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

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: NEW Week 6 poll POSTED on page 10.



One more bite of the BCS top-secret recipe

By I SHOULD COCO
Finger-lickin’ good

There’s a lot for college football fans to look forward to this weekend. Unbeaten ACC powers Florida State and Clemson collide in a prime-time televised clash. UCLA takes its perfect record to Stanford for a date with an angry Cardinal team. And the BCS releases the first edition of its final set of rankings.

Hmmm ... one of those seems as misplaced as a drumstrick among a modern-day bucket of KFC’s processed protein. But for many (mostly SEC) football fans, the Bowl Championship Series ratings are an exciting way to see where your team sits in its quest for the Crystal Football.

Now, some would say the only thing exciting about the BCS rankings is they’ll finally be gone after this season. I say let’s begrudgingly give credit where credit’s due. Before we throw dirt on the top-secret, computer generated system of goofy decimals and southern-fried football dominance, let’s consider a few positives the BCS has brought to college football.

I’ll take a slug of Pepto-Bismol to keep the nausea at bay as we discuss:

1. No more split national championships. Even the most cynical will admit that the BCS championship game was NOT solely created for TV ratings. From 1990 through 1997, we had at least four instances of split national championships, in both the AP and UPI/USA Today polls and the public’s perception. (I am including Penn State’s unbeaten 1994 squad in this tally).

Beginning in the 1998 season, a variety of polls, top-secret computer rankings and (at one time) actual losses on the field were used to ensure the nation’s top two teams met in a New Year’s week bowl game. While there have been loud grumblings about some of the championship game participants — and a huge mess created by USC boosters in the mid-2000s — it’s tough to argue against the worthiness of most Crystal Football winners.

2. Data and talent trumps hype. For as much as we bemoan the “exclusivity” of the six BCS conferences and their Daddy Rich buddy, Notre Dame, the fact is before the Bowl Championship Series was created, it was an even smaller group of schools which had a shot at the “mythical” national title.

To trot out a particularly overused example, everyone talks about Boise State’s chances to be a “BCS buster” and break into the national championship game. The truth is the current system MADE the Broncos into a national phenomenon, because it pushed computer rankings and the importance of polls ahead of things like tradition and media hype. Before the BCS system, national championship contenders included Texas, Notre Dame, USC, the Michigan/Ohio State winner, and a handful of traditional SEC and Big 8 powers. Everyone else was playing for the Bluebonnet Bowl. And speaking of bowl games ...

3. Unlike the upcoming national semifinals and championship, the BCS worked with the bowl system. It rotated its national championship among four New Year’s Day bowl games (well, they all were on New Year’s Day at one point, but that’s another story ...) and preserved traditional BCS conference ties to the Rose, Sugar and Orange bowls (kind of). And the Fiesta Bowl managed to avoid hosting the Big East champion every season.

The Cotton Bowl was left out of the party, but don’t worry ... the Big D will get its revenge by ponying up mucho dinero to host the new national title game in Jerry Jones’ sparkling new stadium. And the two semifinal games — played either New Year’s Eve (yuck) or, when they include the Rose Bowl, on New Year’s Day — will vastly overshadow whatever other bowls are contested on that day. Hey, ESPNU needs programming, too.

The SportsJournalists.com college football poll has never been part of the BCS formula, nor been influenced by the 11 secret herbs and spices of Colonel Sanders. So after a weekend of upsets and without the BCS standings to guide us, here’s our take on the nation’s top teams:

SportsJournalists.com COLLEGE FOOTBALL POLL
WEEK SEVEN POLL — 10/14/13
RK. TEAM (1st) PTS PREVIOUS
1. Alabama (22) 646 1
2. Oregon (3) 623 2
3. Ohio St. (1) 582 4
4. Clemson 576 3
5. Florida St. 545 6
6. Louisiana St. 489 9
7. Texas A&M 478 10
8. Louisville 472 8
9. UCLA 439 12
10. Miami 418 13
11. Baylor 376 15
(tie) South Carolina 376 14
13. Missouri 331 —
14. Stanford 314 5
15. Texas Tech 261 20
16. Georgia 237 7
17. Oklahoma 198 11
18. Fresno St. 168 21
19. Florida 114 18
20. Oklahoma St. 113 22
(tie) Virginia Tech 113 24
22. Washington 101 17
23. Nebraska 92 —
24. Northern Illinois 91 23
25. Auburn 89 25

Also receiving votes: Wisconsin 80, Michigan St. 48, Michigan 33, Central Florida 13, Houston 11, Notre Dame 10, Oregon St. 6, Arizona St. 3, Northwestern 3, Brigham Young 1.

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

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: UPDATED; Week 7 poll on PAGE 11!

Gotta give credit to Xan for sticking to his guns. But if there was ever a week for Bama to drop a spot, this was probably it.

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: UPDATED; Week 7 poll on PAGE 11!

1. Alabama (1)
2. Oregon (2)
3. Clemson (3)
4. Ohio State (4)
5. Florida State (6)
6. Louisville (8)
7. Texas A&M (9)
8. LSU (10)
9. UCLA (12)
10. Miami (13)
11. South Carolina (14)
12. Baylor (16)
13. Missouri (25)
14. Stanford (5)
15. Georgia (7)
16. Texas Tech (21)
17. Fresno State (22)
18. Oklahoma (11)
19. Oklahoma State (20)
20. Northern Illinois (23)
21. Virginia Tech (24)
22. Auburn (UNR)
23. Wisconsin (UNR)
24. Washington (17)
25. Florida (18)

OUT: Michigan (15), Northwestern (19).

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: UPDATED; Week 7 poll on PAGE 11!

Missouri ENTERS the poll at 13? Wow.

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: UPDATED; Week 7 poll on PAGE 11!

Why would Alabama drop after a 41-point conference road victory?

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: UPDATED; Week 7 poll on PAGE 11!

People will judge the Tide for that awful first quarter. Not saying it's right or that I agree, but I've seen folks talking about Bama shouldn't be No. 1 after that.

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: UPDATED; Week 7 poll on PAGE 11!

Which team deserves No. 1, then? Oregon's trailed against Tennessee and Colorado. Ohio State came closer to losing at home to Wisconsin than Alabama did at Texas A&M.

That's stupid and shows those people didn't watch the game. Alabama was dominating the game but made two careless turnovers. It's mildly frustrating, yes, but there was no moment in that game in which the ultimate outcome, a 20-plus point victory, was in doubt.

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: UPDATED; Week 7 poll on PAGE 11!

Again, I agree with you.

Just was saying there are folks out there who think Bama isn't the No. 1 team in the land, and that's just asinine.

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: UPDATED; Week 7 poll on PAGE 11!

I disagree with you on both your premises. It's not asinine to think Oregon is the No. 1 team. Oregon kicks everyone's asses. Furthermore, I really have a hard time believing anyone's opinion on Alabama changed for the worse because of that Kentucky game. Maybe in the moment, dumb things were tweeted or spoken. But even really dumb people wouldn't hold a 41-point conference road victory against a team when all was settled.

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: UPDATED; Week 7 poll on PAGE 11!

If you don't think Oregon being No. 1 isn't asinine, why bring up the fact they trailed against Tennessee and Colorado?

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: UPDATED; Week 7 poll on PAGE 11!

Because every single team has had bad quarters, and most have not gotten away without allowing a point in them.

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: UPDATED; Week 7 poll on PAGE 11!

Tons of movement this week, as I'm sure will be the case for everyone. If you know what to make of the SEC, I'm all ears.

1. Alabama [1]
2. Oregon [2]
3. Florida State [5]
4. Ohio State [3]
5. Miami FL [9]
6. Baylor [13]
7. Missouri [15]
8. Stanford [12]
9. Clemson [4]
10. Texas Tech [14]
11. UCLA [11]
12. LSU [8]
13. Auburn [21]
14. Oklahoma [17]
15. South Carolina [10]
16. Texas A&M [7]
17. UCF [NR]
18. Louisville [6]
19. Fresno State [18]
20. Northern Illinois [19]
21. Virginia Tech [20]
22. Arizona State [NR]
23. Wisconsin [24]
24. Nebraska [25]
25. Oklahoma State [NR]

OUT: Georgia [16], Florida [22], Washington [23]