The AP Poll is already out. Auburn moved up to the 2 spot, Miami (FL) is out of it, while the Bruins are still outside looking in.
Here is the draft for Bruins Nation's blogpoll ballot:
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ohio State | -- |
| 2 | Auburn |
 2 |
| 3 | Southern Cal |
 1 |
| 4 | West Virginia |
1 |
| 5 | Florida |
3 |
| 6 | Georgia |
1 |
| 7 | Texas |
1 |
| 8 | Michigan |
4 |
| 9 | Louisiana State |
4 |
| 10 | Iowa |
1 |
| 11 | Louisville |
4 |
| 12 | Virginia Tech |
4 |
| 13 | Oregon |
3 |
| 14 | Tennessee |
3 |
| 15 | Notre Dame |
6 |
| 16 | Clemson |
10 |
| 17 | Boston College |
4 |
| 18 | Alabama |
4 |
| 19 | UCLA | -- |
| 20 | Oklahoma | -- |
| 21 | Cal |
3 |
| 22 | TCU |
4 |
| 23 | Wisconsin | -- |
| 24 | Arizona State |
1 |
| 25 | Florida State |
12 |
Dropped Out: Miami (Florida) (#14), Nebraska (#24).
Games I watched: BYU at BC, ISU at Iowa, Michigan at ND, LSU at Auburn, Nebraska at Southern Cal, Florida at Tennessee
Games I peaked into: Miami at Louisville, Clemson at Florida State, Texas at Rice
I took in a lot of football Saturday even though the Bruins were missing from action. Started with Iowa/Iowa State and BYU/BC in the morning, and ended with the double whammy of Florida/Tennessee and Nebraska/Southern Cal. Here are some of my notes from Saturday, based upon which I have the current ranking:
The Massacre at South Bend: Like everyone else I was pretty stunned with what I saw unfolding at South Bend. I had no idea the Michigan lines were going to so thoroughly dominate their ND counterparts. Brady Quinn probably kissed his Heisman dreams goodbye along with the hopes of the Irish nation for a national championship. Another thing to take away from that game was the speed of the Wolverine wideouts. Pretty amazing stuff. I know a lot of Bruin fans out there are dreaming of an upset against the Irish, but in order to pull that out we will need speed. Right now I am not sure we have that speed in our skill positions. We definitely have good players in pretty much every position, but we need speedsters like we saw in Michigan?s Mario Mannigham. Right now I am sure we have that kind of elite talent in our roster. Of course I am not conceding the game against the Irish. But just saying that is the kind of blue chip talent it?s gonna take to get to UCLA to the level.
SEC Power: I took in a lot of the Auburn/LSU game and I loved what I saw. Yeah I love the Pac-10 offensive juggernauts, but I am always a sucker for a tough hard nosed defensive game with so much tension. LSU lost yesterday, but they still IMHO are a top-10 team.
Right now SEC to me is clearly head and shoulder above rest of the country. Florida, Auburn, LSU are at different level than all the top teams from rest of the BCS conferences (except for combination of the Buckeyes and the Wolverines from the Big-10).
Speaking of a tense, nail biting SEC game, how about Urban Meyer? We knew the man?s specialty is offense. But right now he is turning out to be a defensive master (well whoever his DC is) as Mark Richt from Georgia. And remember Richt came over to Georgia from Florida State after earning his credibility from putting together all those dazzling offenses under Bowden.
The Fall of FSU/Miami: Speaking of Bowdens, how long till Jeff Bowden gets to hang on to his job as OC in Tallahassee? Right now the Seminoles and the Hurricane programs are looking as appealing as this lady from Florida:
FSU/Miami offenses look just as effective as this Floridian's campaign
Miami got destroyed by a Louisville team which was playing without its superstar running back and eventually its starting QB. Should I even keep them in the top-25 or should I kick them out and bring in Boise State?
State of the Pac-10:I didn?t get to watch the Oklahoma/Oregon game. But from what I have heard (and seen) from folks who didn?t have anything invested (emotionally or financially) in any of the teams, the Sooners got robbed. Wouldn?t surprise me considering Pac-10 referees are probably the worst in the country.
Speaking of the Pac-10 after the first two weeks there are three tiers of Pac-10 teams emerging:
- Tier 1: Southern Cal, Cal, Oregon
- Tier 2: ASU
- Tier 3: Washington, Washington State, Arizona, Oregon State, Stanford
Now ASU hasn't shown much. Another meek performance against Colorado. And Cal's QB Nate Longshore doesn't look like a world beater. So right now it looks like our pre-season minimum expectations look more than reasonable threshold for Karl Dorrell and his coaching staff. Hopefully they are going to get the job done when we get back in action next Saturday.
As always, please let me know (based on facts of course) if something in the ballot looks whacked and should be adjusted. I believe I have till tomorrow to submit any changes to ballots. So I will be reading all the feedback/comments in this thread.
GO BRUINS.