This is not a power poll. I don't attempt to rank teams based on how good I think they are. I only rank teams based on their resume. What have they done? Not how talented are their players or what other polls project them to do, but what have they done? The poll is designed to be dynamic. I try to start from scratch every week.
I do attempt to reward teams for "quality losses," while punishing them for poor performances. I do not give excessive credit for stomping horrible teams. I reward quality play, win or lose, particularly against other good teams. I am not bumping team A 10 spots and docking team B 10 spots when team A beats team B by a field goal in what was essentially an equally played game. I like to reward playing well against good teams, win or lose, and punish losing to poor teams more harshly than I reward defeating poor teams. To that end, Boise will probably not climb much higher in my poll for the rest of the year because they don't really play anyone. And if they don't blow out the weak competition every week, they will start to slip in addition to not climbing.
I reward grinders. I reward those who play difficult schedules. Teams that play a tough team every week don't get to spend extra time preparing for their tough games, and they also don't face the attrition other teams face because they are able to pull their starters in blowouts. Fewer plays for important players reduces the chance those players will get injured.
Change my mind using my criteria if you can.
Notes: My apologies, I waited too long to do the BlogPoll. So you won't get the fancy list. I'll get it done in a timely fashion next week. But for now you are stuck with plain ol' boring text. Some upsets and huge upsets this week.
Oklahoma lost to Texas Tech as a 4 TD+ favorite. Ouch. Michigan State got the win over Wisconsin with a hail marry. Did Oklahoma drop down far enough? Too far? What about Texas Tech? Is their win over Oklahoma enough to justify their position? We are at the point of the season when things are starting to get messy. Even taking difficult schedules into account, there isn't a lot to differentiate between a lot of teams. For me, 20-25 is really just a pick'em.
What will FSU have to accomplish to get ranked? Should they be ranked if they win out until the Miami game? Should Miami? There may be more teams that lose between now and then that are ranked that leave some room for that scenario.
Remember: DO YOU COLLEGE PICK'EM. Looked like a lot of people missed last week. 2 games on Thursday so get your picks in soon.
1. LSU
2. Alabama
3. Clemson
4. Oklahoma State
5. Stanford
6. Kansas State
7. Boise State
8. Oregon
9. Arkansas
10. Michigan State
11. Virginia Tech
12. Wisconsin
13. Oklahoma
14. South Carolina
15. Michigan
16, Penn State
17. Texas A&M
18. Houston
19. Nebraska
20. USC
21. Texas Tech
22. Georgia
23. Arizona State
24. Cincinnati
25. West Virginia