Blogpoll ballot, Week 8

Here. Comments below. Grunt.

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

Dropped Out: Brigham Young (#16), Michigan (#20), Texas Tech (#24), Auburn (#25).

There was only one game this week featuring two ranked teams against each other, and the loser of that one lost so thoroughly that they fell out of the poll entirely. (That would be BYU, and it's not just because they lost - they also have that Florida State blemish and not much in the way of inspiring wins besides Oklahoma. Which isn't ranked at the moment.)

There wasn't much carnage atop my ballot from last week - Miami lost, and so did BYU, but that was about it. The bottom third or so took a beating. I am pleased to have been talked into removing Nebraska - and disappointed that their replacement also turned out to suck. Michigan and Auburn gacked too. And yes, they were playing top-15 teams, but you're supposed to be competitive, and anyway, third loss. So for the bottom of the poll, from #18 on down again, once again I applied my science (see last week's poll for description) to the contenders and came out with this. I really didn't think West Virginia or Mississippi would have the chops to make it, but those left out are:

- BYU (see above)
- South Florida (like Kansas and Utah, a massive fraud)
- California (marquee win is Minnesota, and played the role of dog meat to USC and Oregon)
- Navy (nothing but wins over bad teams)

So it's not like there are many other teams just clamoring to get in.

As always, you're supposed to tell me where I screwed up. I ought to let you know, though, that after the science is applied, common sense takes over and adjusts as necessary. Wasn't necessary this time. When mathematics and common sense agree, the result is a force to be reckoned with.