I wrote a beautiful blog this week on the state of college FB.  It included midseason analysis, facts, my picks for best players, surprise teams and disappointments.  I cried when I read it, it was breathtaking.   I cried again minutes later when I posted it and this site locked up my computer and deleted my post.

I swore off FoxSports Blogs on the spot (for the umpteenth time).  When you have such little time to blog, it can be overwhelming to lose your work.  But I finally decided I owed it to the faithful voters to post their poll one more time.  I'm not sure if i can keep doing this.  I'm gonna contact someone for some help, we'll see how it shakes out.

Anyways, another fine job by our panel.  Just like the big boys, we have LSU a unanimous #1.   Because we only have a few voters, I made a rule early on that a team must be listed on multiple ballots to be ranked, so that no one vote could jump a team too high in the poll.  Some of the teams receiving votes had higher point totals, but were only listed on one ballot.

THE POLL

1. LSU (13)             260
2. Cal                     243
3. OSU                   220
4. USF                   207
5. BC                     181
6. So Carolina         169
7. Oregon               166
8. Oklahoma           165
9. Missouri              160
10. USC                    126
11. WVU                   112
12. Cincinnatti             96
13. ASU                     93
14. Florida                  87
15. Va Tech                86
16. Illinois                   83
17. Hawaii                  82
18. Kansas                56
19. Kentucky             49
20. Wisconsin            48
21. Texas                    8
22. Tennessee             7
23. FSU                      6
24. PSU                      4
25. Connecticut            2

Also receiving votes:  Nebraska, Washington State, Auburn, KSU, Virginia 

Sorry to be so late with this.  Have you ever had an abscessed tooth?  Ouch.

What a weekend coming up.  Last week's slew of upsets reshuffled everyone's ranking, and I look for it to happen again this week. 

One thing I've grown to appreciate from doing this is how much work goes into a poll, and how easy it is to do something stupid.  I vote before I look at anyone else's picks, trying to stay with my own thoughts.  Then when I look at everyone elses vote, I wonder how I could have left some teams off. 

 I also see us bloggers doing the same thing we get upset at the real polls about.  How many times have I read comments and blogs questioning how a team that beat another could end up ranked behind the team they beat.  An example is South Carolina and Georgia.  Over half of our voters put Georgia ahead of SC, even though the Gamecocks beat Georgia on the road.  It tells me that we're as guilty as anyone of voting for the helmet.  Other examples are keeping florida in the top 10 after they lose to the first good team they play, at home.  Auburn is good, but certainly not a great team.  At least we got a few things right.  Oregon is ahead of Oklahoma in our poll. If any team deserved to stay in the top 10 after losing, it's the Ducks.  What a great game!!  And while they did fall from the top 10, they're close.

Oh well, it's all conjecture anyways.

THE POLL

1. LSU   (7)          235
2. USC  (5)          231
3. Cal                  213 
4. Ohio State       183
5. USF                177
6. Wisconsin       162
7. Kentucky         151
8. BC                  133
9. Florida             103
10. South Carolina 100
11. Georgia             98
12. Oregon              95
13. Oklahoma          86
14. Hawaii               82
15. Missourri           77
16. WVU                74
17. Purdue             59
18. Arizona State    50
19. Cincinnatti        49
20. Texas               30
21. Virginia Tech     25
22. Kansas             20
23. Clemson           14
24. Auburn              12
25. Nebraska           10

Others receiving votes:  Rutgers, Illinois, Michigan State, Florida State, Washington State, Kansas State, Oklahoma State.

Thanks to all the bloggers who voted this week.  It looks like you did a great job as usual.  Once again, our voters seem more willing than the national press to award teams for playing well, and to penalize those who don't.  A little flux is a good thing.

USC has a stranglehold on #1 at this point, just seven votes shy of a perfect ballot.  This is also the first time we've seen widespread disagreement over who should receive the other first place votes.  All five of the top teams were listed #1 on at least one ballot (and no, Rev didn't vote for Florida.)

There are a handful of teams that seem to generate wide disagreement among the voters.  BC is ranked as high as #5, as low as #18.  Wisconsin's support ranges from #6 to #20.  Our pollsters are tired of waiting for the Badgers to wake up this season, and have dropped Wisky out of the top 10.

The big movers were Kentucky, up to #14 with their win over my Hogs (a moment of silence please....................), and naturally Penn State and South Carolina fell after losses.  Some new teams have showed up on the radar.  Missouri, Arizona State and Cincinnatti received some well earned recognition and Purdue and Kansas are knocking on the door. 

 All in all, a pretty good looking poll, I think. 

THE VOTE

1. USC   (9)          293
2. LSU   (3)          284
3. Oklahoma (1)   265
4. Florida (1)        244
5. WVU  (1)         240
6. California         209
7. Ohio State       196
8. Texas             192
9. Rutgers           147
10. BC                  146
11. Oregon            143
12. Wisconsin       138
13. Clemson           97
14. Kentucky          91
15. South Carolina  82
16. Georgia            65
17. USF                 64
18. Hawaii              54
19. Virginia Tech    33
20. Missouri           32
21. Penn State       31
22. Nebraska         17
23. Arizona State   16
24. Alabama          15
25. Cincinnatti        10

Others receiving votes: Purdue, Kansas, Texas A&M, Auburn, BYU, UCLA, Michigan State, Miami.   

As usual, there are some great blogs out there on CFB.  Check out NorCal's top 25, he does an incredible job.  Nostradamus, Lisa, jgrace, Nooch, ksp. I can't list them all, you CFB fans know who they are.  Read their stuff and drop 'em a comment.  Our encouragement will keep them posting.

Wow.  You guys are a fickle bunch.  Once again, the top of the poll has changed.  USC has regained the top spot, with LSU hot on the Trojans' heels.  The top 4 teams have seperated themselves from the pack, and the field has narrowed, with only 32 teams receiving votes.

First place votes in parenthesis

1. USC   (8)                             274
2. LSU   (5)                              269
3. Oklahoma                           243
4. Florida  (1)                           241
5. WVU                                     209
6. California                            183
7. Penn State                          174
8. Texas                                   171
9. Wisconsin                           170
10. Ohio State                            162
11. Rutgers                                141
12. Boston College                   115
13. South Carolina                    106
14. Oregon                                  102
15. Alabama                                 66
16. Clemson                                53
17. Hawaii                                    48
18. Virginia Tech                         44
19. Texas A&M                             38
20. Kentucky                                 23
21. USF                                         21
22. Louisville                               18
23. Georgia                                 17
24. Missouri                                10
25. Nebraska, Arizona State      9

Others receiving votes:  Arkansas, Washington State, Georgia Tech, Texas Tech, Air Force, Auburn, Michigan State.

The tie for the last spot means we had 26 teams ranked this week. 

Ranked teams by conference:

Pac 10 -Two in the top 10, four overall.

SEC - Two in the top 10, six overall

Big 12 - Two in the top 10, five overall

Big East - One in the top 10, four overall

Big 10 - Three in the top 10, three overall

ACC - None in the top 10, three overall

WAC - none in the top 10, one overall.

I decided to rank the conferences a different way this week.  I totaled all the votes for all the teams from each conference.

1. SEC  - 732
2. Pac 10 - 575
3. Big 10 - 507
4. Big 12 - 474
5. Big East - 389
6. ACC - 214

Thanks to everyone for you ballots.  I'm sorry for the abbreviated post, I've had a busy week. 

If you get a chance, check out NorCal's blog, GCoach's blog and JGrace's blog.  All three have great posts up for you college football junkies, and they're all listed below my handsome picture, among my favorite blogs.

Week Two has produced a new #1 team in the Bloggers Poll.  LSU's demolition of Virginia Tech has vaulted the Bengal Tigers ahead of idle USC.  I'm excited to see it.  Anyone who's been paying any attention has to realize LSU has been the most impressive team in the land so far this fall.  It's early yet, but you guys know a great team when you see one. 

Contrast the rapid reshuffling of our poll that reflects actual game results vs the major polls that won't drop a team 'til it loses.  I think it's a great thing.  I won't argue with those who still think USC is #1, there's plenty of reasons to think so.  I just like the open minded nature of our pollers in freely admitting that things can change from week to week.

Some thoughts:

SEC -

I said before the season started that I didn't think the SEC would be as strong as everyone else was predicting in 2007.  And other than LSU, I haven't seen much to make me change my mind. 

Georgia looked good against Oklahoma State, average against South Carolina.  Auburn struggled with Kansas State before their offensive woes proved fatal against USF.  The rest of the league hasn't played anyone with a pulse, so who knows?  This week, Kentucky hosts Louisville, Arkansas and 'Bama square off in Tuscaloosa and Tennessee travels to the Swamp.  We'll know more after Saturday.

Big 10-

Michigan was run over by a herd of Ducks, I guess the Wolverines weren't all they were quacked up to be.  Funny how Ron English has gone from a defensive genius to a goat in four games.  My observation is that the genius coaches are the ones with great players, the dummies have bad talent. 

OSU is still struggling to find consistency on offense, but looks very strong on defense.  PSU ran over ND, hohum.  The Nittany Lions need to find some offense before they can be considered a legitimate threat outside their conference.  Wisconsin struggled on the road with UNLV, but still looks to be the class of the Big 10.  Keep an eye on Purdue. 

PAC 10 -

The West Coast boys have arguably been the most impressive conference so far.  We all know about USC, and Cal exorcised some demons against Tennessee in week one.  This week, Oregon looked phenomenal in lighting up Michigan, Washington ended Boise State's 14 game win streak, and Dennis Erickson shows signs of awakening all that talent at ASU.

USC has a big game in Lincoln Saturday, I can't wait to see that one.

Big East -

It's time to stop the jokes, this is another conference that has been impressive so far.  Not so much the top teams WVU and Louisville, which have had some weaknesses on defense exposed, but the next level of teams.  Rutgers, USF and Cincinnatti were all impressive Saturday, and the Big East is now 6-0 vs the SEC this century.  The BEast rules the SouthLeast Conference.

Pat White is proving what most WVU fans have said all along, he's the best player on that team, not RB Steve Slaton.  Ray Rice is a bowling ball, how do you tackle someone with no legs?

ACC -

The ACC has proved they have several quality teams, but do they have any great ones?  Wake scared Nebraska, almost spoiling their matchup with USC.  Georgia Tech looks like top 10, and Clemson is off to a strong start.  BC has maybe the best QB in college ball, this may be the year they finally get recognized for their on field success. 

My feeling is that all these teams will beat each other up, with no team coming out with less than two losses.  If one team does dominate the league, you can bet they're a great team.

Big 12 -

Oklahoma has been probably the second most impressive team so far behind LSU.  Texas struggled with TCU before finally waking up in the 4th quarter to win by a score that doesn't reflect how close the game actually was.  Missouri almost blew a big lead for the second week in a row, A&M needed triple overtime to escape Fresno State, Iowa State is terrible and TexasTech looked bad in beating UTEP. 

Oklahoma may benefit from being a great team in a weak conference.  That's a proven recipe for making it to the NC game.

My conference rankings after week 2:

1. PAC 10
2. Big East
3. SEC
4. ACC
5. Big 10
6. Big 12

Okay, enough about me.  Here's this weeks poll:  (Updated to reflect late ballots.)

SEC again leads with 6 teams, PAC 10 has 4, Big 12 has 4, ACC has 4, Big East  has 3, Big 10 has 3, and the  WAC has 1

1. LSU   (11)     295
2. USC   (3)       285
3. Oklahoma    261
4. WVU              238
5. Florida (1)     232
6. Texas            209
7. Wisconsin    194
8. California      170
9. Penn State   164
10. Louisville      153
11. Ohio State    140
12. UCLA              118
13. Rutgers            97
14. Ga Tech           94 
15. Nebraska        91
16. Arkansas        88
17. S Carolina       57
18. Oregon             48
19. BC                      43
20. Va Tech            28
21. Hawaii               25
22. Tennessee       22
23. Texas A&M      19
24. Clemson          16
25. Georgia            18

Also receiving votes: USF, Oregon State, Washington State, Auburn, Alabama, Arizona State

BLOGGER OF THE WEEK

Nostradamus sent in his vote about the same time i was posting this.  He included some great thoughts, and he is this week's featured blogger.  Great job by our resident expert on CFB.

Nostradamus' Ballot

Nos Top 25:

1. LSU:  Most impressive team thus far.  Only 2 shutouts away from a meaningless touchdown by Tyrod Taylor (Va Tech stud recruit) from a perfect defensive shutout season.  This looks like the team to beat.  THUS FAR.

    

2. USC:  We will see how good they are this weekend.  A 10 point favorite at Nebraska, and the entire football world watching.  Here is hoping my Huskers don't get emabarrassed.  I'm not holding my breath.

    

3. Oklahoma:  The 2nd most impressive team thus far.  Sam Bradford is the best QB of the Stoops era.  And Allen Patrick and DeMarco Murray are SOLID RB's as well.  Not too mention Malcom Kelly and Iglesias are likely the most underrated top notch receiving corps as well.  Talent abounds in Norman.  And I haven't even mentioned their STOUT defense.
4. West Virginia:  You need to have defense.  You need to show us you have one.  Slaton and White are awesome, but the Big East is too good if you don't shore that up to roll undefeated.
5. Florida:  Tim Tebow is for real.  Can they play defense?  We'll see this weekend against Tennessee.  This is another scary team from Urban Meyer.
6. Texas:  You answered a lot of questions from week one.  Now can we get an answer from Colt that this will not be a Sophomore slump.  Too much talent on with his receiving corps to be throwing INT's much less ones that get returned for TD's.
7. South Carolina:  Re-enter my top 10.  I had them 9 in my preseason, and it took a win against Georgia on the road to re-enter.  Spurrier has a tough road to hoe in front of him, but this is a good SC ball club.
8. Penn State:  Less than impressive outing by the Lions on Saturday against an overmatched Irish squad.  However, they play too good of defense to move out of the top 10.
9. California:  By default you get here.  Bad performance last week against Colorado State, but I'll give you a mulligan this time.
10.  Louisville:  You are on SERIOUS warning that you probably don't belong up here.  Heck, you probably don't belong in the top 20, but nobody else is that impressive, thus you remain.  Play defense to stay up here or you drop quickly.
11. UCLA:  Should have you in front of Louisville, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.  2 solid wins thus far, and if you keep it up, you will rise.
12. Oregon:  Nice showing against what is likely a less than stellar Michigan squad.  Nonetheless a 39-7 win on the road gets your promotion here when it could have easily been 53 points.
13. Georgia Tech:  You jump the most this week.  Your defense is just that good, and as we all know, defense wins championships.
14. Alabama:  Your game against Arkansas this week proves your mettle.  Show you belong.
15. Boston College:  From unrated to 15th.  I'm that impressed.
16. Ohio State:  You need to shore up some QB problems if you want to move up, until then you continue your slide down.
17. Georgia:  Your loss to South Carolina should not be looked at as being that bad.  You are still a quality ball club who can beat nearly everyone in front of you. 
18. Arizona State:  Show me you are for real.  I'm impressed big time thus far.  Ryan Torain is a stud.  If Dennis Erickson can keep this team playing defense, look out.  He also must keep Carpenter from making stupid mistakes as well.
19. Tennessee:  You'll move up IF you beat Florida.  Another embarrassing defeat, and you likely won't be back for a while.
20. Clemson:  You are here by default due to VERY poor showings by other ball clubs.  I still don't think you are that good.
21. Wisconsin:  Once again you still stay in my rankings.  Show me something or this is your last week in.
22. Rutgers:  I should have ranked you earlier.  My apologies Mr. Schiano.
23. Nebraska:  You are lucky to stay in here.  But nobody has proved that they deserve to be in here either.
24. Texas Tech:  One of the scariest teams in the country to play.  You still have a tough slate ahead of you.  You keep winning, and you will move up.
25. Arkansas:  On a BYE week you enter my rankings.  Prove you belong when you travel to Alabama, and you get immediate entrance into the top 15.