From Old Virginia Ballot - Week 2
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -- |
| 2 | USC Trojans | -- |
| 3 | Michigan St. Spartans | -- |
| 4 | Oklahoma Sooners | -- |
| 5 | Florida St. Seminoles |  2 |
| 6 | LSU Tigers | 2 |
| 7 | Ohio St. Buckeyes | 2 |
| 8 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish | 2 |
| 9 | Clemson Tigers | 2 |
| 10 | Oregon Ducks | 3 |
| 11 | Virginia Tech Hokies | 3 |
| 12 | Georgia Bulldogs | 3 |
| 13 | Texas Longhorns | 3 |
| 14 | Florida Gators | 5 |
| 15 | TCU Horned Frogs | 2 |
| 16 | Stanford Cardinal | 4 |
| 17 | South Carolina Gamecocks | 5 |
| 18 | West Virginia Mountaineers | 5 |
| 19 | Kansas St. Wildcats | 5 |
| 20 | Arizona Wildcats | -- |
| 21 | BYU Cougars | 4 |
| 22 | UCLA Bruins | -- |
| 23 | Iowa St. Cyclones | -- |
| 24 | Tennessee Volunteers | -- |
| 25 | Louisville Cardinals | -- |
| Dropouts: Arkansas Razorbacks, North Carolina Tar Heels, Texas A&M Aggies, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Wisconsin Badgers | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings »
There are some nutjobs who take "resume voting" very, very literally and do so from the very beginning - and one voter's theory is "we don't know anything about who is the best team, so in Week 1, the best team is the one who won by the most points." That meant Oklahoma State was #1 in their ballot, since they had the best margin of victory, 84-0 over Savannah State. The trouble is that if you can't figure out that it's better to beat a team from your own NCAA-approved division than one from the NCAA-approved lower one, with fewer scholarships, I don't know how you can be trusted to pick out better resumes later in the year. By that theory, beating a 10-1 I-AA team should be one of the best things you can do, but somehow it doesn't work out that way in that particular ballot. The larger point here: "resume voting" this early is silly.
Still, there have to be some rules. I have a system that I use, but it's too early for that. Two weeks in is too late to depend too heavily on the preseason methodology. The main rule here is that two weeks in, any team with a loss gets booted. There are plenty enough decent teams that haven't lost yet. Does that punish good teams for playing other good teams and reward cupcakery? Yup. But if they're actually good teams, they'll be back when the polls actually start to mean something. (I suspect, however, that it'll be some time, if ever, before we see Arkansas again. You gotta remember something: they're coached by John L. Smith, who used to be known to the local media here in Michigan as John LLLLLLLL Smith. Awesome guy. Quote machine. Not so much with the coaching skills.) So right now, the ballot is full of 2-0 teams (and a couple 1-0 teams) that mostly were here when the season began. I laddered them upwards and added teams at the bottom that seem like they've done something worth a damn so far - using ones from the preseason list that fell below the top 25. I could be convinced that there are other teams more worthy of inclusion.
1 comment:
Found this commentary by Steve DeShazo to be interesting and something I fully agree with:
http://blogs.fredericksburg.com/sports/2012/09/08/steve-deshazo-ugly-victory-leaves-a-sour-taste-in-cavaliers-mouths/
"London has made recruiting Tidewater’s talent lode a priority, and that’s home for both Sims and Watford. London will walk a fine line in trying to win and placate the “757” players and coaches. Sims is more athletic and has a stronger arm, but Rocco is his best bet to win at the moment.
But at the very least, London needs to communicate his game plan better to all parties involved: Rocco, Sims and Lazor, who seemed in the dark as well, but deferred to his boss.
At 2–0, London doesn’t have to apologize to anyone. As long as Virginia keeps winning, the grumbling will stay minimal. A couple of losses, though, can change everything—and not for the better"
Later this year, Sims may be the better option. But until then, London nearly choked away the PSU game by turning to Sims at that point. You want to put him in for a series in the first half, when things were anemic? Fine. But late 3rd, with the game on the line, going with the guy who doesn't know the playbook as well, with your own OC admittedly a bit surprised with the move? Don't get that.
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