BlogPoll Ballot Revisions

You know, I've decided that Texas-boosters who say head-to-head is a reason to rank the Longhorns above the Sooners are right. So I'm going to put Ole Miss at No. 1, because they defeated the Gators head-to-head and so are a better team, right?

Maybe I should also boost Oregon State to No. 6, ahead of Southern Cal, because they won the head-to-head match-up and are therefore the better team.

To No. 5 goes Iowa, because they beat Penn State and deserve to be ranked higher, correct?

Of course, Texas Tech beat Texas, so maybe they should go to No. 3 instead of Texas. But Oklahoma beat Texas Tech, so they would then have to go to No. 3. But Texas beat Oklahoma ...

I have Texas at No. 3, the first of the Big XII teams to appear on my ballot, so I'm sympathetic to arguments that the Longhorns belong ahead of the Sooners. But, please, spare me the head-to-head nonsense. It's about the weakest argument you can make. Upsets are so frequent in college football that ranking a team anywhere because of one game is (a) homerism; (b) a tremendous cop-out; or (c) overly simplistic logic. I want no part of any of those.

To the real BlogPoll ballot revisions, then:

--Florida State goes to No. 16, instead of No. 15. I did have them ranked a bit too high, as learned hand says. (Always listen to appellate judges speaking to you from the grave.) That puts them a bit closer to Georgia Tech and Boston College, which is fair enough. Moving them below Ball State, though, gives me issues -- really, putting anyone below Ball State does -- so I moved the Cardinals down one more and just docked the Seminoles one place from my first rankings.

--Mississippi enters the poll at No. 23 -- keeping in line with the TSK reader poll results, which were overwhelming for putting them in the 20-24 range. Cal remains out of the poll, which should have happened in the first place.

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

Dropped Out: Pittsburgh (#20), North Carolina (#21), Connecticut (#23).