Blog Poll Ballot -- Week 14

Week 14
1. Texas - I know they didn't look like world beaters vs. Texas A&M, but you know what? When has USC's defense looked impressive this year? The Trojans gave up 42 points to a team that just lost to Nevada.

2. Southern Cal - How do you let Fresno State put up 42 points on you. The more I reflect on that game, the more I can't help but wonder WTH? I watched all but the final 5-10 minutes of that game, and I think the giddy glow of watching Reggie Bush put on a staggering show takes about 2 weeks to wear off. When it does you realize that USC can't play a lick of defense.

3. Penn State - I really like this team.

4. Louisiana State - Arkansas is horrible. If Georgia's Dan Inman (starting OT) is healthy for the LSU game, Georgia wins.

5. Virginia Tech - I'm tempted to put them ahead of LSU.

6. Auburn - Best team nobody wants to play.

7. Ohio State - After the Irish struggled with a 5-5 Stanford team, I dropped them a notch.

8. Notre Dame - Great offense. Bad defense. A game with Penn State would be very interesting.

9. Oregon - The Rodney Dangerfield of 10-1 teams.

10. UCLA - I'm pulling for USC next week vs. the Bruins only because I want to see Reggie Bush vs. the Longhorn defense.

11. Georgia - If we catch the ball vs. LSU and if Inman is healthy we win. I moved us over Miami b/c we beat the team that beat Miami, and we have the same record.

12. Miami (Florida) - A befuddling team.

13. West Virginia - Extremely impressive showing vs. Pitt. Sideline interview quote of the decade comes from Wannstead during the Pitt/WVU game "We're going to tell our kids that they've got to run faster."

14. Alabama - Alabama vs. Michigan in the Outback would be a very good football game.

15. Texas Tech - Cotton Bowl bound for only their third time in history (1995 and 1939). No wonder they are so in love with Leach down there.

16. Florida - The Gators destroyed FSU. It was the worst defeat of an indian people on US soil since the Battle of Wounded Knee.

17. TCU - Stuck in non-BCS purgatory. Bummer for them that OU was so bad the one year that they beat 'em.

18. Louisville - For all their offensive hype, who has Petrino really beaten up there? Did you know the only team that he's beaten in three years that has finished the season ranked in the Top 25 is Boise State? No. He didn't beat FSU in the rain. That was John L. Smith.

19. Boston College - The best team that no bowl wants. They can thank their fans for that one.

20. Michigan - This holiday season, Lloyd Carr gave thanks for Phil Fulmer because Tennessee was the only team in America that did less with more.

[Photo: Autographed picture that Fulmer sent Carr.]

21. South Carolina - If Georgia wins the SEC Championship game, the Gamecocks might head to the Outback Bowl. If not, it's probably off to Shreveport. The SEC won't let a bowl select a team with 2 fewer wins over another team. In other words, South Carolina can't get picked for a bowl until Georgia has been selected. Florida however is under no such protection at 8-3.

22. Wisconsin - This season was starting to give me flashbacks to Kareem Abdul Jabbar's last season in the NBA. Everywhere you turned it was another "Last time that Alvarez will do _______" or another "Alvarez tribute." Personally, I think it's a disease called "Vince Dooley Syndrome." It's best recognized for the inability to quietly walk away.

[Photo: After Alvarez retires, will he do Zucker films like Kareem?]

23. Iowa - I expected more out of this team pre-season.

24. Oklahoma - I am not a Stoops hater so I was glad to see them give Ok State the beat down.

25. Fresno State - I have a policy that says if you lose to a total joke of a program, I can't rank you. Luckily for Fresno State, I have already violated that rule with TCU. So they are safe.

Dropped Out
Georgia Tech - well duh

New
Iowa

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