2008 sj.com college football poll -- (1/9) Final Poll, Page 118

Re: 2008 SportsJournalists.com college football poll -- PRESEASON, Aug. 18

yes. Always. Forever....

And there's still one out... any guesses as to which poster has three minutes eight seconds to finish?

 

Re: 2008 SportsJournalists.com college football poll -- PRESEASON, Aug. 18

east carolina is the first conference usa team to beat ranked teams in consecutive weeks; keeping in mind boise was in last year's bowl game. but it's something.

also, believed to be first time a kicker (nebraskas's alex henery) booted 4 field goals from same distance in same game (44 yards).

 

Re: 2008 SportsJournalists.com college football poll -- PRESEASON, Aug. 18

No. 1: USC
No. 25: Central Florida, but barely.
Biggest rise: Arizona State (16), Texas Tech (19) and Wake Forest (20), each moving up four spots out of attrition.
Biggest fall: Clemson, 8 to 24.
Leaving the ballot: Virginia Tech (16), Michigan (19), Tennessee (22).
Entering the ballot: Alabama (21), Penn State (22), South Carolina (23).
Bubbling under: Virginia Tech, Michigan, Tennessee, Utah, Vanderbilt.
Still being vetted: UCLA, East Carolina.
Dead last in Division I-A: Idaho. Lost 70-0 to Arizona.

 

Re: 2008 SportsJournalists.com college football poll -- PRESEASON, Aug. 18

Slappy, consider it done.

 

Re: 2008 SportsJournalists.com college football poll -- PRESEASON, Aug. 18

Besides what others have said, my gripe would be Penn State at No. 10 - one spot behind Ohio State. There is just no way that those teams are that close. Like lots of other people, I think that Ohio State won't be there at the end (even if the end is the very end, like the title game) but they have incredible talent everywhere. Penn State has excellent talent at wide receiver, decent talent at RB and most everywhere else is a question mark to a greater or lesser degree.

And, FWIW, here's mine (last week in parenthesis):

1. USC (3)
2. Georgia (2)
3. Ohio State (1)
4. Florida (4)
5. Wisconsin (5)
6. Missouri (7)
7. West Virginia (6)
8. Oklahoma (8)
9. Alabama (18)
10. Kansas (10)
11. Arizona State (11)
12. LSU (13)
13. Texas Tech (14)
14. Texas (19)
15. BYU (NR)
16. Oregon (16)
17. South Carolina (24)
18. Auburn (20)
19. Penn State (21)
20. South Florida (23)
21. Wake Forest (NR)
22. Fresno St. (NR)
23. Miami, Fla. (25)
24. Tulsa (NR)
25. Illinois (NR)

Out: Va. Tech (was 9), Pitt (was 12), Clemson (was 15), Boston College (was 22)

 

Re: 2008 SportsJournalists.com college football poll -- PRESEASON, Aug. 18

Idaho has got to be the worst Division I team by far. I would hate to see what Appy State or some of the better I-AA teams would do to them. For comparison's sake, last yeat Hawaii beat them by four touchdowns.

I'm also not immune at this point to what teams did last year/what is expected of them. I willing to give a much bigger break to Florida because their only non-BCS conference teams this season are Hawaii, who they crushed, and the Citadel in the second to last game of the season. If they keep winning.

Arizona's next two are against Toledo and New Mexico, as compared to Miami (Fla.) and Tennessee.

 

Re: 2008 SportsJournalists.com college football poll -- Week 1 (9/2), Page 19

How do you spell 'fraud'?

By SLAPPY 4428
Poll Pot

What have we learned from Week One, where title hopes don’t die but public respect does?

We’ve learned that coaches change but Pitt’s still a fraud, Michigan-Notre Dame will be a better game than it was last year only because Notre Dame will only have one loss going in and we haven’t seen orange that large on the sideline since Dee Andros left Oregon State and Abe Gibron left the Bears.

We saw a weekend of overachievers and underachievers. We saw one team, in particular, find its name under the dictionary definition of “fraud.” If only they knew how to spell it. Maybe we’ll help.

-- Comment of the weekend: One poll member submitted his ballot as “The Oh-My-God-Did-Did-Tennessee-Really-Just-Lose-to-UCLA’s-JV?-Edition.” Not only yes, but looked bad in the second half doing it.

-- Lousy start to a coaching stint: A tie between Michigan’s Rich Rodriguez and his yard-a-minute rushing offense and Texas A&M’s Mike Sherman, who lost to Arkansas State. Seriously. Arkansas State.

-- Elephants are jumping on the Bammer bandwagon in packs, which sets up an interesting dilemma. The same talk show callers who complained all summer that the media is setting up Nick Saban to fail by ranking the Tide are now calling saying they should be ranked higher. The Bammers did play pretty well against Clemson on Saturday night, not only looking good in the process but returning the Pussycats to their rightful place in an 8-4 world. Death Valley? Any more games like that and it won't even qualify as a Free Clinic.

-- My, aren’t the schedule makers kind to Pete Carroll? USC recovers from that grueling flight to Virginia with a week off before Ohio State, then gets another week off before diving into a top notch Pac-10 foe – Oregon State, which lost to Stanford.

-- Some people just can’t stand others doing well. After UCLA won on Monday night, the Rick Neuheisel bashers couldn’t jump Slick Rick fast enough. Then they complain about Ty Willingham and his warm, fuzzy personality and a PR sense not seen this side of Vladimir Putin. When the coaching search starts anew, Mike Franchione’s available.

-- Outing alert: One pollster ranked five SEC teams in the top 11, eight in the top 25 – including one who was picked by no one else. I apologize for letting Mike Slive in the poll.

-- Next bandwagon to have the wheels fall off? East Carolina, which stopped perennial disappointment Virginia Tech at home, but will find things different with West Virginia this week. How did they get two games like that at home anyway?

-- Someday, you old folks can tell your grandkids about the battle for Florida between the Gators, Miami and Florida State and how they all played each other each season and were among the nation’s best. The Gators are still there, but the battle for Florida is this week between South Florida and Central Florida – which until two years ago was like DeVry playing the University of Phoenix. Without the excitement.

-- Understand that there were some good things this weekend. Bowling Green made a statement win at the expense of Pitt, showing that despite what Sports Illustrated and the Wyoming Cowboys think, the MAC has good football. And if Central Michigan wins this week, the bandwagon will grow.

-- Coastal Carolina. Chattanooga. Eastern Washington. Tennessee-Martin. Those are Bracket Busters in February, not season openers for football.

-- Kindly remember to post your ballots by PM instead of in the poll. Please. Although for some, I’d accept by carrier pigeon if it meant getting them on time.

-- So I hope that you’ve enjoyed the first week of college football and all it entails; the teams on the way up and the teams that have been exposed as frauds. If you haven’t, you’re dumb as dish water – or at least as the 40 or so football players from D-II Miles College who were held out of Sunday’s game with Stillman because the compliance department wasn’t sure if they were eligible. That’s not academic failure, that’s Baylor under Dave Bliss and then some.

SportsJournalists.com COLLEGE FOOTBALL POLL
9/2/2008
RK. TEAM (1st) PTS Last
1. USC (23) 1201 1
2. Georgia (10) 1146 2
3. Ohio State (9) 1121 3
4. Oklahoma (3) 1099 4
5. Florida (2) 1065 5
6. Missouri 997 7
7. LSU (2) 981 6
8. West Virginia (1) 864 8
9. Texas 812 10
10. Auburn 789 11
11. Wisconsin 700 12
12. Texas Tech 658 13
13. Kansas 641 14
14. Arizona State 582 15
15. BYU 495 18
16. Alabama 459 NR
17. Oregon 447 20
18. South Florida 383 21
19. Penn State 371 22
20. Wake Forest 286 23
21. Fresno State 176 25
22. Illinois 169 19
23. Clemson 144 9
24. Utah 130 NR
25. South Carolina 96 NR

Also receiving votes: UCLA 88, California 60, Tennessee 59, Cincinnati 39, Virginia Tech 39, East Carolina 38, Boston College 18, Nebraska 11, Kentucky 9, Bowling Green 9, Central Florida 8, Colorado 8, UConn 7, Oklahoma State 7, TCU 5, Boise State 4, Miami (Fla.) 3, Central Michigan 2, Tulsa 2, Rutgers 1, Arizona 1, Purdue 1.



The SportsJournalists.com college football poll committee: Slappy4428 (chairman), 2muchcoffeeman, 93devil, Agate Page, Amraeder, Angola, Appgrad05, Azom, Barsuk, Bubbler, Buckweaver, Budcrew08, BYH, Cadet, Della9250, Diabeetus, Dickens Cider, Dixiehack, Dparker85, Elliotte Friedman, GB-Hack, Hammer Pants, Hank Scorpio, Huggy, Hustle, Idaho, Inkywretch, Joe Schmoe, Joel Hammond, jps, KYsportswriter, Madhavok, Mustangj17, OJ1414, Orville Redenbacher, Oz, Perennially Overrated, Piotr Rasputin, Precious Roy, Rufino, Rumpleforeskin, Spnited, Sportschick, Stagger Lee, Starman, Sxysptswrtr, Tom Petty, Trooper Bari, Songbird, Zebracoy, Zeke12.

 

Re: 2008 SportsJournalists.com college football poll -- PRESEASON, Aug. 18

Here was my reasoning on Penn State/Ohio State:

Ohio State beat Youngstown State, 43-0, it was 26-0 at half. Youngstown State, a 1-AA, went 7-4 last season and did not make the playoffs.
Penn State beat Coastal Carolina, 66-10. it was 38-7 at half. Coastal Carolina, a 1-AA, went 5-6 last season and did not make the playoffs. How much difference can there be after these one-game samples?

 

Re: 2008 SportsJournalists.com college football poll -- WEEK 1 (9/2), Page 19

Well done on a tight deadline, slap.

You're no fraud.

 

Re: 2008 SportsJournalists.com college football poll -- WEEK 1 (9/2), Page 19

The coaches poll is out and looks very similar to ours.

 

Re: 2008 SportsJournalists.com college football poll -- WEEK 1 (9/2), Page 19

Mike Bliss the NASCAR driver?

 

Re: 2008 SportsJournalists.com college football poll -- PRESEASON, Aug. 18

You're using a different method. I'm trying to quantify the players on the field, in which there is a distinct difference between Ohio State and Penn State.

And Slappy, very well done as always.