Blogpoll Week 2 and Week 1 Recap

1. Southern California(1)
2. Virginia Tech(3)
3. Louisiana State(4)
4. Michigan(5)
5. Ohio State(6)
6. Texas(9)
7. Tennessee(2)
8. Iowa(10)
9. Georgia(12)
10. Florida State(13)
11. Alabama(14)
12. Florida(15)
13. Georgia Tech(22)
14. Purdue(17)
15. Boston College(20)
16. Miami(6)
17. Texas Tech(18)
18. North Carolina State(23)
19. Texas A&M(11)
20. Clemson(nr)
21. Penn State(19)
22. Michigan State(25)
23. Arizona State(nr)
24. Louisville(24)
25. TCU(nr)

out-Oklahoma(8), Auburn(16), Cal(21)

just missed-Notre Dame, Fresno State

My Preseason Ballot

Last weeks BlogPoll

Notes

• Tennessee drops with a weak performance vs UAB. If Clausen becomes the starter, I believe the Vols are still the number two team in the land.
• Virginia Tech had the biggest win over the weekend. NC State is a good team, with a great defense and improved offense. VT is a solid number two in my book, thus far.
• LSU moves up by default, but could get beat vs newly ranked #23 Arizona State, since the game has been moved to Tempe.
• Michigan and Ohio State got by their respective MAC opponents this past week, but both have stiffer challenges this week that could improve their ranking, or expose their weaknesses.
• Texas looked good, but it was UL-Lafayette. Beat Ohio State, number two is all theirs.
• Iowa did not really have to do so much against Ball State.
• Georgia beat Boise State, but I was not high on Boise State. Actually, BSU looked worse than I expected.
• Florida State moves up as a default top ten pick. The Noles still did beat Miami. I was tempted to put Florida at #10, but I will not rank the Gators that high until after the Tennessee game.
• Alabama did not look impressive on offense against MTSU, but with so many teams looking bad, the Tide move up.
• Georgia Tech was high on my board to begin with. Ball still needs to improve, but I like the chemistry of this team. The Wreck are only going to get better.
• Purdue was lucky to have not played this past weekend
• Boston College gave some yards to BYU through the air but the run defense was top notch. In what looks to be weaker ACC than expected, BC is in mid-season form.
• Miami was still going to drop even if they won at FSU. The Canes are going to get better, but the supposedly strong special teams looked like they have not been worked on since spring ball.
• Texas Tech moves up by default.
• NC State is a legit top twenty team. The Pack outplayed VT, but failed to get the W at home. Great teams win at home, even better teams win on the road.
• Texas A&M and Clemson played a great game. If Clemson gets TDs instead of FGs this could have been a blowout, but some of this has to be attributed to the A&M defense. Does Clemson win this game in College Station or on a neutral field?
• Penn State's new offense looked great early, but sputtered in the second half. They will continue to drop if the offense shows no life, but the defense keeps them in the rankings for now.
• Michigan State amassed 695 yards of total offense, this is an underrated team with an explosive offense.
• Arizona State, besides USC, Iowa, and Texas, no other team looked as great or took care of business against a weaker foe.
• Louisville did not impress me at all, but showed some promise holding on to the victory against a spirited rival. I will keep them ranked until the game with Oregon State.
• TCU pulled the biggest upset in a long time. Oklahoma looked terrible, but TCU held Adrian Peterson to a pedestrian 63 yards. If Oklahoma improves, TCU's ranking only gets better.
• The problem with most polls is that Oklahoma, being a top ten team, is still going to remain ranked. The Sooners are not a top 25 team right now. If they start to win and beat Texas, I will rank them in the top ten again, even if TCU fails to be as good as thought.
• Cal's offense looked very average against Sacramento State, and with the loss of qb Nate Longshore they are not a top 25 team. Until the offense shows it can move without him, the Bears are on the outside looking in.
• Auburn does not look good. It will take five straight wins to have a chance to crack the rankings again.
• Notre Dame's offense looked great, but the defense looked even better. Willingham recruited the offensive personnel, but Weis is getting the use out of them. If the Irish beat Michigan, they deserve a top ten ranking. A close loss will still get them in the top 25, regardless.
• Fresno State looks strong in practice. Their first game is against Weber State this Saturday. Considering so many good teams struggled against weak competition this past week, a polished game with a huge margin of victory, just might be enough to get a look at #25.

Games I Watched

• Oregon-Houston(all)
• South Carolina-Central Florida(on the second TV)
• Minnesota-Tulsa(1st quarter & part of second half)
• Idaho-Washington State(part of 2nd quarter & 2nd half)
• Utah-Arizona(first three quarters)
• Bowling Green-Wisconsin(first three quarters/flipping during 4th)
• Rutgers-Illinois(on second TV /flipping)
• Ohio State-Miami U(on second TV for 1st half/flipping)
• TCU-Oklahoma(flipping during 3rd/all of 4th)
• Duke-ECU(1st half on recast)
• Air Force-Washington(on but not paying to much attention/flipping)
• Colorado-Colorado State(on second TV)
• Boise State-Georgia(first 3 quarters/flipping during 4th)
• Navy-Maryland(part of 4th)
• Cal-Sacramento State(majority on recast)
• Notre Dame-Pitt(part of 2nd quarter & 2nd half)
• Georgia Tech-Auburn(part of 1st half/end of third quarter/all of 4th)
• San Diego State/UCLA(bits of second half)
• West Virginia/Syracuse(part of 2nd quarter)
• Louisville-Kentucky(1st quarter/4th quarter)
• NC State-VA Tech(part of 1st half/all of second half)
• UNLV/New Mexico(part of 2nd & 3rd quarters)
• Miami-Florida State(part of 1st half & all of second half)
• Memphis-Ole Miss(plan on watching recast on ESPN 2 at 10am pt)

Games of the Week

1. Texas A&M 24 at Clemson 25
2. Colorado 31 vs Colorado State 28 in Denver
3. Virginia Tech 20 at North Carolina State 16

Heisman Hype

• Brian Calhoun, rb, Wisconsin 258 yds rushing, 5tds
• D.J. Shockley, qb, Georgia 289 yds passing, 5tds and 85 yds rushing, 1td
• Omar Jacobs, qb, Bowling Green 458 yds passing, 5tds
• Matt Leinart, qb, Southern California 332 yds passing, 3tds
• Matt Moore, qb, Oregon State 367 yds passing, 4tds
• Laurence Maroney, rb, Minnesota 202 yds rushing, 2tds
• Chad Jackson, wr, Florida 10 cths 138 yds, 3tds and 5 yds rushing, 1td
• Elvis Dumervil, de, Louisville 6 sacks

Personal Note

I can not recall an opening weekend with so many upsets, and unprepared teams. Oklahoma and Auburn were awful considering these were two of the top three teams last year. Miami and Florida State did not look much better. Maybe the Bill Snyder scheduling philosophy is right approach after all. Texas Tech is taking that thought one step further this year, maybe it will pay off or maybe it won't.

Since Florida State finally beat Miami, and Oklahoma and Boise State looked terrible. Does this mean Texas and Fresno State finally get the monkeys of their backs, respectively, too?

As always, this not official until I submit it later this evening. Any thoughts, suggestions, criticisms, or annoyances are encouraged.