Exactly one week from today, we at Team Speed Kills will be required to turn in our first BlogPoll ballot of the season. Year2 and I will be splitting the voting duties this year, as we will be with the SEC Power Poll, so I thought I'd throw out a very ill-considered rough draft of my ballot and let you all tear it to shreds so I can have it in much better condition for when we have to vote and it counts.
A very, very rough cut.
1. Florida
2. Texas
3. Southern Cal
4. Oklahoma
5. Virginia Tech
Your requisite top-line national championship contenders, with Florida and Texas going 1-2 and Southern Cal coming in at No. 3 (as usual). Oklahoma just barely falls short against Texas and ends up here. Virginia Tech is the dark horse that isn't really a dark horse, since everyone's talking about tem.
6. Alabama
7. Penn State
8. Ole Miss
9. Oklahoma State
10. BYU
Alabama should be just a touch off last year's pace, Penn State will likely win the Big Ten (I guess), I still believe in Ole Miss, Oklahoma State gets another Big XII-related nod and BYU is the BCS buster of the year.
11. Pittsburgh
12. North Carolina
13. Ohio State
14. Georgia Tech
15. Georgia
Georgia fans, the comments section is open and waiting for your righteous indignation. Aside from putting Atlanta before Athens, Pittsburgh seems like about as good a bet as any to win the Big Least. I was high on UNC last year, and they almost proved me right, while Ohio State will have another year good enough to get them in a bowl where they will serve as dinner.
16. Notre Dame
17. LSU
18. Illinois
19. Iowa
20. Nebraska
Notre Dame, Illinois and Iowa have all started to get a bit of buzz, and I don't think it's all undeserved. I'm wary of putting either the Offensive Genius or the Zooker in the Top 20, but it's a rough draft. LSU should be good, and someone has to win the Big XII North, so it might as well be Nebraska.
21. Nevada
22. Oregon State
23. Florida State
24. Rutgers
25. Arkansas
I'm going to keep picking Nevada to win the WAC until they prove me right, so they get into the poll this year. Oregon State is one of those teams that always wins nine or 10 games, no matter what you think they're going to do based on "evidence." Florida State, Rutgers and Arkansas are all wild cards; I'm not sure about the Hogs, but who else am I going to put there? (Really, if you have a good idea, I'd love to hear it.)