Blogpoll 2010

We have been graciously accepted to this year's blogpoll. I feel as thought I've been validated not only as a blogger but as a man and a human being as well.

As much as I wanted to be in the blogpoll, I had no idea quite how difficult this proposition is. Rank the Top 25 teams. It seams easy but how much does one really know about all the teams in the FBS division? I enter this task without any real philosophy. A pre-season poll is the purest form of speculation so this is simply how good I perceive these teams to be. Certainly, on the field performance will surely change this ballot from week-to-week. However, I don't know if I'm ready to instantly and immediately ditch

That being said, below you will find my pre-season blogpoll ballot. Let me know what you think. Tear me up if you want.

There Is No Name On My Jersey Ballot - Week 1

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama Crimson Tide	--
2	Ohio St. Buckeyes	--
3	Texas Longhorns	--
4	Florida Gators	--
5	Boise St. Broncos	--
6	Virginia Tech Hokies	--
7	Oklahoma Sooners	--
8	Nebraska Cornhuskers	--
9	Iowa Hawkeyes	--
10	TCU Horned Frogs	--
11	Oregon Ducks	--
12	Miami Hurricanes	--
13	Wisconsin Badgers	--
14	LSU Tigers	--
15	Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets	--
16	Pittsburgh Panthers	--
17	North Carolina Tar Heels	--
18	Arkansas Razorbacks	--
19	Penn St. Nittany Lions	--
20	Florida St. Seminoles	--
21	Georgia Bulldogs	--
22	Oregon St. Beavers	--
23	Utah Utes	--
24	Auburn Tigers	--
25	Cincinnati Bearcats	--

SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings »

Coaches Poll Is Out!

USA Today released the 2008 preseason coaches poll and PSU is on there! WOOOOO!

The Lions are sitting at #22 directly behind the Bulls of South Florida and just ahead of Michigan who clocks in at #24. This really brings us to how the Big Ten faired in the polls.

The Big Ten has five teams in the top twenty five; Ohio State (3), Wisconsin (12), Illinois (19), PSU (22), and Michigan (24). Not bad, I agree with the teams on the list but not necessarily the order. I would put PSU, Wisconsin, and Illinois much closer together. I don't see Wisconsin being 10 spots better than PSU this year. Also, how did the Illinis get better this year? They didn't. So I'd go Ohio State (3), PSU (15), Illinois (16), Wisconsin (17).

Also, by my count, the SEC has five teams in the top 25 just like the Big Ten. Albeit, the SEC teams are generally ranked more highly. The average rank of the SEC teams is 8.2 compared to the Big 10s of 16. No, I don't think it is that big a difference. No, I'm not a moron. YOU ARE!

The Pac 10 brings a measly 3 teams to the top 25.

The Big 12 has five ranked teams also (avg. Rank of 9.6)

ACC has 3 teams ranked.

Big East has 2 two teams ranked.

As such, it seems clear that the coaches think the SEC and Big 12 are the cream of college football this year and that the Big 10 is good but not a great conference. We then have the rest of the lower conferences (PAC-10, ACC, Big East, etc.)

GO STATE! MOVE UP THOSE POLLS!

Schlabach's List is Borderline Non-sensical

Mark Schlabach has a column ranking the top 25 teams in the country and I think It stinks. Ok, I don't have a problem with 1-5 (Bulldogs, Buckeyes, Sooners, Trojans, Gators). But a retarded chimp could've put those five together. I shall now point out his most glaring errors.

WVU is at #7. Look, the Mountaineers were a very good team last year but they still lost two conference games in the Big East. Also, they lose key components on the offensive side of the ball including the coach who rebuilt the program into a national power. Top 25? Yes. Top ten? no.

Texas Tech is at #8. How the fuck do you figure? They weren't that great in '07. and now they have no idea who is going to play tailback. Look, they aren't terrible but I don't see them as top ten material.

Pitt is at #19 and this is completely unacceptable. Pitt gave up 24.3 points a game last year while only scoring 22.8 points a game. PLUS, schlabach acknowledges that their leading receiver is ineligible for '08, so, how is the scoring differential going to improve? It isn't. The Panthers aren't a top 25 team.

Notre Dame is at #25. The Irish were the worst team in football last year. The defense was bad and the offense was down right terrible. How do you go from the 119th team in football to #25 in a matter of months? The answer is that you don't. The Irish should consider 6-6 as a very positive season. Dude, I know you want people to read this column, however, pandering to the Irish is not the way to do it.

GO STATE!

Pre-Season Polls

The USA Today coaches poll was released on Friday and, while I wasn't blogging about it, I did stumble across a copy of USA Today. For the most part, I don't have any gigantic problems with the polls. Below, I'll try to turn a critical (drunkenly-retarded) eye to this most recent poll.

2007 preseason poll
Rank	Team (first-place votes)	2006 Record	Points	Final 2006 rank
1.	Southern California (45)	11-2	1,481	4
2.	LSU (4)	11-2	1,372	3
3.	Florida (9)	13-1	1,278	1
4.	Texas	10-3	1,231	13
5.	Michigan (2)	11-2	1,218	9
6.	West Virginia	11-2	1,205	10
7.	Wisconsin	12-1	1,114	5
8.	Oklahoma	11-3	1,026	11
9.	Virginia Tech	10-3	1,005	18
10.	Ohio State	12-1	919	2
11.	Louisville	12-1	836	7
12.	California	10-3	763	14
13.	Georgia	9-4	604	NR
14.	Auburn	11-2	595	8
15.	Tennessee	9-4	583	23
16.	Rutgers	11-2	466	12
17.	UCLA	7-6	454	NR
18.	Penn State	9-4	440	25
19.	Nebraska	9-5	388	NR
20.	Arkansas	10-4	360	16
21.	Florida State	7-6	301	NR
22.	TCU	11-2	233	21
23.	Boise State	13-0	222	6
24.	Hawaii	11-3	214	24
25.	Texas A&M	9-4	209	NR
Others receiving votes (with 2006 records)
Boston College (10-3) 150; Georgia Tech (9-5) 150; Miami (Fla.) (7-6) 91; Notre Dame (10-3) 90; South Carolina (8-5) 90; Wake Forest (11-3) 71; Missouri (8-5) 58; Oregon State (10-4) 52; Brigham Young (11-2) 47; Clemson (8-5) 30; Oregon (7-6) 30; South Florida (9-4) 26; Texas Tech (8-5) 20; Alabama (6-7) 16; Oklahoma State (7-6) 15; Southern Mississippi (9-5) 14; Iowa (6-7) 12; Kansas State (7-6) 8; Memphis (2-10) 5; Houston (10-4) 4; Arizona (6-6) 1; Duke (0-12) 1; Kentucky (8-5) 1; Washington State (6-6) 1.

I didn't generate this, USA Today gets the credit.

First, there are some interesting trends to note/power rankings to divine from this earliest poll. The Big Ten has 3 teams (Mich., Wisc., & Tosu) in the top ten compare that to 2 SEC teams(LSU & FL), 2 Big 12 (Okl. & Texas) teams, 1 Pac 10 (USC) 1 ACC (Va-Tech), and 1 Big East (W. Va). Seems like a good argument can be made that the Big Ten is the toughest conference in college football. Sorry SEC. Maybe you are saying, "JB, does this hold true throughout the top 25?" And you are partially correct.

Well, lets take a look. The Big Ten only has one more team in the Top 25 (PSU) giving them a total of 4 ranked teams. The average rank of these teams is 10.
The SEC jumps to having 6 teams rank in the top 25 adding (GA, Auburn, Tenn. & Ark.) The average rank of the SEC is 11.16.
The Big 12 puts 4 total teams into the top 25 adding Texas A&M and Nebraska. The average rank of the Big 12 is 14.
The PAC 10 fields 2 additional teams in the top 25 (UCLA & Cal) bringing their total to 3, the least thus far. The average rank of the PAC 10 is 10. This is mainly because everyone is regarding USC as an unbeatable super-power at #1.
The ACC only sneaks in one more team into the mix (FL ST) at #21. The average rank of these two powerhouses is 15. While some might like to make fun of the Big Least it is quite clear that the ACC is the worst conference in football.
The Big East adds Louisville and Rutgers to the land of the Ranked giving them 3 teams in the Top 25 and an average rank of 11.3
The Wac and The Mtn West round out the rest of the teams in the top 25.

Judging from these numbers the Big Ten and the SEC are clearly the best two conferences in college football. Not only does each conference field several powerhouse squads in the top ten but also fill out the top 25 nicely. Nearly half of the top 25 play in the Big Ten or SEC! While the Big Ten holds an edge in average rank the SEC makes up for it in volume fielding an impressive 6 teams. I'm gonna go with the Big Ten as being the best conference in football, however, I'll say that the SEC is the deepest conference in football.
An argument can certainly be made that the Big 12 belongs in this group too. However, Nebraska and TX AM are near the bottom of the Top 25 (19 & 25 respectively). Between these three conferences(Big 10, 12, & SEC), they have 14 teams in the top 25 and gives us more than enough reason to think that the big power conferences are where the best football is played.

Just a note to the billion Notre Dame blogs out there; how does it feel to be blogging about an unranked team? OUCH! "Oooh Jimmy Clausen is awesome!" give me a break.


I just pooped a helmet!

To be specific to Penn State, the Lions are ranked 18th in the poll. I am not frothing at the mouth over this. If i had to vote on a pre-season poll I would put the Lions at 15 (basically i'd just flip PSU and Tenn.) But this isn't a bad spot for the Lions. One must also consider that PSU has games against the #5, 7, and 10th ranked teams in the country this year. Certainly not a cake-walk.

Just to highlight some of the ridiculousness out there, Spurrier always votes for Duke as the 25 ranked team. No Shit. Every year. He also continues to vote them the 25th team until they lose! Even USA Today is concerned about this! An interesting note is that Spurriers current team (Gamecocks) are currently unranked also. Wild. Do you think he voted them #1 or #24?



Click-Clack Bitches!

GO STATE! PRACTICE STARTS TODAY! REJOICE!

I'm Back

Forgive my absence but I've been out of town for the last couple of days. I will be geting some stuff up responding to the USA Today pre-season rankings which came out on Friday. To tide you over, check out Saturday Sound Offs. He breaks down...well...the only relevant teams in PA at his blog.

GO STATE!

Preseason College Rankings

It is never to early to start ranking the teams....at least not for Stewart Mandel over at CNNSI.com. PSU got squeezed in at #14 which i can support. It isn't totally overhyping the team but it is leaving them close enough to make a move to the top. I give you...Mandel's rankings:

14

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Penn State Nittany Lions (9-4) Key returnees: QB Anthony Morelli, WR Derrick Williams LBs Dan Connor and Sean Lee, CB Justin King Spring star: CB A.J. Wallace. Coaches moved one of last year's starting corners, Tony Davis, to safety to open up a spot for the sophomore speedster. Spring recap: All eyes were on RB Austin Scott, the 2004 freshman sensation who, following several setbacks, is finally set to take over for departed star Tony Hunt. Penn State's front seven figures to be a strength, with youngsters like DE Maurice Evans and DT Phillip Taylor emerging.

GO STATE! POSITION YOURSELF FOR A RISE TO THE TOP!