its glory:

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama	5
2	Florida	7
3	Southern Cal	1
4	Georgia	4
5	Missouri	1
6	LSU	9
7	Texas	3
8	Penn State	1
9	Oklahoma	6
10	South Florida	5
11	Virginia Tech	10
12	Utah	4
13	Kansas	5
14	Ohio State	5
15	Clemson	9
16	Texas Tech	6
17	Brigham Young	--
18	Nebraska	7
19	Oklahoma State	6
20	Wisconsin	6
21	Auburn	1
22	Boise State	4
23	East Carolina	22
24	Vanderbilt	1
25	Wake Forest	2

Dropped Out: Oregon (#12).

Various points:

- I will be one of the very few stubborn holdouts not putting USC in the #1 slot; in fact, I was last week too, as USC received 65 of 69 first place votes. This is because they have played two games. Beating OSU, yes yes, very impressive, but: They are lucky OSU did not also get beat by Troy. Had that happened, both USC and OSU might have dropped off the list entirely. Slamming UVA does not make you awesome, it makes you Connecticut. Slamming OSU is nice, but OSU struggled to beat Ohio and dispatched of Troy rather efficiently, but not brutally, and in a manner which did actually cause the ESPN guys to use the phrase "upset brewing." So, third place, which is actually a drop from last week because they sat around watching film of Oregon State while Florida was busy crushing Tennessee.

- So take a bow, Alabama. After four games, your resume looks better than anyone else's. They have pasted everyone they've played, and not like Texas Tech, who has double-dipped into the I-AA ranks. Florida gets a little boost to #2 after beating Tennessee very badly, which is a good win, not a great win.

- ECU loses their spot on top of the hill, but they were going to anyway after West Virginia got themselves beat in Boulder on Thursday night. Suddenly beating them doesn't seem so impressive. That win over Virginia Tech is looking much better these days. That's also what keeps them from making the precipitous drop out of the poll entirely, because losing to NC State is not a good way to keep a high spot in the rankings. In any case, they're on notice and likely to drop out soon unless they start winning by hefty margins.

- Also on notice - like big time - is Wake Forest. They're still on the list because they've positioned themselves well in their division by beating FSU, but man did they look bad doing it. That's two ugly wins in a row now, and I had a very tough time deciding between them and TCU for that last spot, and if they don't shape up, they're gone. Especially if TCU gives Oklahoma a run next week.

- Boise State spent Saturday removing Oregon from the list. That game was not as close as the score says. That qualifies as a stomping. That plus last week's squeaker against Purdue means no Ducks this week; Boise State gets their spot.