Week 3 CougCenter BlogPoll Ballot: Where Homerism Rules The Day
by Craig Powers on Sep 11, 2011 12:15 PM PDT
in College Football
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PrintI volunteered to do the BlogPoll ballot for CougCenter this season. So far this Sunday I have done nothing but regret that decision. Ranking teams is hard.
For much of the morning I've been working on creating my own little ranking system using yards per play and trying to adjust it for opponents, but it was taking a long time and I've got lots of quizzes to grade and homework to do (read: NFL Redzone to watch). I'll keep tweaking it and hopefully by mid-season it will be something that I'm comfortable with.
For now, my ballot is created in super subjective fashion. I started with all the teams I "think" are good based on watching games. Then I checked scores, game stats, etc. to shift them around or push them out altogether. Side note: Leaving Texas out feels good.
As an example of how difficult this becomes: Should TCU be unranked because they lost a close game to Baylor in a supercharged road atmosphere? In my mind, you can't really reward Baylor for the win if you are discounting TCU for losing that game. So I felt the need to keep TCU on the ballot. Of course, I could have said the same thing about Penn State, who lost to Alabama. You just can't rank everybody and that is why the last five teams are the hardest. I'm working on a system where the numbers do everything. Then I just have to worry about if my formulas are worthwhile instead of wondering if TCU's loss is better than Penn State's loss.
Since this is my first time voting in any sort of ballot, I felt the need to acknowledge my beloved Washington State Cougars for their spectacular start to the 2011 season. Want to argue with me for ranking a team that has outscored opponents 123-28 through two games? Go ahead. Tell me about how bad the teams were. I'll still have a big grin on my face thinking about Marshall Lobbestael's five touchdown passes against UNLV.
Do I think WSU is the 25th best team in the country? Not really, but not many other teams in the country could have done any better with the Cougs' first two games. For that, I reward them.
Poll is after the jump. Feel free to tell me how dumb I am in the comments.
CougCenter Ballot - Week 3
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | LSU Tigers | -- |
| 2 | Oklahoma Sooners | -- |
| 3 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -- |
| 4 | Boise St. Broncos | -- |
| 5 | Stanford Cardinal | -- |
| 6 | Florida St. Seminoles | -- |
| 7 | Wisconsin Badgers | -- |
| 8 | Oregon Ducks | -- |
| 9 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys | -- |
| 10 | South Carolina Gamecocks | -- |
| 11 | Ohio St. Buckeyes | -- |
| 12 | Arkansas Razorbacks | -- |
| 13 | Texas A&M Aggies | -- |
| 14 | West Virginia Mountaineers | -- |
| 15 | Nebraska Cornhuskers | -- |
| 16 | Michigan St. Spartans | -- |
| 17 | Virginia Tech Hokies | -- |
| 18 | Baylor Bears | -- |
| 19 | Arizona St. Sun Devils | -- |
| 20 | Florida Gators | -- |
| 21 | Auburn Tigers | -- |
| 22 | TCU Horned Frogs | -- |
| 23 | Mississippi St. Bulldogs | -- |
| 24 | South Florida Bulls | -- |
| 25 | Washington St. Cougars | -- |
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "
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Attractive, Intelligent, Smart A**
by Neil Vincent Roberts on Sep 11, 2011 12:17 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs
Meh
Lots of traditional powers get votes for beating up on creampuffs. Looking at you, FLorida State.
Follow me on the twitters @AlanHoffmann
Ohio State is pretty much in the same boat.
by Kyle Rancourt on Sep 11, 2011 1:35 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
If you call the Buckeyes 27 to 22 won over Toledo a beating of a creampuff....then that is true.
(Trust me I get what you are saying) They almost lost to a creampuff…Haha. Their ego almost go the best of them.
"Left hand, right hand, it doesn’t matter. I’m amphibious." – Charles Shackleford
If you want some justification for putting WSU at 25
The last time WSU scored 120+ points in its first two games was 1907. Against Eastern Washington and Blair Business College. linky
Attractive, Intelligent, Smart A**
by Neil Vincent Roberts on Sep 11, 2011 12:41 PM PDT reply actions
I don't think #25 is absurd.
Here are our current rankings according to ESPN
6th in passing yards
27th in rushing yards
1st in points per game
24th in points allowed
If we’re going with blind stats and not perceived worth of a team based on tradition or past, we should be in the poll. Like 51dimes said, a few of those currently in the top 25 have only played “easy” games.
And don't forget #3 QB and heisman candidate!
When you have that leading your O’ you should be considered! ; )
I think its fair to put us in at 25.
for me, the last few spots in the rankings are for the teams that have been playing well of late, kind of a symbolic place. But you’re much mroe justified in ranking us, but I don’t know how Oregon State received a vote.
Ranking are pointless at this point in the season anyways.
It’s still fun to rank teams, and hope for your team to be ranked, but there’s not enough data at this point to really rank teams. I still think it should be done every week, but at this point it doesn’t mean a whole lot. Take the Cougs for example, what do we know about this team? They don’t suck! We beat 2 bad teams by a large margin. I don’t know how good the team is. In years past those most likely would have been close games, not any more. Basically what I’m trying to say is we finally have a competitive football team. How good? I don’t think we’ll have any idea for another month. I think the same can be said for most other teams. But it still makes for fun discussion.
Go Cougs!
Exactly.
We blew out two bad teams by gigantic margins. That should at least put us on the level of say, 13th ranked Arkansas right now, shouldn’t it? All they’ve done is beat Missouri State (a crappy FCS team) and New Mexico (a crappy MWC team).
"But it still makes for fun discussion."
And that’s really all rankings are for anyway, unless you’re talking about the top few spots with regards to the BCS.
Ted Miller released his new bowl predictions
And he has WSU going to the…New Mexico Bowl? I don’t remember which one. But he now has them going. Pretty sweet to see that.
Wow. Ted Miller has really changed his mind about us.
Preseason, I think he predicted us in the cellar of the North Division.
"Left hand, right hand, it doesn’t matter. I’m amphibious." – Charles Shackleford
i'm doing my damndest not to be picky, given the last seven years
but there’s no way in hell i’m going to albuquerque in december.
Before I even read this, I had Wazzu at 25 in my CGB blogpoll ballot
You guys have the #1 scoring defense in the land—that has to be worth something! Sure, the quality of competition isn’t stellar, but it’s no worse than the resume of a team like Florida State or Oklahoma.
Whether my co-voters at CGB will rank WSU remains to be seen. But for now, I’m all over that hot cougar action!
"Some people watch adult videos on their computer - I go to YouTube and watch Jahvid Best highlight clips. That’s what gets me going."- Jim Schwartz, Detroit Lions head coach
by Berkelium97 on Sep 11, 2011 2:12 PM PDT reply actions 2 recs
*offense, not defense
"Some people watch adult videos on their computer - I go to YouTube and watch Jahvid Best highlight clips. That’s what gets me going."- Jim Schwartz, Detroit Lions head coach
If certain CC readers donate some good B.C. Bud instead of that Humboldt County 'stuff'
I expect all of the CGB voters to rank Wazzu very high.
You sir have just become my favorite CGB writer.
Twist-N-Hook you are outta here!
"Left hand, right hand, it doesn’t matter. I’m amphibious." – Charles Shackleford
I think we will definitely know more after we play San Diego
It will be really telling to see how we do on a road game against a legitimate opponent. I especially want to see how we come into Qualcomm, do we come in a little cocky, or do we show the focus really great teams have and roll?
The best thing that you can say about this team is that they don’t seem to be playing down to the competition at all. Even against ISU it seemed like they went 100% every play. If we put a hurting on SDSU, somewhere in the 35-10 range, I think we can bet on the cougars doing well in the conference slate, especially given how poorly some teams have performed.
I don't think they will be cocky after the past 3 years.
These guys haven’t forgot where they have come from. They will be excited.
"Left hand, right hand, it doesn’t matter. I’m amphibious." – Charles Shackleford
Holy shit
Black Heart Gold Pants (the Iowa Hawkeyes blog) put us at #10. Can’t find a post with explanation yet, but they had us at #11 in last week’s poll…
Ok, taking it back. Apparently they use a formula which is stat-based of some sort that “at the beginning of the year, it’s complete chaos.” LSU and Oregon weren’t on their week 2 poll, since LSU didn’t put up gaudy numbers and Oregon lost, so that win counted equally with any other win over an 0-1 team.
Still. #10 in the country by someone’s method is better than not #10 in the country by anybody’s method! I’ll take it.
And no qualms with the #25 vote. Especially when our cross-state friends didn’t get any votes last week, or this one.
Rooting for lovable losers since 1984.
Pretty sure BHGP goes almost strictly by win margin.
CougCenter In Reid We Trust, Twitter!
by Craig Powers on Sep 11, 2011 8:44 PM PDT up reply actions
Based on common opponents
How could you put us below Wisconsin? Irresponsible
I had a chuckle.
2 wins against opponents that had a combined 3 wins all of last year and you rank yourself. Thanks for the comedy!
by kschimke on Sep 11, 2011 4:57 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs
"2 wins BY A COMBINED 95 POINTS against opponents that had a combined 3 wins all of last year and you rank yourself.
There. Fixed it for you.
by Jeff Nusser on Sep 11, 2011 6:01 PM PDT up reply actions 3 recs
Both teams last year
Gave up on average nearly 450 yards a game and high 30’s in points per game. Yeah, the Cougs did what “good teams are supposed to do” by crushing them, but still, its pretty funny to think that the Coug’s are going to have some kind of high flying offense once conference play kicks off here.
Almost as funny as Ray Ratto voting UW 14th in the national poll.
I chuckle every time I think about the 2008 Husky football team.
The 2008 Huskies were the first 0-12 team in PAC-10 conference history and the only team in the country to finish the 2008 season without a victory
I also chuckle that there is a Wikipedia page dedicated to it.
Don’t try come on here and steal our thunder. I know you are probably not trying to be vicious coming on a Cougar site, but come on man let us just enjoy our 2-0 season for a bit. We both played FCS schools in game one and you play Hawaii and we played UNLV. I wouldn’t exactly be thrilled where you are at. It kind of seems like you are trying to ride on a high horse around here. After the past 3 years lets us enjoy it. We are smart enough fans to realize who we played the last two games. We don’t need you coming in here and pointing it out and explaining it. Thanks.
"Left hand, right hand, it doesn’t matter. I’m amphibious." – Charles Shackleford
by SoCalCoug on Sep 11, 2011 7:55 PM PDT up reply actions 4 recs
Come on, he poked fun at someone ranking us 14th too, lighten up a bit.
Yes the Cougars have looked a lot better than they have over the past few years. If you’re going to start seriously (don’t think this is very serious, and as Jeff mentioned they are just for fun anyways) ranking yourselves right now then you should probably be prepared for people to call you on it, especially if it doesn’t hold up at all Not saying it won’t, just that you can see how people might think you’re getting a bit ahead of yourselves right?
Wish there was an edit function on sbnation...
By “hold up at all” I meant in future weeks, not the reasoning for the ranking. Not sure if that was clear or not. Also left out a period there, my bad.
In that case I apologize.
I didn’t mean to be combative. It’s just that for those of us that have been sticking with this program, 2 – 0 feels pretty damn good! I have no idea how good this team is, all I know is we are dramatically better than 2 years ago. Vegas Bowl, Rose bowl it would all be good right now. We might start 5 – 0, or we might finish 2-10. All I know right now is, we are tied for first! Go Cougs!
Go Cougs!
Ah, no need to apologize
Can definitely understand the excitement. I’m not sure how all of you have hung through these tough times, definitely takes some guts. Here’s to hoping for a meaningful game at the Clink on November 27th!
I am not mad
but there was no reason to come on here and say those things. I know he even poked fun at your 14th ranking, but that is like saying I think you are ugly, but someone else also thinks I am ugly. It doesn’t make me feel any better. Also, things like this don’t need to be pointed out.
its pretty funny to think that the Coug’s are going to have some kind of high flying offense once conference play kicks off here.With a quote like that don’t try and and stick up for a fellow Dawg by trying to piss on my leg and telling me it is raining. Just admit it wasn’t necessary. I never said I thought we were ranked…I am just saying we are 2-0 lets us enjoy any way we want. This was a Coug article about rankings, not a Dawg article so let us enjoy it. All we know is we are 2-0 for the first time in a long time. Leave us alone. When it comes from a Dawg, what am I suppose to say? “O, he is making a funny about Cougs, good for him.” Please, take this in a nice voice context. If it came from a Dawg who is regularly on here it might be different. Not trying to pick a fight, just want to enjoy 2-0 on CougCenter without any Dawg comments.
"Left hand, right hand, it doesn’t matter. I’m amphibious." – Charles Shackleford
I can understand not wanting to deal with taunts from a rival
But I’d take the fact that he’s trying to make fun of your two blowout wins as a compliment and try not to let it get to you that much. The writing on this site is so good that fans of a lot of Pac-12 fans read it, if some of them come around talking crap (and not outright trolling) when you’re undefeated, throw it right back at them. There’s nothing that can bring me down right now, my team’s 2-0 and I’ve got no doubt they are going to win another on Saturday. I’m sure you feel the same way, don’t let some guy on the internet ruin your fun.
by UW11Bowdown on Sep 11, 2011 11:29 PM PDT up reply actions
Thanks
We were just having fun ranking ourselves 25th, because of being 2-0 and the scoring onslaught we have put on. There are tons of good teams playing bad teams across the nation and our scoring through two games ranks in tops of the nation; that feels good. A lot of stuff is fun to do like imagining being ranked 25th and if you have been here enough times you know many times we are tongue and cheek about things. I just wasn’t feeling that Dawgs comments. You sir have been here enough times to earn respect.
"Left hand, right hand, it doesn’t matter. I’m amphibious." – Charles Shackleford
Apparently ATQ ranked you guys 25th too
by UW11Bowdown on Sep 11, 2011 11:49 PM PDT up reply actions
Now this is starting to worry me. Yikes.
"Left hand, right hand, it doesn’t matter. I’m amphibious." – Charles Shackleford
And Pacific Takes
Attractive, Intelligent, Smart A**
by Neil Vincent Roberts on Sep 12, 2011 3:28 PM PDT up reply actions
Craig Powers
You are such a football genius.
by well you win some and lose others on Sep 12, 2011 9:27 PM PDT up reply actions
I'll just say this
You probably don’t read us much, since this is your first comment, so you probably don’t know that I’m an eternal skeptic. I’ll just leave it at this: Doubt this team at your own risk. Please.
by Jeff Nusser on Sep 11, 2011 10:09 PM PDT up reply actions
By the way, if you want to go down this road
UNLV allowed 39.4 ppg last year, 6.7 yards per play, 5.2 yards per rush and 9.1 yards per passing attempt.
Wisconsin against UNLV, week one: 51 pts, 9.4 ypp, 6.3 ypr, 17.2 ypa
WSU against UNLV, week two: 59 pts, 7.9 ypp, 3.6 ypr, 12.4 ypa
You’d probably say this bolsters your point. Remember that WSU replaced their starters after the 2nd offensive drive of the 3rd quarter. Here’s what it was in the 1st half:
35 pts, 10.0 ypp, 6.12 ypr, 13.04 ypa
You can doubt all you want, but if you remove the last three years, there’s no way you can dismiss WSU’s inclusion out of hand.
by Jeff Nusser on Sep 11, 2011 10:25 PM PDT up reply actions
You're right that the Cougs have looked as good as possible so far
I think the rest of the country will probably reserve judgement until they play more well respected competition though. I’m definitely interested in seeing how the next 3 games play out for you guys.
by UW11Bowdown on Sep 11, 2011 11:36 PM PDT up reply actions
So, for pure speculation
What if they go down and beat SDSU by, say, 2 TDs. Does that validate this ranking? Would you need to see even more than that?
by Jeff Nusser on Sep 12, 2011 10:41 AM PDT up reply actions
While that would do a bit to validate it
To truly convince me that they are a middle tier Pac-12 team (and more deserving of being ranked then USC) they need to win at least 2 of the next 3, and perferrably all 3 of them.
At 4-0 or 5-0 I could definitely get behind a #20 to #25 ranking. At 3-0 or 4-1 I’d put them in the “others recieving votes” category of a poll, which of course requires someone to rank them. No reason that can’t be cougcenter.
I realize you didn’t write this post, but if you’re scenario plays out and they look pretty good winning by 2 TD’s would you feel confident moving them up the rankings much? Of course all of this doesn’t take into account how other teams do, just our thoughts on the strength of WSU.
Rankings are tough, and there's a reason why I've passed it on to the other authors
To me, it depends on the other teams. But if they go down and soundly defeat SDSU, I think it’s fair to make a case as one of the 25 best teams. Just a few people believing that (as now) puts them in the “others receiving votes.” But I’m with you — to be roundly considered top 25, I think 5-0 is the benchmark.
by Jeff Nusser on Sep 12, 2011 10:00 PM PDT up reply actions
I'm excited by this right now, but hopefully you can justify putting us in the rankings at the end of the season too.
"If you want your dreams to come true, don't sleep in."
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