So, you all may or may not be aware of SB Nation's BlogPoll. The BlogPoll is a ranking of college football's top 25 teams from over 100 ballots cast by SB Nation blog managers. It's like the AP poll but more transparent, or the coaches' poll but not insanely aggravating.
This year I've stopped being lazy and am voting in the BlogPoll, so you'll see two posts weekly on this blog: one on Sunday or Monday with my personal ballot featuring explanations of various votes and one on Tuesday or Wednesday with the poll for that week. We are getting Lt. Phillip Nolan outfitted with a vote, so these are likely to be tandem posts in the future. Thanks to the Georgia Tech-Virginia Tech game last night, this week's schedule is pushed a back a bit.
My Week 1 ballot is after the jump. Praise/criticize me in the comments.
The 7th Floor Ballot - Week 1
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -- |
| 2 | Oregon Ducks | -- |
| 3 | USC Trojans | -- |
| 4 | LSU Tigers | -- |
| 5 | Florida St. Seminoles | -- |
| 6 | West Virginia Mountaineers | -- |
| 7 | Michigan St. Spartans | -- |
| 8 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys | -- |
| 9 | Georgia Bulldogs | -- |
| 10 | Ohio St. Buckeyes | -- |
| 11 | Tennessee Volunteers | -- |
| 12 | Michigan Wolverines | -- |
| 13 | Clemson Tigers | -- |
| 14 | South Carolina Gamecocks | -- |
| 15 | Oklahoma Sooners | -- |
| 16 | Wisconsin Badgers | -- |
| 17 | Nebraska Cornhuskers | -- |
| 18 | Arkansas Razorbacks | -- |
| 19 | Kansas St. Wildcats | -- |
| 20 | Missouri Tigers | -- |
| 21 | Texas Longhorns | -- |
| 22 | Virginia Tech Hokies | -- |
| 23 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish | -- |
| 24 | Louisville Cardinals | -- |
| 25 | N.C. State Wolfpack | -- |
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "
- I'm sure that everyone more or less has the same top four. Alabama is my clear no. 1 after Saturday's massacre of Michigan, and I think Oregon beats USC this year. I'd take USC over LSU, though.
- The rest of my top 10 is a compilation of teams that had impressive opening weeks and also just looked good to my eye. FSU will fight for a national title but probably can't lose a game. West Virginia probably isn't the sixth best team in the country, but few other teams right now are as well-polished. Michigan State looks like a classic run-first defensive team that will win 10 or 11 games. Okie State scored 84 points. I'm not a huge Georgia believer, but that's a top-flight defense with a great quarterback. With Ohio State i'm putting my faith in Urban Meyer and Braxton Miller breaking out.
- Mostly everything else is self-explanatory... I don't think Tennessee is this good, but that was an impressive opening day win. I'd take Michigan in a game heads-up over any team below them.
- Oklahoma, Texas, South Carolina and Arkansas are four teams that I may have lower than most. Oklahoma was highly unimpressive in a gross win over UTEP, and I'm just not buying the offenses of either Texas or South Carolina. With Arkansas, I think they're in for a pretty hard downfall this year.
- In general -- at least after the top 10 -- my ballot assumes that a team would beat every team ranked below it.