I'll fully admit that I spent all day yesterday moping around, and therefor got nothing done. Naturally, I'm swamped this morning, too, so for now, please enjoy this smoking monkey...
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| Better cut back there, smokey! |
...and my Top 25 ballot. Check back later, though, since I'll be doing another podcast for al.com this afternoon to discuss the game, will have my thoughts on it and the general state of the program posted here later tonight, and will also have the SEC results. On with the ballot:
1. LSU - The Tigers get the nod for being the only top ten team that didn't either a) get beat or b) struggle the entire game. Their first half troubles against Tulane were not comforting, though.
2. Cal - I boldly put Oklahoma at #1 for several weeks, so I'm going to jump Cal up to #2 since they're undefeated and haven't shown as many signs of struggles as USC.
3. Southern Cal - Speaking of which, eeking out a win over a decent but by no means equally talented Washington puts them at #3.
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| Of course that doesn't mean I won't take the excuse to post a picture of the Song Girls. |
4. Ohio State - Another dominating performance for the Buckeyes, and this team is right on track to own the Big Ten again.
5. Boston College - They only beat UMASS by 10, but let's not forget that the Minutemen were the team Appy State beat for the 1AA National Championship last season, so it isn't as bad as it looks.
6. South Florida - Suddenly the Bulls are the team to beat in the Big East. I'm not sold on them since their offense is going to cost them a game down the stretch, but that D is solid.
7. Kentucky - The 'Cats in the Top Ten? Are you kidding me? Cats and dogs, living together...
8. Wisconsin - Big swing for the Badgers as I had them at #16 last week, and even though they're still playing things tighter than I'd like for a Top Ten team, they hung with a good Michigan State and are still unbeaten.
9. Hawaii - Still unbeaten, and everyone else losing gives them the bump.
10. Oklahoma - Collapse at Colorado notwithstanding, the Sooners are still a damn good team and the likely favorite to win the Big 12 South.
11. West Virginia - I knew that whole "screw around for a half and then get things going in the second" was going to cost them. From personal experience, of course. But we won't get into that.
12. Cincinatti - 5-0, and looking pretty impressive at that.
13. Arizona State - Impressive win over Stanford, and suddenly us dumb ole boys from the SEC don't have a lot of "SECRULZ PAC10DRULZZ" to go around.
14. Texas - Seriously, is Kansas State Purple some sort of Kryptonite for Colt McCoy?
15. South Carolina - Moves up two spots after a win over Mississippi State.
16. Purdue - Again, still unbeaten, so here they are.
17. Missouri - Coming off an impressive win over BYE, they're unbeaten, so they're up here.
18. Rutgers - The coming match up with Cincinatti, the team that gave them their first loss last season, is going to be a good one.
19. Florida - Yeah. You lost to Auburn. The piss poor team that tried to give away their opener, bumbled their way into losses to South Florida and Mississippi State, and struggled to put away New Mexico State. I should drop you from the rankings altogether for the week's worth of crap we're going to be getting from Auburn fans over this. I hope you die.
20. Kansas State - Beat Texas, why not?
21. Kansas - Still unbeaten, so why not?
22. Texas Tech - Beat up on a hapless 1AA cupcake, so why not?
23. UCLA - After dropping out after a thrashing at the hands of Utah, they'll earn their way back in for this week.
24. Florida State - Beat our own beloved Tide, so why not?
25. Connecticutt - 5-0, so why not?