November 23, 2004
Fanblogs XIV: Week 14
Poll of the Fanblogs.com authors & contributors for games played through November 23, 2004:
1. Southern California (6) 184
2. Auburn (7) 182
3. Oklahoma 175
4. Utah (1) 135
5. California 134
6. Texas 124
7. Georgia 92
8. Louisville 90
9. Miami (Fla.) 64
10. Boise St. 63
11. Michigan 38
12. Virginia Tech 36
13. LSU 34
14. Tennessee 32
Others Receiving Votes:
Virginia 24, Iowa 21, Florida St. 14, Arizona St. 9, West Virginia 5, Wisconsin 5, UTEP 4, Bowling Green 2, Texas A&M 2, Oklahoma St. 1
Author Voting:
Kevin Donahue: 1) Auburn, 2) Oklahoma, 3) Southern California, 4) Texas, 5) California, 6) Georgia, 7) Utah, 8) Virginia Tech, 9) Louisville, 10) Miami (Fla.), 11) Virginia, 12) Michigan, 13) Texas A&M, 14) Arizona St.
Pete Holiday: 1) Southern California, 2) Oklahoma, 3) California, 4) Auburn, 5) Georgia, 6) Texas, 7) Miami (Fla.), 8) Michigan, 9) LSU, 10) Florida St., 11) Tennessee, 12) Louisville, 13) Utah, 14) Oklahoma St.
Derek Willis: 1) Southern California, 2) Auburn, 3) Oklahoma, 4) California, 5) Utah, 6) Texas, 7) Louisville, 8) Georgia, 9) Miami (Fla.), 10) Boise St., 11) Michigan, 12) Florida St., 13) Virginia Tech, 14) Tennessee
Dave Frey: 1) Auburn, 2) Southern California, 3) Oklahoma, 4) Utah, 5) California, 6) Texas, 7) Georgia, 8) Miami (Fla.), 9) LSU, 10) Louisville, 11) Boise St., 12) Tennessee, 13) Michigan, 14) Wisconsin
Jeff Quinton: 1) Auburn, 2) Oklahoma, 3) Southern California, 4) Utah, 5) California, 6) Texas, 7) Tennessee, 8) Virginia, 9) Georgia, 10) Florida St., 11) Louisville, 12) Boise St., 13) Virginia Tech, 14) Miami (Fla.)
John Ludwig: 1) Southern California, 2) Oklahoma, 3) Auburn, 4) California, 5) Utah, 6) Texas, 7) Iowa, 8) Georgia, 9) Michigan, 10) Boise St., 11) Louisville, 12) LSU, 13) Miami (Fla.), 14) Virginia
Mike Boone: 1) Auburn, 2) Oklahoma, 3) Southern California, 4) Utah, 5) Texas, 6) Boise St., 7) California, 8) Georgia, 9) LSU, 10) Louisville, 11) Miami (Fla.), 12) Wisconsin, 13) Iowa, 14) Florida St.
Josh McClain: 1) Southern California, 2) Oklahoma, 3) Auburn, 4) California, 5) Utah, 6) Texas, 7) Virginia Tech, 8) Georgia, 9) Boise St., 10) Louisville, 11) LSU, 12) Miami (Fla.), 13) Iowa, 14) Tennessee
Ben Prather: 1) Southern California, 2) Auburn, 3) Oklahoma, 4) California, 5) Utah, 6) Louisville, 7) Boise St., 8) Georgia, 9) Michigan, 10) Virginia Tech, 11) Tennessee, 12) Arizona St., 13) Iowa, 14) Miami (Fla.)
Dave: 1) Auburn, 2) Southern California, 3) Oklahoma, 4) Utah, 5) California, 6) Texas, 7) Louisville, 8) Miami (Fla.), 9) Georgia, 10) Boise St., 11) Virginia Tech, 12) LSU, 13) Michigan, 14) Tennessee
David Stein: 1) Utah, 2) Southern California, 3) Oklahoma, 4) Boise St., 5) Auburn, 6) Texas, 7) Louisville, 8) Miami (Fla.), 9) Michigan, 10) Iowa, 11) UTEP, 12) Georgia, 13) Bowling Green, 14) West Virginia
Robert Knodell: 1) Southern California, 2) Auburn, 3) Oklahoma, 4) Texas, 5) California, 6) Louisville, 7) Miami (Fla.), 8) Utah, 9) Virginia, 10) Arizona St., 11) Boise St., 12) Georgia, 13) Iowa, 14) LSU
Michael Hickerson: 1) Auburn, 2) Southern California, 3) Oklahoma, 4) Texas, 5) California, 6) Utah, 7) Louisville, 8) Tennessee, 9) Virginia, 10) Georgia, 11) West Virginia, 12) Boise St., 13) Virginia Tech, 14) LSU
Aaron White: 1) Auburn, 2) Oklahoma, 3) Southern California, 4) Utah, 5) California, 6) Texas, 7) Louisville, 8) Georgia, 9) Virginia Tech, 10) Miami (Fla.), 11) LSU, 12) Tennessee, 13) Michigan, 14) Wisconsin
Comments:
posted on November 23, 2004 3:55 PM — link — abuse?Kevin Donahue said:
David's been on the Utah for Prez bandwagon for a while:
Week 10: Utah #3
Week 12: Utah #2
Week 14: Utah #1What I can't for the life me understand is the #4 ranking for Boise State and #11 for UTEP. He's clearly WAC'd out.
I'm wondering if Stein has ever seen ESPN.
posted on November 23, 2004 4:56 PM — 209.16.242.81 — link — abuse?
Sorry Josh, just because I'm not on the AU Bandwagon doesn't make me an anti-Auburn homer.
Cal put up a better showing against USC than Auburn did against Bama... which is sad considering that Alabama has yet to be ranked this season.
Between Auburn's LSU debacle and their mediocre (at best) showing in Tuscaloosa, I'm not convinced they're a top 3 team.
Auburn's schedule is ranked somewhere around #75 in the nation... they haven't seen a lot of tough games... and as they showed at LSU and Alabama, they're highly suspect against good defenses. This hasn't been the case, by and large, for USC, OU, or Cal this year.
posted on November 23, 2004 5:17 PM — 198.207.0.5 — link — abuse?
Pete you've been telling anyone who will listen about the SEC's superiority for the last two years.
We can count on one hand the amount of teams in the last, oh, 10 years or so that have run thru the SEC undefeated.
Yet Auburn does it and they aren't one of the best teams in the nation?
And your an Alabama guy. Just odd, that's all.
posted on November 23, 2004 5:35 PM — 209.16.242.81 — link — abuse?
The SEC is an outstanding conference. Auburn is one of the best teams in the nation. They're just not THE best.
Now, are you going to actually make a point or counter any of my rationale for dropping Auburn a spot this week, or are you just going to insist I'm wrong?
posted on November 23, 2004 5:35 PM — 69.73.43.133 — link — abuse?
I have been wondering about Steins voting for a while. I didn't mind the overt pro Mid Major/West coast bias I detected, as my team benifits from both.
I figured it compensated for people who insist Utah/Boise State need to prove themselves before getting a good ranking, despite consistant strong wins. I am not saying that view is not fair, but simply that I don't hold it.
JP Riley said:
posted on November 28, 2004 2:19 AM — 68.119.92.196 — link — abuse?
Pete, Josh is right on the money. First I'll quote your BIO:
"Currently I'm a Fifth-Year Senior at the University of Alabama "
&
"Whether it's Football, Basketball, or Womens Gymnastics...I'm all about the Crimson Tide"Now, for those of you who aren't from around the SEC Alabama and Auburn fans hate the other school's teams, the schools themselves, and the other school's fans. When Pete says he's for football, basketball and gynamstics it also means that he HATES Auburn's football, basketball, gymnastics, water polo, croquet, ping pong, etc, etc. That's the way things work when it comes to the two teams, especially in football.
Pete, I'm not at all sarcastic when I say I think you've done a hell of a job putting Auburn in your Top 5. If I were voting I doubt I'd be able to put Alabama in the Top 5 even if they were the only undefeated team.
I will say this though...the fanblogs.com poll has no real world consquences. That is, nothing is won or lost in the poll. The sad part is that real life anti-Auburn sentiment does exist in the AP Poll, which constitutes 1/3 of the formula to decide who plays for the National Championship. Paul Gattis, the University of Alabama beat writer for The Huntsville Times, is a diehard Alabama fan and is intentionally stacking his AP rankings against Auburn. Obviously one person's vote is not going to win or lose a championship spot, but when a race is so close and so important a single vote can make the difference between Orange and Sugar.
So Pete, it's a good arguing point to have Auburn that low so people will post their opinions and enjoy the debate, but it's the anti-Auburn UAT frame of mind that will unjustly keep an undefeated SEC Champion out of the title game. If it can happen to Auburn, it can happen to Alabama.
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Don VanDemark said:
posted on November 23, 2004 3:08 PM — 65.33.106.10 — link — abuse?I'd be interested to hear Stein's defense of his ranking Utah #1. Everyone is entitled to their opinion (or vote, in this case), but I'm not sure that position is justifiable.