 |
||
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida | |
| 2 | Alabama |
 1 |
| 3 | Texas |
 1 |
| 4 | Cincinnati |
11 |
| 5 | Boise State |
6 |
| 6 | Ohio State |
2 |
| 7 | LSU | |
| 8 | Virginia Tech |
5 |
| 9 | Oklahoma | |
| 10 | Southern Cal | |
| 11 | Iowa |
14 |
| 12 | TCU |
4 |
| 13 | Houston |
10 |
| 14 | Oklahoma State | |
| 15 | California |
10 |
| 16 | Georgia |
4 |
| 17 | Penn State |
11 |
| 18 | Michigan |
1 |
| 19 | Kansas |
2 |
| 20 | Mississippi |
16 |
| 21 | Notre Dame | |
| 22 | Nebraska |
2 |
| 23 | Oregon | |
| 24 | Georgia Tech |
2 |
| 25 | Miami (Florida) |
13 |
| Last week's ballot | ||
Hokay. Taking into account the commentary on my draft poll, here's what I came up with for the final. First, LSU was removed from the top-5 because we don't have enough information on them yet to ascertain whether they're truly a top-5 team. This becomes largely moot because they play Florida in 2 weeks, and if they win, they'll be close to #1, and if they lose they'll probably be slotted around the 12-13 range anyways. For now, they're comfortably at 7.
The benefactors of the move are Cincinnati, who gets bumped to 4. Big East, yeah, yeah, but at least they've PLOWED everyone they've played, which is more than LSU has going for it. I still don't like Boise State at 5, but as I mentioned in the preseason poll, they're a mid-major who's earned it, so I feel better about it than I would if, say, Tulsa got hot and started winning everything.
Ohio State is probably a little high, but the more I think about it the more I like them there. USC is a tough opponent, even if they're in rebuilding mode, and a loss to them - especially a close loss in which you led the majority of the game - isn't necessary a death sentence. Since then, they've smoked everyone they've played.
I moved Iowa up a slot to 11. I'm still not comfortable with that offense being a top-5-ish offense. If they look impressive in a win, I'll probably bump them up over Oklahoma and Southern Cal, both of whom have that one loss.
As I said in the draft ballot, Cal is relatively unpunished because I think Jahvid Best is awesome and, quite simply, that they're better than all the teams ranked below them.
I dropped Kansas a little because we still know virtually nothing about them. As soon as they play somebody that I can pinpoint as a "quality win," they'll probably shift significantly. File them in the "good enough to be ranked, but we don't know where yet" category.
The last big mover on the board compared to the draft ballot is Georgia Tech, who I dropped all the way to 24 after discussion in the comments.
Comments still appreciated. This thing isn't perfect, but again, it's a process, not a final product.