BlogpLOL Week 7: The Ascension of Mike Gundy

As always, criticism and critique of the ballot go in the comments section. Final draft goes in the hopper Tuesday at midnight.

Oklahoma State, coming off possibly the most impressive win of the season, rises to #4 in this week's BlogpLOL.  They join fellow Big Twelve teams Texas, Oklahoma, and Texas Tech in the top six, an unprecedented feat by any one conference.

We run BlogpLOL as blindly as possible.  We don't reference the prior week's ballot.  We place as little emphasis on tradition and "power polling" philosophy as possible.  Still, though Oklahoma State was a clear fourth in our unscientific resume ranking system, it felt a little high for the Cowboys.

We asked Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy for his thoughts, and he said something we couldn't believe: The Big Twelve was actually underrated.  Gundy wanted all five BXII big guns at the top of the poll, and room for teams like Kansas and Kansas State.  Below is a transcript of our interview.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama	--
2	Texas	4
3	Penn State	1
4	Oklahoma State	12
5	Oklahoma	3
6	Texas Tech	7
7	Utah	5
8	Georgia	11
9	North Carolina	1
10	Ball State	8
11	Boise State	2
12	Florida	14
13	Wake Forest	13
14	Southern Cal	6
15	Missouri	12
16	Ohio State	9
17	Michigan State	7
18	Brigham Young	4
19	Virginia Tech	12
20	Tulsa	3
21	TCU	1
22	South Florida	4
23	Georgia Tech	2
24	Connecticut	2
25	Florida State	1

Farmed out to prep school:  Vanderbilt (#5), LSU (#11), Northwestern (#15), Pittsburgh (#20), California (#23).

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Tackle eligible:
Minnesota, Vanderbilt, Cincinnati, Northwestern, South Carolina, LSU, Pittsburgh

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Watched:
Louisville-Memphis, Iowa-Indiana, Notre Dame-North Carolina, Penn State-Wisconsin, parts of Michigan-Toledo, Cincinnati-Rutgers, Michigan State-Northwestern

HS: Thanks for taking our call, Coach.  What do you want to discuss?

MG: I want to talk about this poll right here.

If anyone hasn't read this poll, I don't read it.  It was brought to me by a writer of a blog.  I think this is worth reading.

Let me tell you why I want to talk about this poll.  Three-fourths of the rankings in this poll are innacurate.  Fiction.  And this article embarrasses me to be involved in football.  Tremendously.

HS: Well, we do our best, sir, and we're always open to criticism of our rankings.  Anything in particular you disagree with?

MG: This poll has to have been written by a person who doesn't have a football team and has never had a football team have its HEART BROKEN AND COME HOME upset, and HAD TO DEAL WITH THE FOOTBALL TEAM when it is upset.

HS: You've got me there, Coach.  I've never coached football.  What, exactly, did I do that you don't like?

MG: KICK MISSOURI WHEN IT'S DOWN.

Here's all Missouri did: It goes to some classes.  It's respectful to the media.  It's RESPECTFUL TO THE PUBLIC.  And it's a good team, and it's not a professional franchise, and it doesn't deserve to be kicked when it's down.

HS: Certainly you can't complain about Texas at #2.  That was a big win, but Alabama beat Georgia in Athens and Clemson on a neutral site.

MG: If you have a football team some day, you'll understand how I feel.  But you obviously don't have a football team.  I do.  If your football team beats Oklahoma and someone puts them behind Alabama because they DROPPED A PASS IN A FOOTBALL GAME AND SOMEONE SAYS THEY'RE FAT-

HS: I never said they were fat.

MG: - AND THEY COME HOME CRYING TO THEIR MOMS, you would understand.  But you haven't had that, and you never will, because you never actually played competitive football.

HS: Hey, I played wide receiver in junior high, thank you very much.

MG: If you want to go after a team, IF YOU WANT TO GO AFTER A FOOTBALL TEAM, you go after one of the teams that doesn't do the right things.  YOU DON'T DOWNGRADE A TEAM LIKE TEXAS TECH BECAUSE THEY DO EVERYTHING RIGHT DURING THE WEEK AND MIGHT NOT PLAY SO GREAT ON SATURDAYS.

HS: I didn't downgrade Texas Tech.  They actually moved up 7 spots.

MG: THAT'S WHY I DON'T READ THE BLOGPOLL.  BECAUSE IT'S GARBAGE!  AND THE BLOGGER WHO MOVES A TEAM UP SEVEN SPOTS FOR BEATING NEBRASKA IN OVERTIME IS GARBAGE!

HS: Well, it wasn't all due to that.  Their win over Kansas State looks better after this week, as well. 

MG: Attacking an amateur football team for doing everything right.  And then you want to write a blog about a team that doesn't do everything right and downgrade the teams that do make plays.  Are you kidding me?  Where are we at in society today?

HS: So I can't write anything about Texas.  I can't write anything about Missouri.  I can't write anything about Oklahoma or Texas Tech.  Who can I write about, Mr. Gundy?

MG: COME AFTER US!  WE'RE MEN!  WE'RE #4!  We're undefeated.  Write something about us.  Don't write about a team like Kansas that does everything right, that's heart is broken, and then say that their schedule hasn't been very good.  THAT AIN'T TRUE!  And then to say that they're unranked because they haven't played anyone.  THAT'S NOT TRUE!

So get your facts straight.

I hope someday your team gets into the top 25, and someone downgrades them and belittles them and you have to look them in the eye and tell them that it's OK, that they're supposed to be mature adults but they really aren't.  Who's the blogger here?  Are you kidding me?

That's all I got to say.  Your site makes me wanna puke.