BlogpLOL Week One: The 74-Part Totem Pole

Everyone knows virtually nothing after week one.  For most people, this isn't a problem.  For us, it's a metaphysical conundrum of the highest order.

For those of you new to the BHGPoll, we play with fire for the first couple of weeks.  When you throw out all expectations -- even those of the teams playing the teams you are ranking -- you're left with very little upon which to base a ballot.  Everyone in the poll has the same strength of schedule, because 74 teams are 1-0 and every opponent of those 74 is 0-1.  Everyone has the same points for wins and losses, save for the few road wins and neutral site games to come out of Labor Day weekend.

Black Heart Gold Pants Ballot - Week 2

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Oregon Ducks	16
2	Georgia Bulldogs	--
3	Oklahoma St. Cowboys	--
4	Alabama Crimson Tide	-3
5	Mississippi St. Bulldogs	--
6	Nebraska Cornhuskers	8
7	Arizona Wildcats	--
8	Ohio St. Buckeyes	-4
9	Florida St. Seminoles	--
10	Tennessee Volunteers	--
11	California Golden Bears	--
12	San Diego St. Aztecs	--
13	Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets	10
14	Miami Hurricanes	-6
15	South Florida Bulls	--
16	Arizona St. Sun Devils	--
17	Idaho Vandals	--
18	Air Force Falcons	--
19	South Carolina Gamecocks	--
20	Auburn Tigers	--
21	Syracuse Orange	--
22	N.C. State Wolfpack	--
23	Arkansas Razorbacks	-8
24	Texas A&M Aggies	--
25	Houston Cougars	-1
Dropouts: Oklahoma Sooners, Wisconsin Badgers, Texas Longhorns, Boise St. Broncos, Iowa Hawkeyes, Florida Gators, Virginia Tech Hokies, Pittsburgh Panthers, TCU Horned Frogs, North Carolina Tar Heels, Penn St. Nittany Lions, USC Trojans, Northwestern Wildcats, LSU Tigers, Middle Tenn. St. Blue Raiders, Washington Huskies

SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings 

And so the only source of any variation in the Week One BlogpLOL is point differential, catapulting Oregon to the top of the charts with a 72-point beatdown of New Mexico (Oregon avoids the I-AA adjustement, to boot).  There's a giant gulf between the Ducks and everyone else, though Georgia and Oklahoma State were impressive in FBS beatdowns.  There are only nine teams from our preseason top 25 who are here, and only Auburn retained its prior position (and somewhat amazingly, at that).  This ballot will almost surely win Mr. Manic Depressive if it is not outright spiked (again).  And we're fine with that.  At the end of the day, it's about a theory, that the ridiculous polls that determine the champion of our preferred sport should be as free of bias, both positive and negative, as possible.  The only way to combat the bias is to cut off its head by throwing out the preseason rankings from day one.  In the beginning, you get unmitigated chaos.  In the end, you get something approximating truth.

As for the games, week one produced remarkably little in the way of chaos.  Kansas and Ole Miss improbably lost to I-AA opposition, but neither team had the on-field talent to truly compete in what are, by any measure, two of the three toughest conferences in football.  Their parallel downfalls, while comedic at the hands of teams like Jacksonville State, were probably inevitable.

Of the sixteen teams that dropped out of the poll this week, some were wholly unimpressive in victory (Oklahoma, Texas), some ran into opposition far stiffer than the typical week one sacrificial lamb fodder (TCU, Boise, LSU), some outright lost (Virginia Tech, North Carolina, MTSU, Washington), and some just weren't impressive enough against thoroughly overmatched opposition (Iowa, Penn State, USC).  It means little to nothing at this point; next week will cut down another third of the undefeateds, if not more, and the process of data accumulation and pack thinning continues unabated until week four, when an infusion of one-loss teams will topple the totem pole again.  It's the circle of life, and it moves us all.

This week's Big BlogpLOL Game of the Week is #1 Oregon at #10 Tennessee in a late Saturday kickoff that will drop one team out of the poll.  #2 Georgia travels to #19 South Carolina, which leaves the door open for Oklahoma State to leapfrog into the top 2 should the Cowboys properly dispatch of the Troy Trojans of Troy.  Other top 25 matchups include #5 Mississippi State hosting #20 Auburn, #6 Nebraska hosting #17 Idaho, and #8 Ohio State welcoming #14 Miami into the Horseshoe.