October 7, 2009

Well I'm on my death bed literally today....and feeling really under the weather so apologies are out for not getting a blog written yesterday.

THE HOT LIST:

1. How Valid are the Polls?
2. My New Top 25
3. Big 12 Rankings

1. An interesting question is now beginning to be raised about the validity of the polls. If you take a look at them they account for 2/3 of the BCS formula, and we all can tell that clearly everyone has an opinion about every team. Take a good look at this week's AP top 10...see any teams that clearly don't belong on that list. I can name a few....the problem is that everyone has an opinion or a bias towards a certain university. Look at how Nebraska nearly dropped out of the top 25 when they lost by 1 point to VT, and how Missouri who didn't play last week vaulted 5 spots to 18 in the coaches poll. A new system is going to have to be mapped out to tackle this problem. I never had any problem putting the system into the hands of the computers because they are unbias...they simply take the outcomes of the games, and chug out their own top 25. This issue will become a bigger one for Nebraska in a few season when they are making a National Championship run....Bo Pelini will have to campaign and plead with voters to vote for his team....or like before Nebraska will get ousted out. It's pathetic that we have allowed so much politics into the sport....people should just vote based on what they saw on the field...period. Leave your crappy bias and opinions at the door.

2. My new Top 25 this week...with last week's rankings

1. Florida (1)
2. Alabama (2)
3. Texas (3)
4. Ohio State (4)
5. Cincinnati (9)
6. USC (12)
7. TCU (8)
8. Oklahoma State (7)
9. LSU (5)
10. Virginia Tech (10)
11. Miami (25)
12. Nebraska (14)
13. Oregon (17)
14. Kansas (18)
15. Boise State (13)
16. Auburn (UR)
17. BYU (21)
18. Penn State (23)
19. Iowa (15)
20. Georgia Tech (22)
21. Mississippi (20)
22. Oklahoma (6)
23. South Florida (24)
24. Wisconsin (UR)
25. Stanford (UR)

The top 4 remain unchanged from last week.....Cincinnati moves up following a poor road win by LSU and Oklahoma losing (the Sooners are 22 in my poll)....USC moves up after thrashing Cal and the Bears fall out of the top 25 with 2 horrible beatdowns.....TCU moves ahead of OSU....followed by LSU and VT to round out my top 10....Miami rises to 11 after beating OU and taking it to them late in the fourth quarter.....Nebraska rises up to 12 as teams ahead of them lost...Oregon moves up after thrashing Wash. State.....KU makes a jump up 4 spots too....Boise State drops 2 spots after another dismal performance against their weak conference opponents....(still not impressed with them)......Auburn jumps to 16 after being unranked after beating Tennessee on the road.....BYU rises 4 spots...Penn State rises after a gutsy road win which took them the 4th quarter to blow Illinois out.....Iowa drops due to a poor 3 point win over Arkansas State...GT rises following a W over Miss. State....South Florida rises 1 spot to make way for Wisconsin and Stanford breaking my Top 25.

3. Big 12 Rankings:

1. Texas (1-0) (4-0)
A bye week has served well to prepare for not overlooking Colorado before next week's showdown with Oklahoma.....I expect a Buffalo Beatdown....

2. Oklahoma State (3-1)
The Cowboys move up after their bye week and are fully prepared for Texas A&M this weekend......Getting key players healthy is top priority before the Texas showdown on Halloween.

3. Nebraska (3-1)
Going to Missouri is a hard test to start the conference season....but win....and win impressively and teams in the Big 12 North might think Nebraska is back in Bo's second season.

4. Kansas (4-0)
Playing Iowa State isn't no easy task....ask the Jayhawks how they were down by 20 at halftime last season. I expect a blowout for KU this weekend.

5. Oklahoma (2-2)
Without Robert Griffin, Baylor isn't near as scary as they likely would have been this week.....Losing 2 one point games has Bob Stoops thinking of where his National Championship team has gone....shooing the injury bug is a must if the Sooners want to win another Big 12 Title.

6. Missouri (4-0)
Missouri's Blaine Gabbert leads the conference and country in passing efficiency in the second half.....I expect frustration to rear it's ugly head against Nebraska as the Tigers arguably face their toughest defense to date.

7. Texas Tech (0-1) (3-2)
Thrashing New Mexico didn't right the whisper bug floating around the Red Raider's program....Carter gets suspended and now he's back....Pott's has a concussion and now he's better....looks like Leach is pulling out all the stops this season to keep his seniors happy.

8. Baylor (3-1)
No Robert Griffin...No problem...the Bears did admirable against a mediocre opponent in Kent State....we'll see how well that back up plays at OU this weekend....could get ugly.

9. Texas A&M (3-1)
The Aggies walked out of their game with Arkansas with more questions than answers... as getting trounced by a mid level SEC team doesn't ever look good....protecting Jerrod Johnson is key if the Aggies want to go bowling this season...Where has that pass rush gone???

10. Kansas State (1-0) (3-2)
A 1 point win over Iowa State should have Bill Synder thinking that this Big 12 Season is going to be a long one...

11. Iowa State (0-1) (3-2)
The snide that Iowa State has had on it's back just won't go away...the Cyclones only winnable game in the conference.... is Colorado at home on Nov. 14th

12. Colorado (1-3)
Things are just getting ugly for the Buffaloes, 2 games are winnable for them in the conference...Kansas State and Iowa State.....and a 1-5 start is likely going into the Kansas State game.


Coming back tomorrow.....