I never like it when resume voters say not to look at the delta, because it's always struck me as a cop-out. It strikes me as less of a cop-out now in the first few weeks -- because the ballot is by definition going to move around a lot as some teams play tougher opponents and others play weaker opponents and / or lose. So pay some attention to the deltas, but don't go crazy over them just yet.
Team Speed Kills Ballot - Week 2
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -- |
| 2 | Arizona Wildcats | -- |
| 3 | LSU Tigers |
 17 |
| 4 | Georgia Bulldogs |
15 |
| 5 | UCLA Bruins |
18 |
| 6 | Kansas St. Wildcats | -- |
| 7 | Southern Cal Trojans |
 -3 |
| 8 | Stanford Cardinal | -- |
| 9 | Oregon Ducks |
-4 |
| 10 | Clemson Tigers |
-7 |
| 11 | Tennessee Volunteers |
-9 |
| 12 | ULM Warhawks | -- |
| 13 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish |
-3 |
| 14 | Michigan St. Spartans |
-2 |
| 15 | Oregon St. Beavers | -- |
| 16 | Florida Gators | -- |
| 17 | Mississippi St. Bulldogs | -- |
| 18 | Ohio St. Buckeyes | -- |
| 19 | Northwestern Wildcats |
2 |
| 20 | Arizona St. Sun Devils | -- |
| 21 | Ohio Bobcats |
-10 |
| 22 | South Carolina Gamecocks |
-9 |
| 23 | Virginia Tech Hokies |
-17 |
| 24 | Utah State Aggies | -- |
| 25 | Iowa St. Cyclones |
-1 |
| Dropouts: Nebraska Cornhuskers, Baylor Bears, West Virginia Mountaineers, Louisville Cardinals, Nevada Wolf Pack, Texas Longhorns, Duke Blue Devils, Oklahoma Sooners, Central Florida Knights | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "
1 Alabama
2 Arizona
3 LSU
4 Georgia
5 UCLA
Alabama's still riding the strength of blasting Michigan. Arizona straight up slaughtered Oklahoma State and has a so-so mid-major win. LSU clobbered Washington, which I think is likely to be a fringe-y Top 25 team this year (at least). Georgia rides the strength of leveling Missouri in the last quarter and UCLA scored a strong win over Nebraska. I know Jim Mora as a Falcons fan, so they're going to fall apart down the stretch, but they're here for now.
6 Kansas State
7 Southern Cal
8 Stanford
9 Oregon
10 Clemson
The Wildcats debut after destroying Miami (FL), though that might mean less than it seems to right now. Southern Cal takes a hit for a weak outing against Syracuse. Stanford, Oregon and Clemson also have at least one semi-impressive win, which is all it takes right now.
11 Tennessee
12 Louisiana Monroe
13 Notre Dame
14 Michigan State
15 Oregon State
Tennessee doesn't get any credit for this week because, remember, I'm ignoring FCS games unless they're losses. Let's just not discuss the next team on the list. Notre Dame flattened Navy and defeated Purdue, Michigan State has the Boise State win on the board and Oregon State's Wisconsin win would impress me more if they had displayed, you know, offense.
16 Florida
17 Mississippi State
18 Ohio State
19 Northwestern
20 Arizona State
Most of these teams have wins over BCS or high-level mid-majors of uncertain quality. Northwestern has defeated two BCS teams, but I'm not really sure how good either Syracuse or Vanderbilt will be this year, so they go here out of an abundance of caution. Arizona State blasted Illinois -- but it's Illinois.
21 Ohio
22 South Carolina
23 Virginia Tech
24 Utah State
25 Iowa State
Most of these teams weren't helped by their week two opponents and / or the weekend performance of their first opponents. Utah State is the only real exception to that, with the Aggies notching a win over Utah to get the 24th spot.
A word about feedback: If you want to say that you still think I'm stupid for going resume this early, go right ahead. But I'd really like any feedback about why my rankings here are off-base on a resume basis.
The chart:
