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

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: ANNOUNCEMENT on PAGE 12!

Actually, there are a few. And I'm not looking for a flood of new people ... just enough to keep us in that 25-30 voter range.

I know there are a few voters who started the year with us who stopped for whatever reason; if you folks want back in, you're welcome.

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: ANNOUNCEMENT on PAGE 12!



Happy Halloween ... let's toss a football around

By I SHOULD COCO
Veer option survivor

Somebody once wrote, “If you want to cure someone who’s an insufferable sports fan, hire them as a sportswriter.”

We take this as an article of faith at SportsJournalists.com, and in many ways it’s true. When Fridays go from being a fun night at the game to something you dread all week, you’ve crossed that bridge over the River Styx. (Light Up, everybody!)

We all know the reasons: asshole parents, earlier and earlier deadlines, ego-inflated coaches, doing about six tasks with four different gadgets during the game. And did I mention the sports parents?

Take a step back from that three-headed hell hound. Remember when football was fun to play, to witness in person, or to watch on TV?

Having children — my son in particular — helped me rediscover it. And football (along with great weather) is why fall remains my favorite season, despite all the baggage it brings along for the ride.

I’m 41, and grew up in the Chicago area. The 1970s and 1980s were great times to be a Bears fans, and we all were. We played pickup games at the park (or — I cringe now — in the street) and imitated Walter Payton as we high-kicked it into the end zone.

When high school came along, I went out for freshman football as a tall, gangly, shy kid who didn’t have many friends. Twenty-five years later, I still keep in touch with teammates who cursed our coaches as we slammed into the blocking sled.

I couldn’t imagine the college experience without football. We played it, we partied around it, we obsessively followed it ... even as the Hawkeyes began their steady decline into 1990s mediocrity.

After graduation, I spent most fall Friday nights on cold, wet sidelines, watching other people’s kids try to master the wing-T and, eventually, the spread offense. It made my understanding wife an X-Files fan and made me hate homecoming week, but it couldn’t kill my love for the game.

Then my son was born in 1999, and a couple years later, we got a mini Nerf football to play with. Chasing each other around the yard, kicking it and throwing it provided endless hours of fun for both of us. Unlike other toys and games he outgrew, it’s still one of those rare things we can do together for fun.

Now he’s the one who is a tall, not-so-gangly 14-year-old. Our family moved across the country in 2009, and sports helped him meet a bunch of good kids (and yeah, a couple rotten ones) who have become good friends. Going out for freshman football helped him adjust to life in the big, bad public high school and he’s actually learned to use his time better for homework because of the demands of practice and weightlifting sessions.

There’s plenty of problems with the game of football, especially at the big-money FBS level. The problem of concussions and other injuries is tough to avoid, and is thankfully taken much more seriously now than a generation ago.

But there’s no denying the friendships, family bonding and fun the sport of football has provided for me and thousands of other families every fall. At its best, playing football develops teamwork and instills the idea of working hard to achieve results. Like baseball, it’s a great game that's still fun to play — despite the best efforts of many people who have tried to ruin it.

It’s almost enough to make me get down in a four-point stance and do the bear crawl.

But instead, I’ll tally up some votes and present this week’s SportsJournalists.com college football poll:

SportsJournalists.com COLLEGE FOOTBALL POLL
WEEK NINE POLL — 10/28/13
RK. TEAM (1st) PTS PREVIOUS
1. Alabama (18) 544 1
2. Oregon (2) 524 2
3. Florida St. (1) 511 3
4. Ohio St. (1) 486 4
5. Baylor 453 6
6. Miami 426 7
7. Stanford 422 8
8. Clemson 384 9
9. Auburn 366 11
10. Oklahoma 316 14
(tie) Missouri 316 5
12. Louisiana St. 309 13
13. Texas A&M 272 15
14. South Carolina 252 20
15. Texas Tech 228 10
16. Fresno St. 187 16
17. UCLA 168 12
18. Louisville 150 18
19. Oklahoma St. 148 19
20. Central Florida 146 22
21. Northern Illinois 135 21
22. Michigan St. 107 —
23. Wisconsin 94 24
24. Michigan 85 25
25. Notre Dame 40 —

Also receiving votes: Arizona St. 29, Texas 14, Georgia 13, Virginia Tech 10, Brigham Young 4, Minnesota 4, Houston 3, Ole Miss 2, Duke 1, Oregon St. 1.

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

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: UPDATED; week 9 poll on PAGE 13!

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

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: UPDATED; week 9 poll on PAGE 13!

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

Biggest Rise: Michigan State (19-15, +4)
Biggest Fall: Miami, FL (7-12, -5)
Hypothetical 26: Texas

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: UPDATED; week 9 poll on PAGE 13!

I Should Coco, I've never been late before, so I apologize, but I completely forgot about this. Give me 15 minutes.

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: UPDATED; week 9 poll on PAGE 13!

That's cool ... and understandable. Your team had a bye this week!

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: UPDATED; week 9 poll on PAGE 13!

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

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: UPDATED; week 9 poll on PAGE 13!



The ‘Elephant’ in the room

By I SHOULD COCO
I Got Stripes

In all this time of counting ballots and writing poll stories, I’ve never learned the answer to a question that has puzzled me for years:

Why would the University of Alabama, with a team nicknamed the Crimson Tide, have an elephant for a mascot? Maybe one of our Alabama fans/voters can do a little black math and show me the answer.

Until then, let’s consider a team that can be forgotten in your pocket as we search the nation for BCS title game contenders: the two-time defending champion Crimson Tide.

It seems like every year I’m writing one of these about Alabama ... reminding people who have no faith in medicine that the Crimson Tide is not only the defending champion, but — until someone proves differently — the best damn team in the land.

This shouldn’t be the hardest argument to button down. As with all of Nick Saban’s championship teams, this year’s Alabama squad starts with defense. It is first among FBS teams in points allowed (only 9.8 per game). And that figure is skewed by the 42 points a desperate Johnny Football put up in week 2 at Texas A&M. Alabama has allowed only 36 points in its other seven victories.

And with stars like quarterback A.J. McCarron, sophomore backfield duo T.J. Yeldon and Kenyan Drake, and still-recovering speedster Amari Cooper on offense, a seven nation army couldn’t hold the Tide back.

No doubt, LSU is a potential road block to the three-peat talk in Tuscaloosa. Unlike the 2011 slugfest between these two SEC titans, Zach Mettenberger won’t be stuck on the sidelines this year, and the LSU senior is one of the top quarterbacks in the league. But an LSU team with losses to Georgia and Ole Miss will be a decided underdog on Saturday, and rightfully so.

Get past the Tigers, and Alabama looks good against the little acorns remaining on its schedule. Think Tide fans are worried about a Nov. 30 road trip? No way!

Sure, there are other big games this weekend ... or more accurately, on Thursday night. But really all Oregon, Stanford, Baylor and Oklahoma are doing is positioning themselves for the No. 2 slot in the Big Enchilada Bowl.

And as for those other undefeated teams, Fresno State and Northern Illinois:

“Why don’t you go off and love yourself?

“If I did that Holly, there won’t be anything left,
For anybody else.”

************************************
​

With half of the top 10 teams off this past weekend, not much is changed in our poll. Miami fell to No. 12 after its loss at Florida St., and Oklahoma State and Michigan State moved up after beating ranked opponents.

Both Fresno State and Northern Illinois keep on winning and keep on falling in the rankings (both ours and others). Such is life as a college football have-not.

There was almost universal agreement on the top six teams (just not the order). We'll see how that changes after this upcoming week/weekend of great matchups.

Until then, here's the latest SportsJournalists.com poll:

SportsJournalists.com COLLEGE FOOTBALL POLL
WEEK TEN POLL — 11/4/13
RK. TEAM (1st) PTS PREVIOUS
1. Alabama (20) 595 1
2. Oregon (2) 568 2
3. Florida St. (1) 559 3
4. Ohio St. (1) 532 4
5. Baylor 495 5
6. Stanford 471 7
7. Clemson 423 8
8. Auburn 421 9
9. Missouri 384 10t
10. Oklahoma 374 10t
11. Louisiana St. 351 12
12. Miami 314 6
13. Texas A&M 309 13
14. South Carolina 281 14
15. Oklahoma St. 239 19
16. Michigan St. 223 22
17. UCLA 205 17
18. Fresno St. 199 16
19. Louisville 167 18
20. Central Florida 162 20
21. Northern Illinois 156 21
22. Wisconsin 130 23
23. Texas Tech 74 15
24. Arizona St. 57 —
25. Notre Dame 53 25

Also receiving votes: Texas 17, Georgia 16, Brigham Young 10, Houston 5, Minnesota 4, Ole Miss 4, Michigan 2.

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

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: NEW!! Week 10 poll on PAGE 13!

How is Michigan still getting votes?

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: NEW!! Week 10 poll on PAGE 13!

I see what you did there with "Seven Nation Army" and "Elephant."

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: NEW!! Week 10 poll on PAGE 13!

Keep looking, White Stripes fans ...

 

Re: 2013 SJ College Football Poll: NEW!! Week 10 poll on PAGE 13!

http://bit.ly/1b2s2Pl