This is Tomahawk Nation's first BlogPoll this season. We waited a few weeks so that teams had a chance to build up a bit of a resume. Inside, find the criteria on which teams are ranked and the BlogPoll.
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, TCU and 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 those two 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.
Note that this first poll is based on only 3 weeks worth of games. There might seem to be some strange selections, especially in the lower part of the poll. But at this point, there isn't much information to pull from. Many teams are still very much in the warm up portion of their schedule. Next week many teams will face better competition and there should be a better picture of the best 25 teams in the country.
Ballot - Week 4
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oklahoma Sooners | -- |
| 2 | LSU Tigers | -- |
| 3 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -- |
| 4 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys | -- |
| 5 | Stanford Cardinal | -- |
| 6 | Boise St. Broncos | -- |
| 7 | Wisconsin Badgers | -- |
| 8 | Florida St. Seminoles | -- |
| 9 | Oregon Ducks | -- |
| 10 | South Carolina Gamecocks | -- |
| 11 | Virginia Tech Hokies | -- |
| 12 | West Virginia Mountaineers | -- |
| 13 | Nebraska Cornhuskers | -- |
| 14 | Clemson Tigers | -- |
| 15 | Florida Gators | -- |
| 16 | Texas Longhorns | -- |
| 17 | South Florida Bulls | -- |
| 18 | Michigan Wolverines | -- |
| 19 | North Carolina Tar Heels | -- |
| 20 | USC Trojans | -- |
| 21 | Vanderbilt Commodores | -- |
| 22 | Fla. International Golden Panthers | -- |
| 23 | Arkansas Razorbacks | -- |
| 24 | Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets | -- |
| 25 | Texas A&M Aggies | -- |
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "