Maybe it was Give Away Day hangover. Maybe it was too many upsets on the same day. But on the craziest weekend of the college football season so far, we only had 11 of our 20 panelists submit their polls. And that’s a shame. I hate that maybe UT’s new #1 ranking may be tainted a bit by the small sample that is this week’s poll. And I wonder if LSU’s huge drop (from #5 to #12) or Penn State’s huge jump (from #6 to #3) would look any different if we had all 20 sets of votes. Auburn and South Florida dropped out this week. Michigan State makes its debut at #17 while North Carolina shows up for the first time at #19. I hate that Larry T didn’t chime in this week. He officially swore off his Mississippi State Bulldogs last week, six days before they upset Vandy. With the Dallas Stars regular season underway now (have they won a game yet?) we may not hear from Ted S again. Ten of our eleven pollsters ranked Texas #1. The lone dissenter is Jerry K. The hard-core Aggie votes “tu” and “Texas-Stinkin’-Tech” lower than they should be every week. Jerry ranks Texas today #2. And big Texas supporter Billy W gives us this nice little nugget: “The fightin’ Texas Aggies (you have to read this in your best Dave South voice) are #104 in the latest Sagarin Rankings, behind eight Division I-AA schools and all eleven other Big 12 teams.” Hang in there, Jerry and Charlie. It’s not all bad being known as a basketball school.
1. Texas (10 1st place votes, 219 total votes) – “Lisa, that was a good win right there.” JimG; “Deserves to be at the top.” BW; “Next in line of #1s that will fall.” CJ; “Colt for Heisman! JennG; “I had no doubts about their toughness. I hope Missouri isn’t mad.” RA; “Colt is fully grown.” PD; “Proved superiority in the Big 12, the best football conference on the planet.” MH; “Texas is #1 to stay. Horns 34, Missouri 26.” SF.
2. Alabama (202) – “Moving up because others fell.” MH; “Really, can they hang up here?” JennG; “Tide rolls through the bye week.” JimG; “Has looked unbeatable, but SEC is too tough.” BW; “In good shape for national championship run.” CJ.
3. Penn State (1, 201) – “Go, Papa Joe!” DM; “Coasting to Big 10 title and national championship game.” SF; “Maybe if Joe Pa gets a national title, he’ll retire.” JennG; “An octogenarian in the national title hunt. Go AARP!” MH; “This bunch is for real.” PD; “Should be able to go undefeated in the Big 2/Little 9.” BW; “Go ahead and knock them down the list. They will lose to Ohio State.” CJ.
4. Florida (175) – “LSU proved to be gator-bait.” RA; “Best one-loss team right now.” MH; “Looked like the old Gators.” BW; “Will be in the top three soon.” CJ.
5. Oklahoma (165) – “They are good, just not as good as the Horns.” MH; “Outcoached.” PD; “Stoops got a case of Tom Osbourne Syndrome.” JimG; “OU stinks!!!!!” RA; “And the Oscar goes to….OU’s punter!” CJ; “Sorry, Sam.” JennG.
6. USC (155) – “Still a powerhouse.” MH; “Did they blow up hot dog Rudy Carpenter, or what?” JimG; “May fall as the year goes on in that I-AA conference.” BW; “Don’t rule them out.” SF; “Almost time for ESPN to re-anoint them the greatest team ever.” CJ.
7. Oklahoma St. (152) – “The right Cowboys won this week.” RA; “WHOA! I would NOT have picked them to beat Missouri!” JennG; “Making me a believer.” JK; “Maybe the best ‘Cowboys’ in Texas and Oklahoma.” MH; “Boone Picket done bought himself a football team.” PD; “I’m 40!! I’m a man!! I can take it!!” JimG.
8. Texas Tech (151) – “Fortunate win over Huskers.” DM; “Leach sucks the life out of opponents. 4th & 5? Are you kidding me?” CJ; “Same old, same old; no D.” PD; “Barely gets by a weak Nebraska team…still no D in Lubbock.” MH; “Shaky” JK; “Still not convinced by their defense.” JimG; “Struggled against who?” BW; “Where’s A&M?” JennG; “Aggies are tough at Kyle Field.” RA.
9. BYU (129) – “Someone please beat them!” SF; “Mormon intervention helps them get by New Mexico.” JimG; “They’ll sleep-walk through their conference.” BW; “A 16-game winning streak. If they make it 20 straight, Cougars could be in the national hunt.” MH; “Still hangin’ strong.” JennG; “Dream will end Thursday night.” CJ.
10. Georgia (126) – “Beat up a weak Vols team. So what?” MH; “Not impressive.” PD; “Too many tough games to go.” BW; “Talent can only get you so far without discipline.” CJ.
11. Missouri (114) – “Chase looked human.” MH; “Shave the mohawk, Chase, and lose the ’stache, too.” DM; “Misery against T. Boone’s Cowpokes.” JimG; “Will not beat Texas in Austin.” JK; “No longer in the ‘chase’ for the Heisman, much less the title.” CJ.
12. LSU (90) – “Didn’t show up against Florida.” MH; “The wood shed is that way->” CJ; “What happened to the vaunted Tiger D?” JimG; “They’ll bounce back.” BW.
13. Utah (89) – “”Do we have to put them on this list?” CJ; Nice team that nobody sees.” BW; Second-best undefeated team in their state.” MH; “Matchup with BYU will determine a BCS berth.” JimG.
14. Ohio State (79) – “Getting close to Top Ten again.” MH; “2009 will be scary for the rest of the country.” CJ; “Blah…” JimG.
15. Boise State (61) – “Played one quarter at Southern Miss, but scored enough to win.” MH; “Idaho—where all conversations about football begin and end.” CJ; “Could there be two flies in the BCS ointment this year?” JimG.
15. (tie) Kansas (61) – “They keep winning but they can’t move up.” BW; “Manhandled Colorado, but falling next week.” MH; “Will be looking ahead to hoops after trip to Norman this week.” CJ; “Insert your own Mangino reference here.” JimG.
17. Michigan St. (37) – “For real.” PD; “Thank ESPN for this ranking.” CJ.
17. (tie) Virginia Tech (37) – “ECU loss looks worse every week.” RA; “Show the Hokies some love.” MH; “Seem to have righted the ship.” BW.
19. North Carolina (31) – “New one in the group.” PD; “On the ‘heels’ of a great season.” CJ (Charlie, we’d rather have a lame Mangino reference than a lame Carolina joke); “Finally beginning to recover from Mack Brown leaving.” BW; “Butch Davis should be calling plays in Fayetteville.” JimG.
20. Vanderbilt (9) – “Ooops.” PD; “Proving there is SOME depth in the SEC.” MH.
Also receiving votes: Tulsa (7) “An offensive machine.” JimG; Minnesota (4); South Florida (4); Wake Forest (4); Ball State (3) “Just because a 7-0 team deserves it.” JimG; “Really? 7-0?” RA; ”Didn’t know we had a state named Ball.” MH; TCU (3) “Better be ready to bring it against the Mormons next week.” RA; Nebraska (1); Pittsburgh (1) “This team is starting to play well. Look out Big East.” BW; Texas A&M (1) “Will continue their dominance in the turnovers category. The Red Raiders are overlooking A&M. Aggies will be in the Big 12 Championshp Game in 2010. Guarantee!” CJ.
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“In a sense, the theologian is like a sparring partner. His job is to keep the church on its toes both intellectually and spiritually. If the church neglects truth, sooner or later it will get flabby and go sick; and what once were soul-stirring insights will degenerate into hollow platitudes. And if the church neglects its call to live out the gospel as the people of God, then whatever truth the church has will go sour on it.”
—Colin Brown, 1967
Sorry I didn’t participate, I was celebrating Columbus Day!
Picks were sent, but didn’t make it to your inbox because I’m a dork and don’t know how to work my email. I don’t see how MSU ever beating Vandy would be an upset, even if they were 5-0 and had just beat Auburn.