Once again, I’ve been so depressed about the current state of the team/program that I forgot to post my Top 25 ballot. I’ll pencil the Buffs in at #246.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama
2	Florida
3	Texas
4	Iowa	1
5	TCU	1
6	Boise State
7	Cincinnati
8	Oregon
9	Georgia Tech	1
10	LSU	1
11	Penn State	1
12	Pittsburgh	2
13	Ohio State	2
14	Southern Cal	5
15	Miami (Florida)	3
16	Arizona	4
17	Utah	2
18	California	7
19	Oklahoma State	3
20	Notre Dame	1
21	Wisconsin
22	Houston
23	Oklahoma	1
24	Virginia Tech	11
25	Clemson
Last week’s ballot

As you can tell, we’re all so disgusted with this season none of us can drum up the energy to write anything about the Buffs. In fact, I did my rankings on Sunday and totally forgot to post them. Here’s what I submitted for the week and for the record, I have the Buffs ranked at about 100.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama
2	Florida
3	Texas
4	TCU	3
5	Iowa
6	Boise State	2
7	Cincinnati	1
8	Oregon	1
9	Southern Cal	1
10	Georgia Tech	3
11	LSU	1
12	Penn State
13	Virginia Tech	1
14	Pittsburgh	3
15	Ohio State	1
16	Oklahoma State	2
17	West Virginia	3
18	Miami (Florida)	7
19	Utah	2
20	Arizona
21	Notre Dame	1
22	Houston	3
23	South Carolina
24	Oklahoma
25	California
Last week’s ballot

Everybody take a deep breath. Now that we’re done comparing Tyler Hansen to every other mobile QB that made it big, it’s time for us to step back and realize that it was a great win on Saturday, but there’s still a lot of tough football ahead of the Buffs. The door is still open for the Buffs to be a player in the Big 12 North, but there are still a lot of questions. Hansen looked fantastic on Saturday, but he’s bound to make mistakes as the season moves on. I’m looking forward (a bit nervously) to how he performs in Manhattan on Saturday. If he repeats the performance he had against KU, the Buffs should be in pretty good position to turn their season around and get to a bowl game. If not, we’ll be in the same spot next week of trying to figure this team out.

The Blogpoll for this week is below. I’ve moved all undefeated teams to the top and shuffled a few others around. This is an odd season and difficult to rank. Before long, I’m just going to have to start drawing teams out of a hat.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama
2	Florida
3	Texas
4	Boise State
5	Iowa	5
6	Cincinnati	1
7	TCU	5
8	Southern Cal	2
9	Oregon
10	LSU	1
11	Miami (Florida)	2
12	Penn State	2
13	Georgia Tech	4
14	Virginia Tech	9
15	Brigham Young	4
16	Ohio State	8
17	Pittsburgh
18	Oklahoma State
19	Texas Tech
20	West Virginia
21	Utah	3
22	Notre Dame	1
23	South Carolina
24	Kansas	8
25	Houston
Last week’s ballot

It’s a fairly boring poll this week as not much changed since last week. Most of the up and down is due to teams either losing to teams they should have, others moving up to fill in spaces, and teams new to my Top 25 this week. I don’t think there’s anything questionable here other than Missouri may still belong in the 23 range, but I’m still pissed that they imploded on Thursday and so they drop all the way out. Feel free to make suggestions/comments.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama
2	Florida
3	Texas
4	Boise State
5	Virginia Tech
6	Southern Cal
7	Cincinnati
8	Ohio State	1
9	Oregon	2
10	Iowa	2
11	LSU	3
12	TCU	2
13	Miami (Florida)
14	Penn State	1
15	Nebraska	1
16	Kansas	1
17	Georgia Tech	2
18	South Florida	2
19	Brigham Young	4
20	Oklahoma	4
21	Notre Dame
22	Wisconsin	1
23	South Carolina
24	Utah
25	Auburn	11
Last week’s ballot

Not a lot of change in the poll this week as most teams took care of business. Miami moves back up after an impressive win over Oklahoma and the Sooners drop, but stay in. I also didn’t drop Georgia too far after a close loss to LSU that was influenced by terrible unsportsmanlike penalties by one back judge. Not sure what to do exactly with the #15 – 25 spots, but those should clear up a little as conference play really gets underway. Open to comments or changes.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama
2	Florida
3	Texas
4	Boise State
5	Virginia Tech
6	Southern Cal
7	Cincinnati	1
8	LSU	1
9	Ohio State	1
10	TCU	1
11	Oregon	1
12	Iowa	1
13	Miami (Florida)	6
14	Auburn	4
15	Penn State	1
16	Nebraska	1
17	Kansas	1
18	Missouri	2
19	Georgia Tech	3
20	South Florida	5
21	Wisconsin
22	Georgia	5
23	Brigham Young	1
24	Oklahoma	17
25	Arizona
Last week’s ballot

Seriously? How in the world are we supposed to rank teams when everyone keeps losing to teams that already lost to someone else, etc? I think we’re pretty close to throwing out direct comparisons as I’d need a computer program to figure out all of the permutations. A couple of notes this week:

- I’m moving Alabama up to #1 as they’ve looked more impressive to me. I thought about this last week, but didn’t do it and I’m correcting it this week even though Florida won.
- Virginia Tech jumps up again as they were impressive against a hot Miami team.
- It’s obvious that I don’t know what to do with Cincinnati.
- I’m not sure why it doesn’t show the delta arrows for Oregon or Iowa, but they are new to the rankings this week. Good win by Iowa and Oregon seems to have turned it around after that horrible performance against Boise State.
- As much as it pains me to do so, I’m giving the Huskers some love as their one point loss to VT is looking a lot better this week.

As always, feel free to make suggestions on changes as final ballots aren’t due to Wednesday.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama	2
2	Florida	1
3	Texas	1
4	Boise State	1
5	Virginia Tech	6
6	Southern Cal	3
7	Oklahoma	3
8	Cincinnati	6
9	LSU	1
10	Ohio State	3
11	TCU	4
12	Oregon
13	Iowa
14	Penn State	10
15	Nebraska	10
16	Kansas
17	Georgia	5
18	Auburn
19	Miami (Florida)	12
20	Missouri
21	California	15
22	Georgia Tech
23	Houston	6
24	Brigham Young	1
25	South Florida
Last week’s ballot

There was a lot of shuffling this week for all the reasons that I just don’t believe in early season polls.  A lot of this is just gut feel about the levels of these teams right now.  Let me know what you think

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Florida
2	Southern Cal	1
3	Texas	1
4	Alabama
5	California	4
6	Penn State
7	Boise State	4
8	LSU
9	Brigham Young	8
10	Mississippi	3
11	TCU	4
12	Utah	1
13	Ohio State	3
14	Cincinnati	10
15	Oklahoma	3
16	Georgia Tech	4
17	Kansas	3
18	Miami (Florida)
19	Nebraska	4
20	Texas Tech
21	Oklahoma State	16
22	Virginia Tech	8
23	Georgia	4
24	Missouri
25	Pittsburgh
Last week’s ballot

UPDATE: our poll has been updated based on comments from a reader. I agree that Miami should be included in the poll and has been given the #22 spot with Michigan State dropping out

Well, we’ve played one week of games and now we know a little more about each of teams. For example, we know that the Buffs wouldn’t be ranked in this thing even if I stretched it out to the Top 75. Below is our preliminary poll for the week. Feel free to comment and make suggestions as we can make changes prior to the official submittal tomorrow.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Florida
2	Texas
3	Southern Cal	1
4	Alabama	1
5	Oklahoma State	3
6	Penn State	4
7	Mississippi	4
8	LSU	1
9	California	3
10	Ohio State	4
11	Boise State	3
12	Georgia Tech	4
13	Utah	4
14	Virginia Tech	7
15	TCU	3
16	North Carolina	3
17	Brigham Young	6
18	Oklahoma	15
19	Georgia	6
20	Kansas	2
21	Oregon State	3
22	Miami (Fla)
23	Notre Dame
24	Nebraska
25	Cincinnati
Last week’s ballot

Although I hate preseason polls, the BlogPoll powers that be want one and we’ll oblige. Expect the poll below to change dramatically once they start playing the games.

Rank	Team
1	Florida
2	Texas
3	Oklahoma
4	Southern Cal
5	Alabama
6	Ohio State
7	Virginia Tech
8	Oklahoma State
9	LSU
10	Penn State
11	Mississippi
12	California
13	Georgia
14	Boise State
15	Oregon
16	Georgia Tech
17	Utah
18	TCU
19	North Carolina
20	Iowa
21	Florida State
22	Kansas
23	Brigham Young
24	Oregon State
25	Colorado

Well, the Sooners couldn’t pull it out. And the Big XII did not look nearly as strong during the bowl season as the regular season. It was a great year for college football. I still love the BCS instead of a playoff.
Maybe 2009 will be the year for the Buffs

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Florida	25
2	Utah	24
3	Texas	23
4	Oklahoma	22
5	Southern Cal	21
6	Alabama	20
7	TCU	19
8	Penn State	18
9	Texas Tech	17
10	Boise State	16
11	Ohio State	15
12	Oregon	14
13	Georgia	13
14	Mississippi	12
15	Oregon State	11
16	Missouri	10
17	Oklahoma State	9
18	Virginia Tech	8
19	Florida State	7
20	California	6
21	Cincinnati	5
22	Iowa	4
23	Pittsburgh	3
24	Michigan State	2
25	Georgia Tech	1

Head to Head matters. I call this one for the Longhorns. Also who you play matters. There are five Big XII teams in the top 15. It’s the toughest conference in football. That puts both OK and TX over those SEC teams. Go Big XII

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Texas	1
2	Oklahoma	1
3	Alabama	2
4	Florida	—
5	Texas Tech	—
6	Southern Cal	—
7	Utah	1
8	Penn State	1
9	Boise State	2
10	Ohio State	1
11	TCU	3
12	Ball State	3
13	Oklahoma State	3
14	Missouri	2
15	Georgia	2
16	Boston College	3
17	Cincinnati	1
18	Georgia Tech	—
19	Oregon	3
20	Michigan State	—
21	Florida State	2
22	Oregon State	5
23	Brigham Young	2
24	Pittsburgh	2
25	Mississippi	—

Alabama fought hard against a mediocre LSU team. They tried to lose the game instead of win it. Texas Tech demoralized and excellent OSU team. The nod has to go to Tech. Imagine this a team from the Big XII doesn’t win their conference and doesn’t even go the championship, but still plays in the national title game. I’ve see this before

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Texas Tech	2
2	Texas	2
3	Alabama	1
4	Florida	2
5	Oklahoma	—
6	Southern Cal	1
7	Utah	3
8	Boise State	1
9	Penn State	8
10	Ohio State	4
11	Georgia	2
12	Missouri	—
13	Oklahoma State	5
14	Ball State	1
15	TCU	4
16	North Carolina	1
17	Michigan State	1
18	Florida State	5
19	Pittsburgh	7
20	Oregon State	5
21	Brigham Young	1
22	Cincinnati	4
23	California	5
24	LSU	5
25	Tulsa	1

How do you decide who is at the top these days? Unbelievable win by Tech. My hats are off to them. I have to keep Texas up high though. They have played five of the best teams in the country in a row (OK maybe four ) I can’t wait to see the Tech and Oklahoma State game. That should clear up some murkiness.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Penn State	1
2	Alabama	1
3	Texas Tech	4
4	Texas	3
5	Oklahoma	1
6	Florida	1
7	Southern Cal	1
8	Oklahoma State	—
9	Boise State	1
10	Utah	2
11	TCU	3
12	Missouri	1
13	Georgia	4
14	Ohio State	1
15	Ball State	—
16	Michigan State	2
17	North Carolina	2
18	California	8
19	LSU	5
20	Brigham Young	2
21	Georgia Tech	5
22	Northwestern	4
23	Florida State	2
24	West Virginia	2
25	Oregon State	1

What a weekend in college football. The big XII continues to look strong and the smaller conferences keep impressing. Utah, Boise St, Ball St, TCU continue to represent.
While only 2 schools from the Pac 10, and 3 from the Big 10 are anywhere to be found. How does this list look?

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Texas	3
2	Alabama	1
3	Penn State	2
4	Oklahoma	3
5	Florida	11
6	Southern Cal	7
7	Oklahoma State	5
8	Texas Tech	1
9	Missouri	7
10	Georgia	4
11	Utah	2
12	Boise State	2
13	LSU	5
14	Michigan State	12
15	Ohio State	1
16	Wake Forest	2
17	Brigham Young	2
18	North Carolina	4
19	Ball State	6
20	California	3
21	Virginia Tech	4
22	Kansas	3
23	TCU	2
24	Georgia Tech	2
25	South Florida	1

So now is when I think the polls should start. Prior to this week you had teams who you couldn’t really judge since they hadn’t really had any competition. Now it’s on and the teams are starting to settle in. What do you think of these rankings?

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Oklahoma	—
2	Missouri	—
3	Alabama	—
4	Texas	—
5	Penn State	2
6	Georgia	—
7	Texas Tech	2
8	LSU	3
9	Utah	1
10	Boise State	1
11	Vanderbilt	5
12	Oklahoma State	2
13	Southern Cal	5
14	Ohio State	5
15	Brigham Young	5
16	Florida	8
17	Virginia Tech	4
18	Wake Forest	5
19	Kansas	7
20	Northwestern	2
21	TCU	8
22	North Carolina	4
23	California	3
24	South Florida	12
25	Ball State	1

Four Teams in the Top 10 seems to give the Big XII a solid advantage over the SEC for now.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Oklahoma	3
2	Missouri	1
3	Alabama	5
4	Texas	2
5	LSU	2
6	Georgia	4
7	Penn State	3
8	Utah	4
9	Texas Tech	5
10	Brigham Young	1
11	Boise State	8
12	South Florida	5
13	TCU	—
14	Oklahoma State	9
15	Kentucky	3
16	Vanderbilt	6
17	Oregon	4
18	Southern Cal	17
19	Ohio State	3
20	California	6
21	Virginia Tech	5
22	Northwestern	4
23	Wake Forest	8
24	Florida	19
25	Wisconsin	16

It’s just a question of how far to drop Ohio State.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	South Carolina	25
2	Georgia	—
3	Missouri	1
4	Oklahoma	1
5	Florida	2
6	Auburn	4
7	Oregon	2
8	Texas	—
9	Wisconsin	4
10	LSU	4
11	South Florida	8
12	Penn State	—
13	Brigham Young	4
14	Utah	2
15	Texas Tech	—
16	Alabama	4
17	TCU	7
18	East Carolina	—
19	Wake Forest	3
20	Ohio State	13
21	Oklahoma State	—
22	Kentucky	1
23	West Virginia	3
24	Connecticut	2
25	Florida State	1

While there were some surprises after the first weekend overall it was relatively calm. It is so hard to see the differences between thes teams with only one data point. Kudos to Tennessee, UCLA, Alabama, Clemson, Missouri and Illinois for playing football this weekend.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Southern Cal	4
2	Ohio State	1
3	Georgia	1
4	Florida	2
5	Missouri	2
6	Oklahoma	2
7	LSU	1
8	West Virginia	5
9	Oregon	4
10	Texas	2
11	Auburn	5
12	Kansas	2
13	Brigham Young	1
14	Penn State	6
15	South Florida	—
16	Texas Tech	1
17	Wake Forest	6
18	Arizona State	1
19	Utah	7
20	Boston College	4
21	Alabama	5
22	Wisconsin	1
23	Cincinnati	1
24	Oklahoma State	2
25	Colorado	1