This season we'll be taking part in SBNation's BlogPoll Top 25. Rules, rationale, and how you can get involved after the jump.
UWDawgPound Ballot - Week 1
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oklahoma Sooners | -- |
| 2 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -- |
| 3 | LSU Tigers | -- |
| 4 | Oregon Ducks | -- |
| 5 | Florida St. Seminoles | -- |
| 6 | Stanford Cardinal | -- |
| 7 | Arkansas Razorbacks | -- |
| 8 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys | -- |
| 9 | South Carolina Gamecocks | -- |
| 10 | Boise St. Broncos | -- |
| 11 | Texas A&M Aggies | -- |
| 12 | Wisconsin Badgers | -- |
| 13 | West Virginia Mountaineers | -- |
| 14 | Ohio St. Buckeyes | -- |
| 15 | TCU Horned Frogs | -- |
| 16 | Virginia Tech Hokies | -- |
| 17 | Michigan St. Spartans | -- |
| 18 | Mississippi St. Bulldogs | -- |
| 19 | Nebraska Cornhuskers | -- |
| 20 | Georgia Bulldogs | -- |
| 21 | USC Trojans | -- |
| 22 | Florida Gators | -- |
| 23 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish | -- |
| 24 | Missouri Tigers | -- |
| 25 | Arizona St. Sun Devils | -- |
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "
Ok, so if you've never done a top 25, it's harder than you'd think, especially in the preseason since none of these teams have played a game yet. Anyway, this was my first shot at it, but every time I look at it, I see like 10 things I want to change. So instead of doing that for hours and hours, I decided to just submit it, so I could get the community (that's you!) involved.
The way this works is I'll put up the poll, then we the Husky community will discuss it and change it accordingly. If you think a team should be higher or lower, let us know in the comments. But make sure you have something to back it up and don't tell me Duke should be ranked because they hired you once.
So here are some of the ways my brain works:
I think schedule is an important thing to consider, but maybe not in the way it normally is. I don't think a team should be ranked lower than their talent level because you're anticipating losses. Take LSU for example: they play Oregon and WVU in addition to their brutal SEC schedule. They're probably going to lose a couple games, but on any given night there are only a couple teams in the nation I'd pick to beat them. If you lower them based on that schedule, then they lose a game or two that you were projecting then you're basically punishing them twice for playing a tough schedule, which shouldn't happen. Likewise, if a team plays a weak schedule, they shouldn't be ranked higher than their talent level because when they inevitably beat all the cupcakes on their calendar they'll move up anyway, and pass teams that are probably better. Or something else happens.
I don't like handing out rankings to teams based on reputation, what you did last year or what you did 70 years ago, and I certainly don't like pumping up teams that perpetually disappoint.
Thoughts on teams:
Oklahoma and Alabama are pretty much #1 and #1A. The nod goes to Oklahoma because they have an established pedophile quarterback, which sets them up nicely to get pounded by whatever team they face in the title game.
As already mentioned, LSU's schedule is brutal. It's nice that they're playing Oregon week 1 though, because I'm not comfortable with them being this high (not sure why), and they'll either justify it or move themselves down.
Boise State has been pounded for playing in a weak conference, and their response was to move into the Mountain West. Right as TCU is headed out the door, BYU went Independent and Utah joined the Pac-12. Meet the New Broncos, same as the Old Broncos. They'll probably beat Georgia though, because Chris Peterson is a great coach when he has a month to prepare for somebody.
I'm high on West Virginia because of Dana Holgorsen. If they pick his schemes up quick they'll run the Big East this year, and then probably as long as he's coaching there, which will undoubtedly end with some drunken act.
The Big Ten Big Eleven Big Twelve B1G Ten is really weak this year. Nobody at the top. This is one of your typical "Ohio State gets pasted in the title game" years after they beat up the rest of the conference, except they've got a ton of question marks too.
I like Arizona State less and less every day.
I have no idea how Auburn is nationally ranked. They lost just about everybody, and might not make a bowl game this year.
And now your thoughts: go!