:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/photo_images/6492071/20120414_pjc_av1_030.jpg)
As a loyal reader and follower of Tomahawk Nation, you are probably aware that we use different criteria than many when ranking teams during the season. What a team has accomplished such as close victories, close defeats, blowouts victories, and blowout losses, all play a part in determining where a team is ranked. But here we are. It's 41 days until the first day of summer. Players are yet to wrap their heads around, "HOLY CRAP, TWO-A-DAYS IN 102 DEGREE WEATHER."
Accordingly, our criteria is drastically reduced to include slightly more than 'huh, those guys might be pretty good at the game of football." But seriously, thanks to the work that's being done by some super stat nerds* and taking into account traditional powerhouses, it's not a completely useless exercise. There will be disagreements, but hey, I can't get it 100% right. I'm not a computer.
Who should be included, bumped off, higher, lower? Do the South Florida Bulls belong? They ranked 40th in F/+ by the aforementioned nerds at the end of 2011 and they return a bunch of players. As the joke goes, the Mountaineers just scored again on Clemson. Was that an anomaly or was that just the most epic Clemson collapse ever? West Virginia will also have to prove they are worthy of any preseason hype in a brand new conference. LSU, BAMA, USC, are probably 1a, 1b, and 1c. Whichever order you think they should go is just fine. Kansas State was ridiculously lucky last year. Maybe that luck runs out and they go 6-6. OU had a little bit of a meltdown. Will they turn it around or do worse? Which also leads to the fact Baylor is now RGIII-less, which means they are rank-less. FSU is probably too high, or low. Whichever.
Inside, find Tomahawk Nation's very own speculative ballot on who will be elite and who is total garbage (lookin at you Maryland).
Tomahawk Nation Ballot - Week 18
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | LSU Tigers | -- |
| 2 | USC Trojans |
 2 |
| 3 | Alabama Crimson Tide |
 -1 |
| 4 | Arkansas Razorbacks |
4 |
| 5 | Oregon Ducks | -- |
| 6 | Oklahoma Sooners |
-3 |
| 7 | Georgia Bulldogs |
-1 |
| 8 | South Carolina Gamecocks |
-1 |
| 9 | Florida St. Seminoles | -- |
| 10 | Michigan St. Spartans |
1 |
| 11 | Michigan Wolverines |
-1 |
| 12 | West Virginia Mountaineers | -- |
| 13 | Wisconsin Badgers |
1 |
| 14 | Virginia Tech Hokies |
4 |
| 15 | Clemson Tigers |
2 |
| 16 | Kansas St. Wildcats |
5 |
| 17 | Stanford Cardinal | -- |
| 18 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys |
1 |
| 19 | Nebraska Cornhuskers |
5 |
| 20 | Florida Gators | -- |
| 21 | Texas Longhorns |
-5 |
| 22 | Ohio St. Buckeyes |
-7 |
| 23 | Boise St. Broncos | -- |
| 24 | South Florida Bulls | -- |
| 25 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish |
-12 |
| Dropouts: TCU Horned Frogs, Missouri Tigers, Louisiana Tech Bulldogs | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "
*Complement.