2013 SJ College Football Poll: FINAL POLL POSTED!!!

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: UPDATED; Week 3 on page 8!

What does that say about Bama then, giving up 42 points?

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: UPDATED; Week 3 on page 8!

It says they've got issues on defense as well. But they won, and that defense did get a key play on the pick-6. As long as Bama's winning, they'll get my vote for No. 1.

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: UPDATED; Week 3 on page 8!

Week 4

Week 4

1, Ohio State
2, Alabama
3, Oregon
4, LSU
5, Clemson
6, Stanford
7, Florida State
8, A&M
9, Louisville
10, Georgia
11, Michigan
12, UCLA
13, Oklahoma
14, Northwestern
15, Washington
16, Baylor
17, Miami
18, Florida
19, Notre Dame
20, Wisconsin
21, Ole Miss
22, Oklahoma State
23, Sparty
24, Maryland
25, Fresno State

USC's defense is exceptional and the biggest reason the Trojans are 3-1 and good enough to be top 25. Trojans have given up 44 points in 4 games against FBS schools. Granted, it's been against Hawaii, Wazzu, BC and Utah State -- but Utah State's offense is very good. I watched about half the game yesterday. Keeton finished 21 of 39 for 179 and 2 TDs after averaging 313 yards in the first 3 games. The biggest shocker was that Kiffin called for a long pass down the middle, beautifully thrown by Kessler and caught by Grimble, for a 30-yard TD and 14-7 lead. USC managed a FG in the second half. That said, USC's defense is as good as there is in the country.

Interesting stat about Utah State: Last 5 losses are by 13 total points.

No. 25 was between Fresno and USC. Fresno has 2 good wins -- Rutgers (which just beat an SEC team) and Boise.

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: UPDATED; Week 3 on page 8!

Ain't too much changed, still:

WEEK 4
1. Alabama Crimson Tide
2. Georgia Bulldogs
3. Oregon Ducks
4. Ohio State Buckeyes
5. Clemson Tigers
6. Stanford Cardinal
7. South Carolina Gamecocks
8. Oklahoma State Cowboys
9. Florida State Seminoles
10. Oklahoma Sooners
11. Texas A&M Aggies
12. Louisiana State Tigers
13. Louisville Cardinals
14. Miami (Fla.) Hurricanes
15. California-Los Angeles Bruins
16. Florida Gators
17. Mississippi Rebels
18. Wisconsin Badgers
19. Northwestern Wildcats
20. Baylor Bears
21. Texas Tech Red Raiders
22. Michigan Wolverines
23. Arizona State Sun Devils
24. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
25. Maryland Terrapins

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: UPDATED; Week 3 on page 8!

1. Alabama (3-0)
2. Ohio State (4-0)
3. Oregon (3-0)
4. Clemson (3-0)
5. Stanford (3-0)
6. Louisville (4-0)
7. LSU (4-0)
8. Georgia (2-1)
9. Florida State (3-0)
10. South Carolina (2-1)
11. Texas A&M (3-1)
12. Oklahoma (3-0)
13. Oklahoma State (3-0)
14. UCLA (3-0)
15. Northwestern (4-0)
16. Baylor (3-0)
17. Washington (3-0)
18. Wisconsin (3-1)
19. Michigan (4-0)
20. Notre Dame (3-1)
21. Ole Miss (3-0)
22. Miami (3-0)
23. Florida (2-1)
24. Texas Tech (4-0)
25. Nebraska (2-1)

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: UPDATED; Week 3 on page 8!

1 Alabama 1
2 Clemson 2
3 Florida State 3
4 Oregon 4
5 Ohio State 5
6 Louisville 6
7 Stanford 7
8 Georgia 8
9 LSU 9
10 Oklahoma State 10
11 Texas A&M 11
12 UCLA 12
13 Miami 13
14 South Carolina 14
15 Washington 15
16 Oklahoma 16
17 Michigan 17
18 Northwestern 18
19 Ole Miss 19
20 Baylor 20
21 Florida 21
22 Texas Tech 22
23 Wisconsin 24
24 Notre Dame 25
25 Georgia Tech NR

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: UPDATED; Week 3 on page 8!

I was so hoping North Texas State would somehow upend the Bulldogs so Versatile would have to drop them to third.

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: VOTERS ... NEED WEEK 4 BALLOTS!!!

New poll:

1. Alabama [1]
2. Oregon [2]
3. Stanford [4]
4. Ohio State [3]
5. Clemson [5]
6. Louisville [6]
7. Florida State [7]
8. Texas A&M [8]
9. Georgia [9]
10. LSU [10]
11. South Carolina [12]
12. Oklahoma [13]
13. Miami (FL) [14]
14. UCLA [15]
15. Michigan [11]
16. Notre Dame [16]
17. Northwestern [17]
18. Oklahoma State [18]
19. Florida [19]
20. Baylor [20]
21. Washington [21]
22. Ole Miss [22]
23. Texas Tech [24]
24. Arizona State [23]
25. Wisconsin [NR]

OUT: Northern Illinois [25]

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: VOTERS ... NEED WEEK 4 BALLOTS!!!

1] Alabama (1)
2] Oregon (2)
3] Stanford (3)
4] Clemson (4)
5] LSU (6)
6] Ohio State (5)
7] Florida State (7)
8] Texas A&M (9)
9] Georgia (8)
10] Louisville (10)
11] Oklahoma (11)
12] South Carolina (12)
13] Baylor (14)
14] Oklahoma State (13)
15] UCLA (16)
16] Ole Miss (17)
17] Miami, FL (18)
18] Washington (20)
19] Florida (19)
20] Wisconsin (23)
21] Texas Tech (21)
22] Northwestern (22)
23] Michigan (17)
24] Nebraska (25)
25] Fresno State (NR)

In: Fresno State
Out: Notre Dame
Biggest Rise: Wisconsin (23-20, +3)
Biggest Fall: Michigan (17-23, -6)
Hypothetical 26: Notre Dame

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: VOTERS ... NEED WEEK 4 BALLOTS!!!



Cougin' it on a Saturday night

By I SHOULD COCO
Old Man on Campus

Most copy deskers will agree: there’s nothing worse than a columnist who, with no other decent ideas, bores readers with a “what I did this weekend” column.

I mean, if you’ve got nothing interesting to say, don’t write a column that week, right?

So anyway, I hit the road on Saturday evening to catch the resumption of the white-hot border rivalry between Idaho and Washington State, and can’t say enough good things about the campus in Pullman.

I guess describing the Vandals-Cougars rivalry as “white hot” may be a bit of an exaggeration. With the campuses a mere eight miles apart, Saturday’s matchup felt more like a YMCA men’s league basketball game between groups of drinking buddies who frequent the same bar.

Idaho’s football team might finish sixth if it played in the FCS Big Sky Conference, but instead, the Vandals are taking a weekly beating as the nation’s worst FBS squad in the name of fundraising for the university athletic department. At least they didn’t have to go far for this weekend’s 42-0 drilling, and Washington State had a chance to get in a scrimmage before resuming its Pac-12 schedule.

But back to the campus: Can the smallish college town of Pullman, amid the rolling, semi-desert hills of southeast Washington, provide a big-time college football atmosphere?

The answer is a resounding yes.

Unlike many Division I campuses, Martin Stadium is smack dab in the middle of Washington State, with the student union, library and dorms all around it. But as I’ve always said, even if you’re deaf and blind, just follow your nose and you’ll find the stadium.

Washington State solves its lack of parking near the stadium by closing an adjacent street and turning it into one giant tailgate party. Get a parking permit ahead of time, load up your SUV and you’re good to go. Judging by the card tables filled with empty booze bottles, the scent of grilling meat and the huge caldron of chili I was graciously allowed to sample on Wilson Street, Coug fans know how to tailgate.

Martin Stadium is probably the smallest in the Pac-12 in terms of capacity (32,000 ... although they’ve stuffed 40,000-plus into it), but the amped-up student section made up for it Saturday night. The students take up most of the stands on the Cougars’ sideline, and helped by the late start-time, they were in full voice and body paint.

(As an aside ... it’s fun walking around campus with two 14-year-old boys and watching their heads turn as if on a swivel. That is, unless a certain 41-year-old’s head was also on a swivel ... )

Finally, it looks like the Cougs might have a decent enough team to draw in the casual fans and regularly fill Martin Stadium again. Granted, when you play a team that’s eight miles away, it helps to fill the end zone seats. But Washington State already has sold out its next game in Pullman (Oregon State), and its matchup this weekend with Stanford in Seattle is a hot ticket as well. Now if only the Cardinal defense was as porous as the Vandals ...

*********************
​

After arriving home early Sunday morning from the thrilling Idaho-Wazzu game described above, I briefly considered canceling this week’s SportsJournalists.com college football poll.

Nothing — and I mean NOTHING — of interested happened this weekend for ranked teams. The closest we had to interesting games between ranked teams (at least for those of you who don’t have Fresno State in your poll) were relatively easy home wins by LSU and Stanford over not-quite-ready-for-prime-time conference foes.

In other words, not much changed in the following poll. But here’s where things stand as we finally head into the meat of BCS conference schedules:


SportsJournalists.com COLLEGE FOOTBALL POLL
WEEK FOUR POLL — 9/23/13
RK. TEAM (1st) PTS PREVIOUS
1. Alabama (24) 649 1
2. Oregon 594 2
3. Ohio St. (1) 583 3
4. Clemson 573 4
5. Stanford 546 5
6. Louisiana St. 492 6
7. Florida St. 484 7
8. Georgia 454 8
(tie) Louisville 454 9
10. Texas A&M 411 10
11. South Carolina 343 11
12. UCLA 336 13
13. Oklahoma 331 14
14. Oklahoma St. 325 12
15. Miami 292 16
16. Washington 237 18
17. Baylor 217 19
18. Michigan 215 15
19. Northwestern 214 17
20. Ole Miss 150 21
21. Florida 146 20
22. Notre Dame 103 22
23. Wisconsin 77 24t
24. Texas Tech 76 24t
25. Fresno St. 53 —

Also receiving votes: Arizona St. 25, Maryland 14, Nebraska 12, Northern Illinois 12, Central Florida 8, Michigan St. 7, Auburn 5, Georgia Tech 5, Arizona 4, Washington St. 2, Colorado 1.

The SportsJournalists.com college football poll committee: I Should Coco (tabulator), Oz, Versatile, Della9250, Huggy, Mile High, KYSportswriter, Dragon Steamboat, dparker85, McNuggets Man, Rumpleforeskin, Donnie, in his element, Songbird, Layman, albert77, Mizzougrad96, Starman, Madhavok, TheWritingWaffle, Suicide Squeezer, the_lorax, SportsHack1818, slappy4428, ScottWColeman, dragonzo3, Tommy Dreamer. Not voting: MysteryMeat II, Inky_Wretch, three_bags_full, Alma, andrewkahn, Douglas.

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: NEW Week 4 poll is on PAGE 10!

1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Oregon
4. Clemson
5. Stanford
6. Louisville
7. LSU
8. Florida State
9. Georgia
10. Texas A&M
11. Oklahoma State
12. UCLA
13. Michigan
14. Miami
15. Oklahoma
16. South Carolina
17. Washington
18. Northwestern
19. Notre Dame
20. Florida
21. Baylor
22. Texas Tech
23. Arizona State
24. Ole Miss
25. Fresno State

Only one thing changed: Dropping Michigan State from 25th and adding Fresno State.

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: NEW Week 4 poll is on PAGE 10!

Coco, thanks for writing about your trip to my favorite city. Glad you and your crew had a good time.