2012 SJ.com College Football Poll -- FINAL poll finally posted on page 12!

Re: 2012 SportsJournalists.com College Football Poll -- UPDATED, Nov. 26 poll posted on Page 11!

A quick update ... running a bit behind this morning; hope to have things posted between 12-12:30 Pacific time.

And we're missing quite a few votes. If that's you, I can still count your ballot if you get it to me within the next hour.

Thanks.

 

Re: 2012 SportsJournalists.com College Football Poll -- UPDATED, Nov. 26 poll posted on Page 11!

Jim Delany’s Christmas letter

By I SHOULD COCO
Big Ten alumni

Dear Big Ten Network ... er, family:

It’s been another interesting year here in the ever-expanding Middle West. We’ve had our share of successes and challenges. But Christmas is a time to count your blessings and brag about them to others, so here’s how our family is doing.

Once again, our champion is Wisconsin, which will spend the holidays in Pasadena again this year with its large group of large fans. It took a while for Bret Bielema to remember that Russell Wilson took his game to Seattle, but once he did, Monte Ball and the boys showed how great they run against teams that can’t tackle. Seventy points in the league championship game! And they say Big Ten football is boring!

Our new kid in town (for now), Nebraska, did itself proud by winning the Legends Division and beating challenging nonconference foes such as Southern Miss, Arkansas State and Idaho State. I’m sure the Cornhuskers will bounce back strong against Georgia in the Capital One Bowl. What’s in your wallet, Nebraska fans? Tickets to Orlando, of course.

Michigan fans will flock to Florida, too, for the holidays, as the Wolverines look forward to a meeting with South Carolina in the Outback Bowl. Not to brag, but Michigan’s the best four-loss team in the country, and that means a lot this time of year.

Northwestern took on all comers and posted three BCS nonconference wins this year, en route to a very nice 9-3 record. The Wildcats are a great example of how academic and athletic excellence can come together. No wonder they’re such an attractive team for whatever the hell that Jacksonville bowl game is called these days. The stadium should be packed for Northwestern-Mississippi State, just like when the Jaguars play there.

Michigan State went from the verge of staying home for the holidays to our league’s fifth-best bowl team in the span of a weekend. That says a lot about the Spartans. Enjoy dining on Buffalo Wild Wings and Horned Frogs in your bowl game, and keep recruiting those overachieving QBs from Midland, Mich. That’s a winning strategy!

The Minnesota Golden Gophers posted a perfect 4-0 nonconference record, won a couple league games and viola! They’re headed for glory deep in the heart of Texas in the Meineke Car Care Bowl. Great job, boys. We’re so proud.

Speaking of the Boilermakers, is there a hotter coachless team in the country than Purdue? Didn’t think so. The Boilermaker Special will chug its way down to Dallas to battle Oklahoma State after closing the season with three straight wins over Iowa, Illinois and Indiana. That’s known as running the gauntlet, friends.

Of course, every family has its share of challenges, and the Big Ten is no exception. Ohio State performed admirably on the field, eliminating every foe like the Buckeyes were a tattoo removal business. A shame the NCAA had to come down so hard on them. And Penn State overcame so much adversity to have a successful year on the field. (We won’t mention that adversity during the holiday season).

Illinois, Indiana and Iowa ... well, they play some great basketball at those fine institutions. Or maybe it’s wrestling. Whatever. Remember, winter sports are just as important as football to the Big Ten family.

Finally, we’re happy to announce that despite our conference’s advanced age, we’re expecting two new members to join the family soon! So Merry Christmas to the folks in College Park and New Brunswick as we welcome Maryland and Rutgers to our tradition of excellence. Our league offices are located near Chicago. That's the big city in the northeast corner of Illinois, in case you're wondering.

On behalf of everyone at the league office, I want to wish you and yours a happy holiday season. And don’t forget that badgering your local cable system to include the Big Ten Network is a great coffer, er, stocking stuffer. Let's do our part to make sure those field hockey and volleyball matchups are available to sports fans across the nation!

Spreading the holiday wealth,
Jim Delany

• •

Our last poll before the bowl season, and what do we find? A couple interesting things.

First of all, note the now razor-thin margin between No. 12 Oklahoma and No. 13 Florida St. Would have made a fine bowl matchup, don't you think?

Of course, just like the AP, USA Today Coaches and Harris polls, Nebraska's shellacking at the hands of Wisconsin shuffled the standings and left Northern Illinois in the top 16 of our rankings. Good for the Huskies; they've had a great season, and shouldn't be hated for the idiotic mathematical gyrations of the BCS system.

Finally, how 'bout those Northwestern Wildcats. They moved ahead of Michigan in our poll without playing a game. I won't even try to explain that one.

Here's the rest of our poll; thanks to everyone who has voted either every week or just about every week. There were far fewer "reminder" PMs sent this year, and I'm grateful for that.

SportsJournalists.com COLLEGE FOOTBALL POLL
WEEK FOURTEEN — 12/3/12
RK. TEAM (1st) PTS PREVIOUS
1. Notre Dame (23) 695 1
2. Alabama (3) 660 2
3. Ohio St. (2) 622 3
4. Oregon 586 5
5. Florida 571 6
6. Georgia 541 4
7. Stanford 524 9
8. Kansas St. 522 7
9. Louisiana St. 490 8
10. Texas A&M 459 10
11. South Carolina 416 11
12. Oklahoma 398 12
13. Florida St. 396 13
14. Clemson 337 14
15. Oregon St. 276 17
16. Northern Illinois 266 19
17. Boise St. 186 21
18. Utah St. 173 20
19. UCLA 170 16
20. Northwestern 133 24
21. Michigan 132 22
22. Nebraska 129 14
23. Louisville 110 —
24. San Jose St. 71 —
25. Kent St. 55 18


Also receiving votes: Texas 37, Oklahoma St. 23, Penn St. 17, Tulsa 15, Vanderbilt 14, Mississippi St. 11, Wisconsin 11, Arizona 10, Rutgers 10, Fresno St. 9, Texas Tech 9, Cincinnati 6, San Diego St. 6, Ball St. 2.

The SportsJournalists.com college football poll committee: I Should Coco (tabulator), dparker85, Della9250, the_lorax, KYSportsWriter, TrooperBari, Hank_Scorpio, McNuggetsMan, azom, joe_schmoe, Precious Roy, Versatile, MileHigh, dragonzo, Oz, slappy4428, DragonSteamboat, Starman, HanSenSE, Layman, Rumpleforeskin, huggy, NorrinRadd, Madhavok, Inky_Wretch, Mystery Meat II, Suicide Squeezer, Donnie in his element. Not voting: Tommy Dreamer, DragonSteamboat, scottwcoleman, Mizzougrad96, Matt Stephens.

 

Re: 2012 SportsJournalists.com College Football Poll -- NEW Dec. 3 poll posted on Page 12!

shit. I missed two weeks in a row. Sorry Coco.

 

Re: 2012 SportsJournalists.com College Football Poll -- NEW Dec. 3 poll posted on Page 12!

Wasn't able to sneak my ballot in ahead of a much-needed vacation. Had I, it would have looked like this:

1. Notre Dame 1
2. Alabama 2
3. Oregon 3
4. Ohio St. 4
5. Georgia 5
6. Florida 6
7. Kansas St. 7
8. LSU 8
9. Stanford 10
10. Texas A&M 9
11. South Carolina 11
12. Oklahoma 12
13. Florida St. 13
14. Clemson 14
15. Oregon St. 16
16. Northern Illinois 19
17. UCLA 17
18. Kent St. 18
19. Nebraska 15
20. Michigan 21
21. Penn St. 23
22. Utah St. 24
23. Louisville 25
24. Texas 20
25. Boise St. NR

OUT: Oklahoma St. 22

By my calculations, my ballot would have had only three real implications on the overall poll: Stanford and Kansas St. would be tied at 7, UCLA would be 18 ahead of Utah St., and Northwestern would fall to 22 behind Michigan and Nebraska.

 

Re: 2012 SportsJournalists.com College Football Poll -- NEW Dec. 3 poll posted on Page 12!

Time to dust this thread off and remind all those poll voters ... I will need your final 2012 ballot on TUESDAY morning, by noon CST if possible.

Obviously, any ballots received on Monday night would be greatly appreciated.

And having just reread the last poll story ... funny that the only coach's name I mentioned was Bielema. It's like Delany really DID write the thing!

 

Re: 2012 SportsJournalists.com College Football Poll -- FINAL ballots due TUESDAY morning

This bowl season wreaked havoc on the middle of the poll, save for the mid-majors. This was definitely the hardest poll to piece together outside of the Top 12 or so. A bunch of 4 and 5 loss teams with bowl losses and not enough space and too many variables.

1. Alabama (13-1)
2. Ohio State (12-0)
3. Stanford (11-2)
4. Oregon (12-1)
5. Georgia (12-2)
6. Notre Dame (12-1)
7. Texas A&M (11-2)
8. Florida (11-2)
9. South Carolina (11-2)
10. Florida State (12-2)
11. Clemson (11-2)
12. Kansas State (11-2)
13. LSU (10-3)
14. Utah State (11-2)
15. San Jose State (11-2)
16. Boise State (11-2)
17. Louisville (11-2)
18. Oklahoma (10-3)
19. Northwestern (10-3)
20. Texas (9-4)
21. Oregon State (9-4)
22. Vanderbilt (9-4)
23. UCLA (9-5)
24. Northern Illinois (12-2)
25. Nebraska (10-4)

 

Re: 2012 SportsJournalists.com College Football Poll -- FINAL ballots due TUESDAY morning

Voted Alabama my preseason No. 1. Voted Alabama my end-of-season No. 1.

1. Alabama
2. Oregon
3. Ohio State
4. Texas A&M
5. Georgia
6. Notre Dame
7. Stanford
8. South Carolina
9. Florida State
10. Clemson

 

Re: 2012 SportsJournalists.com College Football Poll -- FINAL ballots due TUESDAY morning

That time of year, to compare where my rankings ended up to where they began. Opening rankings in parentheses.

1. Alabama (2)
2. Ohio State (NR)
3. Oregon (5)
4. Notre Dame (NR)
5. Stanford (NR)
6. Texas A&M (NR)
7. Georgia (12)
8. Louisville (NR)
9. Kansas State (16)
10. South Carolina (7)
11. Florida State (6)
12. Clemson (17)
13. Florida (25)
14. Boise State (18)
15. LSU (3)
16. Oklahoma (4)
17. Northwestern (NR)
18. Texas (20)
19. Oregon State (NR)
20. Nebraska (10)
21. Vanderbilt (NR)
22. Cincinnati (NR)
23. Tulsa (NR)
24. Utah State (NR)
25. Baylor (NR)

FAIL: Southern Cal (1), Michigan (8), Virginia Tech (9), Wisconsin (11), Michigan State (13), West Virginia (14), Arkansas (15), Oklahoma State (19), Utah (21), TCU (22), Missouri (23), Georgia Tech (24)

I also had 12 wrong picks in my preseason rankings last year, if I recall correctly.

 

Re: 2012 SportsJournalists.com College Football Poll -- FINAL ballots due TUESDAY morning

1. Alabama Crimson Tide
2. Ohio State Buckeyes
3. Oregon Ducks
4. Georgia Bulldogs
5. Texas A&M Aggies
6. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
7. Stanford Cardinal
8. South Carolina Gamecocks
9. Clemson Tigers
10. Florida Gators
11. Florida State Seminoles
12. Louisiana State Tigers
13. Louisville Cardinals
14. Utah State Aggies
15. Kansas State Wildcats
16. Northwestern Wildcats
17. San Jose State Spartans
18. Penn State Nittany Lions
19. Vanderbilt Commodores
20. Boise State Broncos
21. Cincinnati Bearcats
22. Oklahoma Sooners
23. Texas Longhorns
24. Nebraska Cornhuskers
25. Michigan Wolverines

 

Re: 2012 SportsJournalists.com College Football Poll -- FINAL ballots due TUESDAY morning

Was your omission of Louisville intentional?

 

Re: 2012 SportsJournalists.com College Football Poll -- FINAL ballots due TUESDAY morning

Nice catch. Fixed. I didn't know what I wanted to do with the Cardinals, except to keep them below Florida. I fixed the above post.

 

Re: 2012 SportsJournalists.com College Football Poll -- FINAL ballots due TUESDAY morning

1. Alabama (2)
2. Oregon (3)
3. Ohio State (4)
4. Notre Dame (1)
5. Georgia (5)
6. Stanford (9)
7. Florida (6)
8. Texas A&M (10)
9. South Carolina (11)
10. Florida State (13)
11. Clemson (14)
12. LSU (8 )
13. Kansas St. (7)
14. Oklahoma (12)
15. Louisville (23)
16. Utah St. (22)
17. Texas (24)
18. Oregon St. (15)
19. Baylor (NR)
20. UCLA (17)
21. Nebraska (19)
22. Michigan (20)
23. Penn State (21)
24. Boise St. (25)
25. Northern Illinois (16)

OUT: Kent St. (18)