SB Nation BlogPoll Top 25 ballot: Colorado Buffaloes as the transitive champs

All season long, I've been using a mathematical formula to calculate my BlogPoll ballot rankings. I'm still going to complete those to find out who my "national champion" was, but for my final ballot I decided to do something a little special.

The transitive property makes for some fun at the end of college football season. Linking a string of victories together from certain teams can often find the worst of the worst to superior to the best of the best. That is exactly what I set out to do to finish up the season.

Any good transitive national champion has to be absurd, and what could be more absurd than the 1-11 Colorado Buffaloes? On the night of Monday's BCS title blowout, I played around to find a way to make the Buffaloes the national champs. That gave me the idea to award the Buffs my BlogPoll title.

Transitive lines can get pretty long, so I decided to limit myself to having the Buffs at No. 1 and Alabama at No. 25, then I worked to fill in the middle 23 teams.

Additionally, what good is a ballot without a little regional bias? That is why my rankings include every Pac-12 team. Go West Coast!

Of course, Colorado's lone win meant WSU is the No. 2 in the land. The Cougars' comeback victory over Washington in the Apple Cup allowed me to easily link the rest of the Pac-12.

One of the biggest games in my rankings was the Arizona State's victory over Illinois. That allowed my line to move to the Midwest, which eventually brought me to the Big East, which got me to the SEC by virtue of Louisville's victory over Florida.

Texas A&M's win in Tuscaloosa was also key, as there can't be a silly transitive champ if the actual champ went undefeated. So the Aggies were No. 24, right before the BCS champs at No. 25.

This all of course begs the question: How could Colorado fire Jon Embree after he beat a team that beat a team that beat a team that beat a team that beat a team that beat a team that beat a team that beat a team that beat a team that beat a team that beat a team that beat a team that beat a team that beat a team that beat a team that beat a team that beat a team that beat a team that beat a team that beat a team that beat a team that beat a team that beat a team that beat Alabama? Really dropped the ball on that one, Buffs.

Full rankings below. I'll have the computer totals later this week after I spend some time with my spreadsheet.

CougCenter Ballot - Week 15

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Colorado Buffaloes	--
2	Washington St. Cougars	--
3	Washington Huskies	--
4	Stanford Cardinal	6
5	Oregon Ducks	-2
6	Oregon St. Beavers	12
7	Utah Utes	--
8	California Golden Bears	--
9	UCLA Bruins	--
10	Arizona Wildcats	--
11	USC Trojans	--
12	Arizona St. Sun Devils	--
13	Illinois Fighting Illini	--
14	Western Michigan Broncos	--
15	Central Michigan Chippewas	--
16	Iowa Hawkeyes	--
17	Michigan St. Spartans	--
18	Wisconsin Badgers	--
19	Nebraska Cornhuskers	2
20	Northwestern Wildcats	--
21	Syracuse Orange	--
22	Louisville Cardinals	--
23	Florida Gators	-18
24	Texas A&M Aggies	-17
25	Alabama Crimson Tide	-24
Dropouts: Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Kansas St. Wildcats, Oklahoma Sooners, Georgia Bulldogs, Ohio St. Buckeyes, Florida St. Seminoles, South Carolina Gamecocks, LSU Tigers, Clemson Tigers, Northern Illinois Huskies, Utah State Aggies, San Jose St. Spartans, Boise St. Broncos, Fresno St. Bulldogs, Oklahoma St. Cowboys, Kent St. Golden Flashes, Cincinnati Bearcats, Michigan Wolverines

SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "