Half of the BlogPoll Draft Ballot

I've begun shuffling teams around a bit based a lot more on a resume basis than power polling. It's getting to be that time of year where preseason expectations should fade away. It's not totally a resume ballot a la what Matt Hinton does, but it's what I got for now.

This is only a draft, so leave some good comments if you don't mind. I very nearly left Michigan State out this time around, so I'm sure something else is wrong with it.

1. Alabama

2. Oregon

3. Ohio State

4. Boise State

5. TCU

Alabama and Oregon have easily been the two most dominant teams so far this year. Alabama easily has the best set of wins between them, so Roll Tide etc. Ohio State bumbled a bit through its win over Illinois, but I'm still impressed by the Miami win. Boise State and TCU have both been good, but Boise has the better set of wins. I still think TCU will pass up the Broncos if both run the table thanks to the MWC being better than the WAC.

6. Arizona

7. Auburn

8. Oklahoma

9. Nebraska

10. Arkansas

Arizona's win over Iowa carries the Wildcats higher, and Auburn's wins over South Carolina and Clemson are better than what the Big 12 teams have. Oklahoma has more good wins than Nebraska does, but they haven't been the dominant kind other than the FSU game. Arkansas stays pretty high because I'm still impressed at its game against Alabama and I know that nine times out of ten, doing what the Razorbacks did gets you a win.

11. Miami (FL)

12. LSU

13. Utah

14. South Carolina

15. Michigan State

Look, I want to drop LSU farther. The fact of the matter is, LSU has played zero cupcakes. Not one. All five wins are over Big Six conference teams. None of them are really hallmark wins (especially not the one last weekend), which is why LSU isn't higher. But, is LSU's resume better than what everyone below it has? I think yes. South Carolina slipped some because its big win over Georgia is pretty much worthless now. By the way, it's pretty impressive what Michigan State is doing now with its head coach out of action.

16. Iowa

17. Stanford

18. Florida

19. Wisconsin

20. Michigan

The next three teams all lost to top ten teams on the road and have decent but not good wins filling out the rest of their schedules. Florida lost the by the most and has the least appealing set of wins. Stanford's in the middle, having gotten hammered as well but also having some better wins. Iowa is the best of them, losing closely and having the best collection of wins. Wisconsin is all right but may never beat anyone of consequence. I also defy anyone to come up with huge differences between Michigan and No. 21 Nevada. Denard Robinson is better than Colin Kaepernick is, but the Angry Ostrich has a better supporting cast. Neither, however, plays defense.

21. Nevada

22. Kansas State

23. Air Force

24. Florida State

25. Oklahoma State

K-State quietly has had a nice season so far. Air Force gets the edge over FSU in the undefeated-except-for-Oklahoma derby by virtue of having hung close with the Sooners. Oklahoma State sneaks in largely for beating Texas A&M, but keep in mind this team almost lost to Troy. Again. I'm not wowed by the Cowboys.