Week 4 of the 2012 college football season is in the books. We can now turn our attention to the most transparent poll in the country, SB Nation's BlogPoll.
Here is our ballot heading into the week. Explanations are under the jump, and please feel free to comment/criticize in the comments.
The 7th Floor Ballot - Week 4
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -- |
| 2 | Oregon Ducks | -- |
| 3 | Florida St. Seminoles | -- |
| 4 | LSU Tigers | -- |
| 5 | Kansas St. Wildcats | -- |
| 6 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish | -- |
| 7 | Stanford Cardinal | -- |
| 8 | Florida Gators | -- |
| 9 | Georgia Bulldogs | -- |
| 10 | South Carolina Gamecocks | -- |
| 11 | Texas Longhorns | -- |
| 12 | Ohio St. Buckeyes | -- |
| 13 | West Virginia Mountaineers | -- |
| 14 | Clemson Tigers | -- |
| 15 | Louisville Cardinals | -- |
| 16 | Oregon St. Beavers | -- |
| 17 | USC Trojans | -- |
| 18 | Michigan St. Spartans | -- |
| 19 | Northwestern Wildcats | -- |
| 20 | TCU Horned Frogs | -- |
| 21 | Michigan Wolverines | -- |
| 22 | Oklahoma Sooners | -- |
| 23 | Rutgers Scarlet Knights | -- |
| 24 | Ohio Bobcats | -- |
| 25 | UCLA Bruins | -- |
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "
- The top 4 is pretty self-explanatory here. Oregon's best win (Arizona) is less impressive than FSU's best win (Clemson) but Oregon massacred the Wildcats where FSU had some issues (though mostly self-inflicted) against the Tigers. LSU, coming off of a very forgettable win over Auburn, is on shaky ground as the No. 4.
- The No. 5 through 8 teams here are ones that have either one or more marquee wins early in the season. I see Kansas State's win over Oklahoma on the road as the best of the bunch, with Notre Dame's two over Michigan and Michigan State slightly behind it. Stanford's demolition of USC at home rates behind those two, with Florida's road defeats of Tennessee and Texas A&M coming in fourth in that tier.
- Rounding out slots nine through 13 are the final tier of undefeated teams. Georgia and South Carolina have both beat Missouri and Vanderbilt, with Georgia's victories being more impressive. Texas hasn't really beaten anyone, but they've demolished everyone they have played. Ohio State has looked shaky at times this year, but wins over UCF and Cal are quality. West Virginia hasn't really beaten anyone either, and their sluggish win over Maryland this week wasn't very inspiring.
- In the next tier, No. 14 through 18, we have three one loss teams and two undefeated teams. Clemson led our No. 3 team for most of their game, so this spot feels warranted. Louisville has a patchwork of semi-impressive wins and Oregon State has two very solid wins over Wisconsin and UCLA, but it's hard to tell how good either the Badgers or Bruins are right now. USC's lost to a lower ranked team than Michigan State on our ballot, but they were more competitive in that game and also have two other wins over BCS teams. The Spartans have a nice win over Boise and two wins over decent MAC teams, so they clock at No. 18.
- The final seven slots are a bit of a mess. Northwestern has beaten three BCS teams, but they haven't dominated and neither of those three opponents are that great. TCU has beaten... Virginia. Michigan has two acceptable losses, while Oklahoma's loss to a very highly rated team loses weight due to the fact that they've looked generally unimpressive all year.