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Let’s Try Again… My Week Four AP Vote Posted by wxii12.com blogs at 9/23/2007 9:18 PM |
Since some are convinced I’ve had no idea what I was doing with my AP vote the first three weeks, I divert your attention to this week’s USA Today coaches’ poll. Coaches obviously know what they’re doing, which explains why Louisville got 18 points worth of votes this week. That’s the Louisville that lost to my alma mater, Syracuse on Saturday. As in the worst Syracuse team since, well since, ever! What I’m saying is, at least I’m not alone in my cluelessness.
Actually this is getting easier as the weeks pass by. Game by game, the wheat is separated from the chaff. We are almost to the point where there aren’t 25 teams good enough to be included.
In addition to Syracuse’s win, Appalachian lost at Wofford and Virginia beat Georgia Tech. I finally believe Clemson is worthy of inclusion. In fact, I debuted them at #14 this week. Someone in the ACC has to be good besides Boston College. Actually, there’s a lot of good in the ACC, just not a whole lot of great. It’s not top heavy, it’s middle heavy. I think that makes for good ballgames (see Maryland at Wake Forest and Georgia Tech at Virginia).
And now….
1. Southern Cal. Til they prove otherwise.
2. LSU. Til they prove otherwise.
3. Oklahoma. Can this bunch score points by the boatload or what?
4. Florida. They get half a pass for finally playing, albeit struggling, on the road.
5. West Virginia. This team produces an interesting dichotomy: those who say, “Why isn’t this team ranked above Florida and Oklahoma,” and those who say, “Why is this team this high?” As one coach told me this weekend, “There just like a lotta teams… except for those three guys (White, Slaton and Devine).’
6. Ohio State. Didn’t expect the Buckeyes to be this high after all they lost from last year’s team. But here they are.
7. Boston College. The team with the ACC quarterback wins. And their defense isn’t bad either.
8. Rutgers. Had the week off, but now the Knights get an angry Maryland team at home. If the Terps can control Ray Rice, I think they win.
9. California. Will move up after or down after this week’s game at Oregon.
10. Oregon. See above.
11. Texas. OK, now I believe they can score points, but it ws only against Rice.
12. Wisconsin. OK, so they can’t scoe points, even if it was against a team that couldn’t beat Iowa State.
13. South Carolina. Call me crazy, I moved the Gamecocks up a notch, even though they lost at LSU. But LSU is up there (imagine hand held above head) and South Carolina is down here (hand held about chest level). Trust me, there’s a big difference between #2 and #13,
14. Clemson. The Tiger offense rolled through the Wolfpack defense like it wasn’t there Saturday. When I asked my Wolfpack fan neighbor if he went to the game Saturday, he said, “I was in Raleigh, but there was no game.”
15. Virginia Tech. Why do I get the feeling the Hokies could be looking past this weekend’s game against UNC and toward next weekend’s game at Death Valley. Wait, they couldn’t look past that much, could they?
16. Penn State. Hey Joe, even Appalachian beat Michigan.
17. Georgia. If you missed the Dawgs win at Bryant-Denny Saturday, you missed a great one. Georgia’s offensive coordinator and I think alike. Just after Alabama’s OT field goal, I said, “Go for it on first down.” I love when that ESPN thing works (that’s ESP for us sports folk).
18. Alabama. Only a three-spot drop for an overtime loss… at home.
19. Arizona State. After opening with four straight home games, we’ll see if the Sun Devils are for real when they visit Stanford and Washington State the next two weeks. Then we’ll find out if they’re any good when they play Cal, Oregon, UCLA and Southern Cal back-to-back-to-back-to-back later in the season.
20. Cincinnati. After a week off to rest his throwing arm, Ben Mauk came back during Cincy’s win over Marshall on Saturday. He went 6-for-7 and threw a TD paass. Now Bennie and the Cats go coast-to-coast the next weekends, at San Diego State then at Rutgers.
21. South Florida. OK, they dominated the Tare Heels. I have a feeling they won;t be alone. They get West Virginia at home on Friday.
22. Kentucky. Rich Brooks’s team is fun to watch and scores a lot of popints. The good news: the Wildcats will be 5-0 after their win over Florida Atlantic Saturday. The bad news: they’ll be 5-3 after their next three games against South Carolina, LSU and Florida.
23. Missouri. Unbeaten Tigers will need to rest up during their off-week this week. The next two weeks, they get Nebrask and Oklahoma.
24. Purdue. Boilermakers crack my poll for the first time this week. They’ve beaten teams ranked 77, 113, 115, 164 so far. They play #114 Notre Dame thbis week.
25. Hawaii. I swear I wasn’t going to put the team that struggled to Beat Louisiana Tech back in the poll. But they did score 66 points without Colt Brennan at QB. I’ll give em one more week.
