Georgia Sports Blog FanShop

August 18, 2008

Bulldog Nation's Most and Least Favorite AP voters


Pollspeak.com has taken apart the voter ballots for the AP College Football poll. The site gives you the ability to examine the ballots of individual voters, look at how individual teams were rated, and compare Team A to Team B by voter. (Image: Hipple)

Before we start throwing voters under the bus and praising others, check out these comparisons:Couple of things jumped out at me:
  • Kirk Herbstreit has UF #1, UGA #2 and Ohio State #4. Who else was expecting to see OSU, Wisconsin and Michigan ranked 1-3 on his ballot? Me too. (ht - jimfromduluth)

  • Adam Van Brimmer of the Savannah Morning News is the best Voter in the Universe. He has UGA #1, Ohio State #8, UF #21, Clemson #22 and Texas Tech #23. Whatever Claude Felton The Savannah Morning News is paying him, they need to double it. Note: He's from Ohio. (image: Van Brimmer)

  • Craig James is a douche. I've always felt he was a total clown, and this ballot reinforces that opinion. He puts Georgia in at #6. He's one of only three voters to have UGA that low, and only one voter has the Dawgs lower. James also has Arizona at #23. In reality, I'd think he was a douche even if he had Georgia at #1.

  • Mitch Vingle of the Charleston Gazette (WVa.) has the Bulldogs at #7. That's the lowest rating of any voter. He puts both Auburn and Clemson over the Georgia Bulldogs. We've obliterated Auburn the past two seasons and return more key players, yet we're now worse? As for Clemson, we'd beat them by 7-10 on a neutral field if given the chance. Another gem, USF at #8.

  • Ray Rotto of the San Francisco Chronicle has Georgia at #6, Florida at #1 and Clemson at #5. As Blutarsky said, why is it that people just assume Florida's wretched pass defense will be better, but Georgia's team won't improve? That's not putting words into Ray's mouth as much as just stating...UF at #1? Really?

  • Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News submits a ballot that would suggest he's never watched college football. He has UGA #6, UF #1, and he has Tennessee and Illinois unranked. However, he does rank UNC #17, Tulsa #20 and Notre Dame #25. He's one of only two writers who gave ND any votes.

Whack Job Ballot of the Year (Non-UGA Category)

Taylor Zarzour of WPTF-AM (Raleigh area) delivers a ballot for the ages. He has UGA ranked #3 so I've got no beef there. However check out some of his other expert calls:
  • Cal at #6. Only 10 of 65 voters put Cal on their ballots at all, and the second highest ranking was #16
  • PSU at #8. Seriously?
  • Boise State at #11. Only one other person listed BSU on their ballot.
  • Ohio State at #13. All Big Ten bashing aside, that's a bit much for a team returning 19 starters.
  • And yes....Notre Dame at #25.
I'm of the opinion that having Notre Dame ranked on your 2008 pre-season ballot should result in a trap door opening in your office which leads to the incinerator. Did anything jump off the page at you?



See Also:
-- Adam Van Brimmer's Blog - Savannah Morning News
-- AP Poll - ESPN

PWD

8 comments:

JasonC said...

I think Taylor was voting for Men's Volleyball or Wrestling. Honest mistake.

Carey C. said...

"We've obliterated Auburn the past two seasons and return more key players, yet we're now worse?" Let's not bring the last two years into this . . . (see Tennessee). Let's get it done on the field.

BTW, am I the only one actually worried about the Tennessee game, seeing as we've crapped ourselves 3 of the last 4 years?

GO DAWGS!
Junkyarddawg34

Anonymous said...

I think Herby is actually starting to believe in the Dawgs. I think last year finally allowed him to look past his final collegiate game and his hatred for the Dawgs. Many of the other voters have no business being able to vote. I think it's a joke to some of them

Anonymous said...

Herbstreit knows the preseason polls are meaningless. He put two SEC teams at 1 and 2 so he can point to that at year end as an example of his objectivity....when he yet again lobbies for Ohio St or some other lumbering Big Ten team.

If OSU wins at SC(VERY doubtful), then no one will question the legitimacy of the Buckeyes this year even with their candy ass Big Ten and non-conference schedule. However, if OSU loses to SC and wins the rest of them, you can bet Herbie is already lining up his arguments as to why OSU would be more deserving than a one loss SEC or Big 12 team. I can already hear him saying "well, those teams didn't have to play SC in LA...that's a game none of them would have won either."

Anonymous said...

Thank goodness they don't use that poll for BCS standings.

Anonymous said...

Fun fact of the week: Taylor Zarzour and David Ching went to high school together (both with me). Evidently, their football knowledge cancels out to absolute zero.

Carry on.

Anonymous said...

There is now an interview with Taylor Zarzour explaining his picks here:

www.pollspeak.com

Anonymous said...

Once again, proof of the worldwide anti-Dawg conspiracy. Obviously, anyone who doesn't vote for us is an idiot, and everyone who ranks us #1 is a genius. Nice job.

 
Copyright 2009 Georgia Sports Blog. Powered by Blogger Blogger Templates create by Deluxe Templates. WP by Masterplan