re: LSU #11 USA # 11 AP

I'm just ready for the Big12 shakeup.

If Mizzou would have been in the top 5 when they lost to Texas, they would have dropped 10 too. It's not like you can absolutely argue that the teams they're ahead of could beat them.

1. Texas (58) 7-0 1,522 1
2. Alabama (1) 7-0 1,436 2
3. Penn State (2) 8-0 1,413 3
4. Southern California 5-1 1,264 4
5. Oklahoma 6-1 1,218 6

Where's Oklahoma State? I don't understand how Southern Cal and Oklahoma deserve to be ranked ahead of Oklahoma State right now -- according to the poll itself, Oklahoma State has better credentials (haven't lost, beat Missouri -- only challenger is Southern Cal because they beat Ohio State, but 0 loss w/Missouri win > 1 loss w/Ohio State win). I would also put them above Penn State here because, again, Oklahoma State has done more (neither have lost, but Penn State has yet to beat a quality opponent).

6. Texas Tech 7-0 1,210 5
7. Florida 5-1 1,184 7
8. Oklahoma State 7-0 1,083 10
9. Georgia 6-1 1,067 9
10. Ohio State 7-1 995 11

Southern Cal needs to be moved below Georgia, for sure. I'm not sold on Texas Tech -- their best win is over 4-3 Nebraska. South Carolina is definitely a better win than that, and Texas Tech's competition besides Nebraska has been total crap. Georgia's at least played a couple of good teams. I would go with Florida - Southern Cal - Georgia - Texas Tech - Boise State for 6-10. (Rationale on Boise State below.)

11. LSU 5-1 903 14
12. Utah 8-0 891 13
13. Boise State 6-0 786 16
14. South Florida 6-1 643 20
15. TCU 7-1 582 24

Boise State's undefeated record needs to be respected here, in my opinion. They've played and beaten a decent team in Oregon and haven't yet lost -- something Ohio State, LSU, Utah, South Florida, and TCU all can't simultaneously claim. That said, I would keep LSU where it is and put Ohio State at #12. Utah's undefeated record comes against entirely bad teams and in my opinion shouldn't yet be considered better than Ohio State and LSU. We'll see what happens when TCU comes to town. Speaking of which, TCU and South Florida are in the right spot IMO.

16. Missouri 5-2 551 12
17. Brigham Young 6-1 464 8
18. Kansas 5-2 342 15
19. Tulsa 7-0 328 NR
20. Pittsburgh 5-1 292 NR

This is ridiculous. Brigham-Young hasn't played anyone good yet -- sans TCU, who blew them out of the water. Same with Kansas, only they now have two losses, to South Florida and Oklahoma. (To its credit, Kansas was at least competitive against Oklahoma and South Florida...but two losses, above some of these teams, is ridiculous anyway.) Tulsa's 7-0 record comes against arguably the absolute easiest schedule in college football -- they haven't earned a ranking yet, never mind jumping from unranked to 19. I think Georgia Tech and Boston College are far more deserving of a top-20 ranking, and I'd put Pittsburgh at 18, Missouri at 19, and Virginia Tech at 20.

Now, I know Virginia Tech lost yesterday. They lost for the second time yesterday. But while Kansas had yet to play anyone of value and win, Virginia Tech defeated a team I have at #16 (Georgia Tech), and another team that had they not choked in OT I would also have ranked (North Carolina) -- in other words, they've earned a top-20 ranking, despite two losses. Besides, at this point we're comparing three distinct groups:

- undefeated non-BCS teams
- one-loss BCS teams with easy schedules
- two-loss BCS teams with quality wins

I think those groups are all about equal in theory, so the questions to ask are "Is the schedule of this one-loss BCS team enough to jump an undefeated non-BCS team?" and "Are the good wins this two-loss BCS team has on a decent schedule enough for this two-loss BCS team to jump this one-loss BCS team?" The answer for this -- yes, Virginia Tech does deserve to jump them.

Virginia Tech does have a loss to ECU that looks worse and worse with each week -- but conversely, at this point most teams with a loss either haven't played anyone or have an embarrassing loss on their record.

21. Georgia Tech 6-1 282 NR
22. Ball State 7-0 274 25
23. Florida State 5-1 258 NR
24. Northwestern 6-1 177 NR
25. Minnesota 6-1 165 NR

As I said, Georgia Tech needs to be higher. After that, though, this is pretty much a pick-who-you-want session. FWIW, I have BYU, Michigan State, Vanderbilt, Minnesota, and California -- and half of the teams here are arguable, if not all. I don't like this part, but I can't say it's wrong because at this point there are too many close teams to differentiate clearly which ones are top-25 and which are not.

I don't think Florida State should be ranked, though -- their 5-1 record is nice, but two I-AA schools will make it that way. Their best win is probably 4-3 Miami (FL) -- other than that they've played 3-4 Colorado and 2-5 North Carolina State.


Just my two cents.

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Would USC lose by 30 at Florida? Nope

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Would USC lose to an unranked on the road? Nope. Wait.....yes they could and did. You cant make the statement above with any certainty just like I would not have said LSU would lose to UF by 30, but it happened.

I do argue about the polls from time to time, but I have to remind myself the polls dont matter right now really, all we can do is win and wait for help, which somehow or another comes every single year. Too many games left to worry about it right now.Ive seen more ranked teams lose to unranked opp. in the last 2 years than I have ever seen. Anything is possible these days. Games that shouldnt be games are now. Since we lost we no longer control our destiny, all we can control is winning the rest of our games. If we can do that we will be in as good a position as we can be. Just have to hope things go our way. A 1 loss season this year would be impressive all things considered.

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Next Week Games of Importance:
No. 8 Oklahoma State at No. 1 Texas
No. 2 Alabama at Tennessee
No. 3 Penn State at No. 10 Ohio State
No. 4 USC at Arizona
No. 5 Oklahoma at Kansas State
No. 6 Texas Tech at No. 18 Kansas
Kentucky at No. 7 Florida
No. 9 Georgia at No. 11 LSU

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Just by winning this week and all these other top teams playing ranked teams gives rise to plenty of potential to make a big jump in the polls next week.

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3 of the teams you listed will cancel each other out for one of the slots. Penn State is the only team that will definitely controls its own destiny for that second BCS slot.

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thank you. my point exactly.

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i really doesnt matter. bottom line is, we win out, we'll play in the ncg.

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That it just so off in so many ways.