Let me go ahead and say this and get it out of the way: This is not going to be the final half of the BlogPoll ballot that I submit. So I'm asking for extra help this week to correct the mistake I would otherwise make.
Resume is worth twice as much as "power" on this one. (I don't really like that name, because it's more than just who would defeat whom on a neutral field.)
You can click on the chart and read the numbers yourself, so here are the problems I see:
- I'm not really worried about Boise State being that high right now, because their resume will take care of that over the next few weeks, and I still think they could lose to Nevada at the end of the season.
- I don't really like Florida losing ground after their best win of the year, and the power poll is part of what's moving them down, so I don't really have an issue moving them back up. I can see moving them past Oklahoma, but TCU? LSU? Remember -- the resume is supposed to be the most important thing here. I'm not sure LSU is a better team that Florida per se, but they definitely have the better resume.
- I can tell you that you'll have to make a heck of a case for me to move Nebraska back into the Top 10.
- I don't like Ohio State at No. 12. Yes, the resume is unbelievably weak at this point, but I still feel like they should be a Top 5 team at this point. Am I wrong?
- N.C. State seems a bit high at No. 15. Maybe in the 18-22 range?
- Is Iowa really too low or do I just think they're too low because they're Iowa?
- I cannot tell you how much I despise Southern Cal being ahead of Arkansas and South Carolina, because the team from Los Angeles has not played anyone near as difficult as the average FBS team on either Arkansas or South Carolina's schedule. (Yes, I know how bad Georgia might be this year, and I'm taking that into account.) Then again, both Arkansas and South Carolina have a loss, and that costs both teams on the resume half of the ballot. And I want to make sure that I'm not saying that about South Carolina out of homerism. Thoughts?
Of course, I also welcome any thoughts on someone I've left out or an issue I didn't list above. But remember that resume is important at this point of the season. Next week, that's all that will count.