Week 1 Top 25
Posted by deaconcat08 on September 7, 2009
In the perfect world, I would have a vote in either the AP or Coaches poll. Unfortunately I don’t, so the following rankings carry no weight whatsoever. However, as meaningless as they may be, I do promise to offer you a poll each week that stands out from the rest. The most unusual, and many would call it retarded, aspect of my weekly poll is that all undefeated teams in Division 1-A are automatically ranked ahead of any team with a loss. Period. NO exceptions. What pains me the most about college football is that you can win all your games and still not have a chance to play for the national title. Well my poll does all it can to remedy that situation by giving every unbeaten (even those from Non-BCS conference), priority over their one-loss counterparts. With that in mind, here’s my week 1 poll including a brief analysis.
1. Florida- Looked good in their week 1 preseason game on Saturday. Tebow moves closer to claiming 2nd Heisman now that Bradford is out.
2. Texas- With OU out of the picture, Oklahoma State might be their biggest game this year.
3. Southern Cal- I expect the Trojans to wallop the Buckeyes this weekend, and I’m still picking them to win it all come January.
4. Oklahoma State- Along with Bama, they had the most impressive win of the first weekend.
5. Alabama- Surprisingly potent offense may make them the team to beat in the SEC West this year.
6. California- Other than Cincinnati’s beatdown of Rutgers, the Bears had the most dominant first week victory over a fellow BCS team.
7. Ole Miss- I was troubled to see that more than a dozen of their players came down with the swine flu, but unfortunately, they don’t play a real football game until they come to Columbia two weeks from Thursday. The Cocks could give the Rebels a real test, and I’ll be in attendance to see it.
8. Penn State- Looked good against Akron, but I’m kinda surprised they’re a 4 TD favorite against a rejuvenated Syracuse squad this weekend.
9. LSU- Couldn’t tell if Washington was playing the game of their lives on Saturday night or if LSU just wasn’t as good as we expected. Either way they better beware of the Dores’ coming to town this weekend.
10. Ohio State- Don’t mean to brag or anything, but yes I called saturday’s Navy scare. It was the worst scheduling move ever, and it will come back to haunt the Buckeys as they will be ill-prepared for the Trojans’ schemes.
11. Brigham Young- The pundits are already starting the BYU/Boise BCS Debate. My solution, which I’ve been talking about for a couple of years now, is to have a MWC/WAC showdown game on conference championship saturday each year. The two conference champs would meet so we can determine an annual BCS Buster.
12. Cincinnati- Call me crazy for ranking the Bearcats so high, but I like to base my poll on a team’s weekly merits, and when you start the season by trampling a Big East title contender on the road, then you should be rewarded for doing so.
13. Boise State- Unfortuantely, I think Oregon is going to finish about 4-8 now, so I’m not sure how impressive the Broncos’ week 1 victory will be. Still, they are so high in the preseason polls that if they keep winning, thete is no way they will get screwed out of the BCS, unless BYU runs the table too.
14. Georgia Tech- Huge Thursday night game against Clemson will tell us a lot about this squad.
15. TCU- Were the Horned Frogs the only team in the country not to play their opener last weekend?
16. North Carolina- They won their opening game, which is more than most ACC schools can say right now.
17. Utah- The Utes didn’t look overly impressive against Utah State last Thursday, but they should still be a contender in a very sold Mountain West conference.
18. Miami-FL- After watching tonight’s instant classic, I’m thinking maybe it’s time for the re-emergence of ACC football in Florida.
19. Notre Dame- Impressed by the Irish’s beatdown of Nevada. Their matchup with Michigan is regaining its luster from yesteryear.
20. Kansas- Still think this team will surprise a lot of people this year. My other surprise pick, Illinois, is not looking so hot though.
21. Oregon State- With Oregon potentially out of the picture, there could be a solid 3-team race for the Pac-10 crown featuring the Beavers, Bears, and Trojans.
22. Nebraska- After Missouri’s impressive win against the Illini, the Big 12 North is looking surprisingly strong (with the obvious exception of Colorado). The Huskers, Tigers, and Jayhawks could all be top 20 teams when everything is said and done.
23. South Carolina- I think the Gamecocks will beat Georgia this weekend on their way to a top 20 ranking. The defense still looks good, and Garcia was much improved against NC State.
24. Clemson- Was anyone besides me puzzled that Clemson played a home game at night to open the season? Do tractors come equipped with headlights now or something?
25. North Texas- Each week my 25th spot will go to a “wildcard team”, a squad off the beaten path who does something impressive enough to be featured in the poll. This week it goes to the Mean Green who after going 1-11 in 2008 beat a team on the road that went 12-0 during last year’s regular season. Now tell me the last time that’s ever happened.
Weekly Heisman Top 5: 1) Tim Tebow, 2) Colt McCoy, 3) Dez Bryant, 4) Jahvid Best, 5) Jevan Snead