SB Nation Blogpoll Draft Ballot: Week Thirteen

by Gamecock Man on Nov 27, 2011 5:36 PM EST in General NCAA Athletics

Here's my draft ballot. Let me know what you think.

1. LSU Tigers
2. Oklahoma St. Cowboys
3. Virginia Tech Hokies
4. Houston Cougars
5. Alabama Crimson Tide

You all know my thoughts on rematches; as said before, I do believe that 'Bama is likely the second best team, but I'd prefer to see any of these other teams get a shot instead of them. OSU or VT could help themselves by dominating this weekend, although truth be told, 'Bama is probably already in. (Yes, the BCS is so screwed up that 'Bama has a better shot right now than LSU.) I should note that VT is playing well right now; I think voters should give them some credit for improving over the course of the season, particularly if they throttle Clemson this weekend.

6. Southern Cal Trojans
7. Oregon Ducks
8. Stanford Cardinal
9. Arkansas Razorbacks
10. South Carolina Gamecocks

I'm not in favor of giving a Pac-10 team a shot at the title. I think these are all good teams, but they've beaten each other, and Oregon already got its shot at LSU. I do think SoCal is probably the best at this point, though, and might even be a team that could give LSU a run for its money if it wasn't on probation. I can't see putting Arkansas above the Pac-10 group, given that Oregon at least gave LSU something of a game. Lastly, I may be a homer for it, but I think USC has done more than either Boise, Oklahoma, or the two-loss B10 teams. Ergo, top-10 ranking. Hope we get a chance to get that high for real before the season ends.

11. Boise St. Broncos
12. Georgia Bulldogs
13. Michigan St. Spartans
14. Oklahoma Sooners
15. Wisconsin Badgers

And here are Boise and some other two-loss teams. You can take your pick from the two-loss group.

16. Kansas St. Wildcats
17. Michigan Wolverines
18. Baylor Bears
19. TCU Horned Frogs
20. Nebraska Cornhuskers

More two-loss teams and a couple of three-loss teams. I like Baylor the most out of the three-loss teams, due to their set of quality wins. Can't believe Michigan is getting so much love for a BCS bid. Well, I can believe it, but I think it's BS.

21. West Virginia Mountaineers
22. Penn St. Nittany Lions
23. Clemson Tigers
24. Florida St. Seminoles
25. Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Take your pick from this group of either inconsistent or mediocre teams. Trust me, I didn't want to include Clemson, but the options below them (Southern Miss.?) just weren't very appealing.

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Comments

If you "believe that 'Bama is likely the second best team,"

I don’t believe there is any defensible reason to put them at 5. I’m especially confused as to why you do it since the Blogpoll doesn’t affect the BCS matchup.

If a Harris or USA Today voter made a similar concession of intentionally structuring a ballot in an attempt to manipulate the BCS outcome, they would likely (and deservingly) be removed from the poll. Whatever the rationale, you are basically saying, ‘I don’t like one of the teams, so I am placing them several spots lower than I believe they deserve.’

I don’t doubt that some Harris and USA Today voters may do this in the next couple weeks, but I will be shocked if they actually admit to it. From that perspective, I guess your honesty can be appreciated.

"Lattimore, as the kids can say, can ball, and sometimes does it to the extent one might say [he] is out of control in his balling." - Spencer Hall

by GwinnettGamecock on Nov 27, 2011 6:57 PM EST reply actions

I hope all Harris & USA Today poll voters to do it. As I've explained before, I'm essentially modeling what I would do if I were in their shoes. That's why I'm doing it despite the fact that the blogpoll doesn't affect the BCS matchup.

(Not that I think anyone is paying attention.)

I don’t see any inconsistency in this, at least not on my end. My ranking of Alabama has nothing to do with whether I like them or not, so please don’t make it about that. As I’ve said before, I believe the BCS should try to matchup teams from different conferences, because bowl-season interconference matchups are key to sorting out misconceptions about relative team strength that may stem from imbalanced strength between conferences. In that sense, while Alabama “appears” to be the #2 team, I don’t think you can know for sure until you play this out in the interconference bowl matchups. Thus, I think we have to make an exception to the “let’s matchup the seeming number 1&2.” I know this isn’t what everyone else thinks the BCS should be trying to do, but I’ve explained my reasoning several times, so I really don’t think I’m being inconsistent. This is simply my understanding of things, which I’ve been using all along; it’s an opinion, of course, and I may be wrong. But if anything, I’m trying hard to be consistent; in 2006, many SEC fans used a version of my argument to say that OSU and UM shouldn’t get a rematch; now I’m saying the same holds true for LSU-UA. To argue otherwise would be pro-SEC bias, IMO.

Garnet and Black Attack: A Blog by and for Gamecocks Fans.

by Gamecock Man on Nov 27, 2011 7:08 PM EST up reply actions

The computers ranked Florida #2 in 2006, and they weren't trying to manipulate results.

Florida had more wins over ranked opponents than Michigan, and their loss was to a top ten opponent on the road. Following a loss by #2 Southern Cal, the voters added the new information of #4 Florida’s two score victory over #8 Arkansas to their previous resume and decided that the Gators were more deserving of the #2 spot than #3 Michigan.

Many voters legitimately believed Florida was superior to Michigan. Very few believe any other team is better than Alabama this year. If Oklahoma State is impressive against Oklahoma, you could make an argument then, but the belief that the voters rebel

"Lattimore, as the kids can say, can ball, and sometimes does it to the extent one might say [he] is out of control in his balling." - Spencer Hall

by GwinnettGamecock on Nov 27, 2011 7:35 PM EST up reply actions

"Many voters legitimately believed Florida was superior to Michigan"...

Yeah, but many didn’t, and—if I’m remembering this correctly—there were plenty of voters doing things like voting Michigan fifth to massage the system. You’re definitely right that the feeling is more widespread that Alabama is the second-best team than it was in UM’s case, though.

At any rate, I really don’t see this as rebelling against the system. (I’m assuming that’s what you were about to say.) I just see it as making sure the system allows for interconference bowl matchups, which are necessary for finding the best team, IMO. So, not rebelling against the system; just defending a certain type of system, one you obviously disagree with.

Garnet and Black Attack: A Blog by and for Gamecocks Fans.

by Gamecock Man on Nov 27, 2011 9:39 PM EST up reply actions

I understand that. Like I said,

you might be able to make an argument for Oklahoma State when we have their full resume. Florida’s biggest advantage in 06 was recency bias. The same thing could work in favor of the Cowboys if they are exceedingly impressive against the Sooners. At this point though, I don’t think anyone could legitimately argue that any team has a more impressive resume for the #2 spot than Alabama.

(Va Tech could win by 40 points Saturday and they still wouldn’t come close.)

"Lattimore, as the kids can say, can ball, and sometimes does it to the extent one might say [he] is out of control in his balling." - Spencer Hall

by GwinnettGamecock on Nov 28, 2011 12:13 AM EST up reply actions

That's all fair enough.

I guess what I really want is a straightforward rule saying that the BCS Title Game can’t feature two teams from the same conference. In lieu of that rule, I say voters should game the system. Hopefully OSU will make a good case and take care of the problem.

Garnet and Black Attack: A Blog by and for Gamecocks Fans.

by Gamecock Man on Nov 28, 2011 2:06 PM EST up reply actions