Each week during the season, I will be evaluating the AP Poll and the voters who vote in it. To do this, I will use the pollstaker at pollspeak.com, a site advocating openness for college poll voters. Each week, they post each AP voters entire ballot along with extreme/odd ballots.
Most Overrated Team: Oklahoma St. (9) – Like I said in my preseason top 25, having the quarterback teach the new coordinator the offense is a bit of a red flag. That and the average defense whould give us reason for concern.
Most Underrated Team: Wisconsin (11) – Badgers were a top 5 team last season. The only question was quarterback and they filled that with former NC State quarterback Russell Wilson. I see no reason why this team shouldn't be starting near where they finished last year.
Five craziest votes:
Scott Wolf and Tom Murphy voting Boise St. number 1 – I know Boise St. is going to be good again. I have them ranked solidly in my top 10. That said, voting them number 1 just seems moronic. They might be the best team, they might now, but there is no way a team that finished on the back end of the top 10 with a decent chunk of the offense gone (but not the QB or RB) should be ranked number 1. Maybe they are still propping Boise St. over Oklahoma for the Fiesta Bowl win all that time ago.
Jon Wilner voting Air Force 19 – Another Western voter (like Wolf), another oddly propped up a Mountain West team. Air Force was good last season, but they aren't expected to be any better this year and they finished unranked last season. I just don't get it, especially this high.
Five voters leaving Ohio St. unranked – This just seems like people with an axe to grind railing in protest. Even with Jim Tressel gone and no Terrelle Pryor, this team has top 5 talent. They are not likely to end up that high with all the turmoil, but completely out of the rankings is absurd. Lee Corso is right when he says the team with the better talent wins 80% of the time.
Jeremy Sampson what are you thinking? Texas number 15. You aren't even a Texas based voter so I have no idea where that came from. Show me a quarterback or a running game, both of which weren't there last season, and then we can talk about this ranking.
Jim Wogan, some thing as Sampson. Florida at 13. Are you serious? Show me a competent offense (or at least one that can complete a shotgun snap) before ranking a team that high. At least the Gators won 8 games last season though if the offense isn't a whole lot better, it will be tough to match that.
Poll trends:
Too much SEC respect – It seems the voters took the easy way out and when in doubt chose an SEC team. 8 teams ranked in the preseason seems a bit excessive. It also will make SEC fans more insufferable for everyone else to deal with.
More respect for mid-majors – Boise St. starts in the top 5 again. TCU lost its starting quarterback and much of the defense and still is ranked 14. Further down, Southern Miss, BYU, Air Force and Houston all received double digit points, something Pittsburgh, Michigan and Tennessee can't say.
The poll voters still love their big bowl wins – Of the top 9 teams, only two lost their bowl games. One (Oregon) last the national title game. The other (Texas A&M) lost to a team ranked above them (LSU). For that matter, other than Oregon, the other top 5 teams (Oklahoma, Alabama, LSU and Boise St.) all won their bowl games in blowout fashion.
Being a big name matters – Texas got a lot of votes after a 5-7 season (though not enough to be ranked like in the coaches poll). Florida after its own terrible season is ranked 22. Auburn with virtually nobody outside of running backs returning from last year is ranked 23. Notre Dame is ranked 16. The name and tradition matters, especially in the preseason poll.
Biggest poll matchups of week 1:
3 Oregon vs 4 LSU in Dallas – The most anticipated early season matchup should be highly entertaining and could play a major role in determining the national title game participants.
5 Boise St. vs 19 Georgia in Atlanta – Boise St. starts with its toughest test for the second consecutive season. Win here and the chase for the National Title begins again. And the haters crawl out of the woodwork again too.
1 Oklahoma vs Tulsa – The top-ranked Sooners open the defense of their number one ranking against a Tulsa team with decent talent. Of course the Golden Hurricane is starting over with an entirely new coaching staff after losing head coach Todd Graham to Pittsburgh and offensive coordinator Chad Morris to Clemson. If Oklahoma really is as good as advertised, they will blow Tulsa up rather than play the kind of close game they did against inferior teams like Utah St. and Cincinnati last season.
No, Oklahoma won't choke to the Golden Hurricanes....but don't count out the Seminoles. Something tells me they come into the season trying to prove a point early, and the Sooners on home turf is just the matchup to do so.
ReplyDeleteBoise St....They need to embarass the Bulldogs. And if they do, they need to hope Georgia still has a good season or the win will be meaningless.
SOMEONE RANKED TEXAS TOP 20!!! Apparently the someone got some great drugs. Luckily for Texas, if BYU takes out the starting QB like they did to Oklahoma not so long ago, it might come back to hurt the Cougars, as I don't think the Longhorn coaching staff (read Mack Brown) is ready to bench Garrett Gilbert yet and they are finally realizing the its ok to have more than one good QB.
Texas A&M will be the season's biggest letdown, and it will cost them an official invite to the SEC for at least a couple more seasons.
The Badgers will win the Big 10 in a walk and show Nebraska they should be careful what they wished for. Badgers will later go in to embarass the Big Ten in the NC game against Oklahoma (if the get past FSU) or Boise St. (if the SEC teams cannabalize themselves).