Black Heart Gold Pants Ballot - Week 5
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | LSU Tigers |
 1 |
| 2 | Alabama Crimson Tide |
5 |
| 3 | Oklahoma Sooners |
 -2 |
| 4 | Michigan Wolverines | -- |
| 5 | Illinois Fighting Illini | -- |
| 6 | South Florida Bulls |
3 |
| 7 | Florida Gators |
-1 |
| 8 | Stanford Cardinal |
7 |
| 9 | South Carolina Gamecocks | -- |
| 10 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys |
8 |
| 11 | Boise St. Broncos |
1 |
| 12 | Nebraska Cornhuskers | -- |
| 13 | Texas Longhorns |
6 |
| 14 | Virginia Tech Hokies |
2 |
| 15 | Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets |
2 |
| 16 | Wisconsin Badgers |
-8 |
| 17 | Baylor Bears |
-7 |
| 18 | Texas A&M Aggies |
-15 |
| 19 | Clemson Tigers | -- |
| 20 | Kansas St. Wildcats | -- |
| 21 | Penn St. Nittany Lions | -- |
| 22 | Arizona St. Sun Devils | -- |
| 23 | Houston Cougars | -- |
| 24 | Texas Tech Red Raiders |
-2 |
| 25 | Oregon Ducks | -- |
|
Redshirted: North Carolina Tar Heels, Rutgers Scarlet Knights, Temple Owls, Tennessee Volunteers, Iowa State Cyclones Dropouts: Fla. International Golden Panthers, North Carolina Tar Heels, USC Trojans, Ohio Bobcats, Vanderbilt Commodores, West Virginia Mountaineers, Arkansas Razorbacks, California Golden Bears |
||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "
Not much to discuss in this week's poll. For the most part, the favorites won. The top seven remain largely unchanged, if only slightly shuffled (Texas A&M dropped due to a home loss to Oklahoma State). LSU, now with a +98 margin of victory against what is unquestionably the nation's toughest schedule, assumes the top spot. Bama's win over Arkansas boosts them to #2, and Oklahoma slips slightly to #3, mostly because the Sooners haven't been as dominant as other teams against a weakening schedule (+53 MOV, and that FSU win isn't as significant after the 'Noles dropped another game). A couple of prominent teams -- Wisconsin and Baylor -- drop despite wins, Baylor over defensive concerns (only Oklahoma State has given up more points per game, and that came against a far stronger schedule) and Wisconsin over continued schedule downgrades (the Badgers' FBS opponents are now 3-8 overall, and none of those three are in the top 75).
Some one-loss teams have entered the poll, specifically the aforementioned Texas A&M, Penn State (whose only loss was to #2 Alabama) and Arizona State (who knocked off USC over the weekend and only lost at #5 Illinois). Oregon also sneaks in off LSU's strength and a net +110 MOV, albeit against three horrible teams.
Iowa comes in at #44. All those points conceded against ISU, a loss by Pitt, and no strength of schedule help from #110 Louisiana-Monroe aren't helping.
Blogpoll Games of the Week:
#2 Alabama at #7 Florida -- The Crimson Tide's gauntlet of pain continues; a win here by either team could mean a new #1 team, given that LSU will be pounding Kentucky into oblivion. Florida's defense is the #2 scoring defense in the Blogpoll this week, only trailing -- you guessed it -- Alabama.
#12 Nebraska at #16 Wisconsin -- Big Ten play will fix concerns over Wisconsin's schedule, starting with week 1. We've been skeptical of Nebraska, mostly due to poor play by its defense and some average scheduling, but a somewhat-impressive road win at Wyoming this weekend coupled with continued strong play by Washington moved them into this week's poll.
#17 Baylor at #20 Kansas State -- I don't trust Baylor yet, mostly because TCU is their only legitimate win, and TCU has had some minor problems of their own in subsequent games. That will change Saturday if the Bears get a win in Manhattan.
#19 Clemson at #14 Virginia Tech -- This is one I want to see. Virginia Tech has demolished some pretty weak opposition so far (wins over ECU, Arkansas State, and Marshall). Clemson has back-to-back wins over Auburn (who is grossly overrated in mainstream polls) and Florida State (who might be, as well). This game will have repercussions up and down the poll.