Here we go. As you all know by UCLA is ranked number 11 in both polls. Time for us to discuss our ballot in this week's blogpoll. This is how I have the rankings lined up so far:
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | LSU |
 1 |
| 2 | West Virginia |
 1 |
| 3 | Florida | -- |
| 4 | Southern Cal | -- |
| 5 | Oklahoma |
7 |
| 6 | Penn State |
4 |
| 7 | Texas |
4 |
| 8 | California |
1 |
| 9 | Wisconsin |
1 |
| 10 | Ohio State |
3 |
| 11 | Louisville |
6 |
| 12 | Oregon |
7 |
| 13 | Nebraska |
8 |
| 14 | UCLA |
8 |
| 15 | Tennessee |
5 |
| 16 | Arkansas |
1 |
| 17 | Georgia |
10 |
| 18 | Arizona State |
5 |
| 19 | Texas A&M |
3 |
| 20 | South Carolina |
6 |
| 21 | South Florida |
5 |
| 22 | Virginia Tech |
8 |
| 23 | Auburn |
7 |
| 24 | Washington |
2 |
| 25 | Clemson |
1 |
Games watched: West Virginia at Marshall (partial), Miami at Oklahoma (partial), Nebraska at Wake Forest (partial), ND at PSU (partial), Oregon at Michigan, Boise State at Washington, NC State at Boston College (partial), USC at Georgia (partial), BYU at UCLA, TCU at Texas (partial), South Florida at Auburn (partial), Virginia Tech at LSU (partial), Colorado at ASU (partial).
For your reference here is how our ballot looked last week.
For the last spot I went back and forth between Clemson and Boston College (and Rutgers to a certain extent). To me Clemson's win over Florida State is more impressive than BC's win over NC State. Rutgers needs to beat a real football program before they get any kind of consideration. I am just not too big on "college football" programs from Jersey. As for rest of the rankings here are my thoughts:
- Obviously dropping down UCLA 8 notches will stick out. I am sure many will question why did we have UCLA ranked so high to begin with? Well I am not going to rehash all the points about why we expect UCLA to be a championship contending team this season, the Show Me Season for Karl Dorrell. Based on those expectations we started out slotting UCLA in the top-10 and moving us up to 6 after the Stanford win. Now after the BYU game it makes sense to drop them 8 spots after putting up a performance in which we were lucky to get an ugly win.
- After watching both West Virginia and LSU, I think it is pretty clear that LSU is the better team. I also believe Virginia Tech was vastly over-rated in the pre-season.
- Oklahoma just looked awesome against Miami. Man Bob Stoops is a great coach.
- Staying in the Big-12 Nebraska looked average, but they end up making a jump in this ballot because of shifting around the polls. Plus I also think even though they looked average they still pulled out a nice win over a good team on the road (which went to a BCS game last season). So that counts for something.
- I moved up Texas 4 spots despite their pathetic first half offensive performance against TCU falling behind 0-10. Unlike the UCLA coaches, Mack Brown's team made all the right adjustments came back out a complete different team, outscoring a very good Horned Frogs team 34-3 team in the second half. That is a mark of a good team.
- Don't be fooled by Cal's narrow margin of victory against Colorado State. Cal started out slow in the first half with a 17-14 lead, but they came out firing in the second half to blow the lead up to 34-14. Again note how a good coaching staff seemed to make all the right adjustments. The Rams closed the game to 34-28 by scoring on Cal's backups, and made it interesting in terms of the final score. But Cal was in control. Even though the guys at California Golden Blogs sound a little disappointed over the "letdown" effect, I thought Cal did all right.
- So Michigan sucks and I was wrong to give them a second chance and keep them at number 25. I feel bad for the boys at Maize n Brew and M Zone. But hey those guys will be getting a new coach. And it may not be premature for Michigan fans to speculate about Tedford as the next head coach at Ann Arbor. It makes all kind of sense.
- I thought Washington looked good. But we have to keep in mind Boise State is breaking in a new QB this season. Jake Locker is the real deal and I like the Huskies big backs and receivers. But UCLA still has enough talent that they should be able to handle them at the Rose Bowl, provided if they come in with the mentality of playing to win.
- When I was getting disgusted with watching our second half offense, I was switching over to ESPN to watch the Head Baw Coach, coaching his heart out against the powerhouse Dawgs, and I just kept thinking what he would do with the talent with which Dorrell's team was flailing away against BYU.
GO BRUINS.