September 20, 2005
Fanblogs XIV: Week 4 Poll
Poll of the Fanblogs.com authors & contributors for games played through September 20, 2005:
First place votes in parenthesis. Weighted ballot points appear beside team name. Teams are ranked on likelyhood to beat lower ranked teams on a neutral field, rather than a forecast of final season rankings.
1. Southern California (8) 151
2. Texas (3) 146
3. Virginia Tech 121
4. LSU 114
5. Florida 98
6. Georgia 92
7. Florida St. 83
8. Ohio St. 62
9. Louisville 50
10. Purdue 38
11. Tennessee 33
12. Michigan 30
13. Miami (Fla.) 29
14. Arizona St. 23
14. California 23
Others Receiving Votes:
Georgia Tech 17, Alabama 8, Michigan St. 8, Notre Dame 7, Texas Tech 7, Virginia 7, Iowa St. 3, UCLA 3, Iowa 2
How they voted:
Kevin Donahue:1) Southern California, 2) Texas, 3) Virginia Tech, 4) LSU, 5) Florida, 6) Florida St., 7) Georgia, 8) Michigan, 9) Louisville, 10) Michigan St., 11) Miami (Fla.), 12) Arizona St., 13) Ohio St., 14) Tennessee
Pete Holiday:1) Southern California, 2) Texas, 3) Ohio St., 4) LSU, 5) Virginia Tech, 6) Georgia, 7) Arizona St., 8) Notre Dame, 9) Florida St., 10) Florida, 11) California, 12) Tennessee, 13) Michigan, 14) Purdue
Dave Frey:1) Southern California, 2) Texas, 3) Virginia Tech, 4) LSU, 5) Ohio St., 6) Florida St., 7) Florida, 8) Michigan, 9) Georgia, 10) Miami (Fla.), 11) Purdue, 12) Louisville, 13) California, 14) Arizona St.
Jeff Quinton:1) Texas, 2) Southern California, 3) Virginia Tech, 4) Florida St., 5) LSU, 6) Miami (Fla.), 7) Florida, 8) Georgia, 9) Ohio St., 10) Louisville, 11) Purdue, 12) Tennessee, 13) California, 14) Georgia Tech
John Ludwig:1) Southern California, 2) Texas, 3) Florida St., 4) LSU, 5) Virginia Tech, 6) Florida, 7) Ohio St., 8) Tennessee, 9) Georgia, 10) Miami (Fla.), 11) Michigan, 12) Arizona St., 13) Iowa, 14) Louisville
Mike Boone:1) Southern California, 2) Texas, 3) Virginia Tech, 4) LSU, 5) Florida, 6) Florida St., 7) Georgia, 8) Purdue, 9) Louisville, 10) Ohio St., 11) California, 12) Texas Tech, 13) Miami (Fla.), 14) Georgia Tech
Josh McClain:1) Southern California, 2) Texas, 3) Georgia, 4) Virginia Tech, 5) Florida, 6) Purdue, 7) Louisville, 8) Virginia, 9) LSU, 10) Florida St., 11) Texas Tech, 12) Georgia Tech, 13) Michigan St., 14) UCLA
Ben Prather:1) Southern California, 2) Texas, 3) Georgia, 4) Florida, 5) LSU, 6) Virginia Tech, 7) Arizona St., 8) Ohio St., 9) Georgia Tech, 10) Tennessee, 11) Michigan, 12) Iowa St., 13) UCLA, 14) Michigan St.
Robert Knodell:1) Texas, 2) Southern California, 3) Florida St., 4) LSU, 5) Virginia Tech, 6) Georgia, 7) Florida, 8) Purdue, 9) Louisville, 10) Ohio St., 11) California, 12) Alabama, 13) Georgia Tech, 14) Tennessee
Michael Hickerson:1) Texas, 2) Southern California, 3) LSU, 4) Virginia Tech, 5) Louisville, 6) Tennessee, 7) Florida, 8) California, 9) Georgia, 10) Alabama, 11) Purdue, 12) Georgia Tech, 13) Florida St., 14) Miami (Fla.)
Aaron White:1) Southern California, 2) Texas, 3) Virginia Tech, 4) Florida, 5) LSU, 6) Georgia, 7) Florida St., 8) Ohio St., 9) Michigan, 10) Louisville, 11) Tennessee, 12) Miami (Fla.), 13) Purdue, 14) Georgia Tech
Comments:
posted on September 20, 2005 8:54 PM — link — abuse?Kevin Donahue said:
Nope. Texas had three first place votes last week, too.
posted on September 20, 2005 11:03 PM — 68.35.231.61 — link — abuse?
3 well-deserved first place votes.
Leftovers said:
posted on September 21, 2005 12:35 PM — 205.143.204.110 — link — abuse?
No, the bcs added that to their scoring this year. A computer will determine the outcome of a 5 game series verses USC in the same season. It will also calculate projected stat lines for all USC players so on ESPN during fact and fiction Lou Holtz can make a statement on how USC can score on any nfl defence.
posted on September 21, 2005 2:13 PM — 68.35.231.61 — link — abuse?
Wait, you want to give USC credit for running up the score on Arkansas at home but you don't give Texas the same respect for beating Ohio State on the road? Are you joking? Compare their schedules and then tell me that if Texas runs the table they shouldn't be #1.
Cumberland Ave said:
posted on September 21, 2005 3:53 PM — 24.215.202.246 — link — abuse?
Let me go on record with a prediction that Southern California will go undefeated in the 2005 regular season.
There will still remain a question mark, though, about the supremacy of the USC Trojans in 2005-06.
Will USC face a tough defense during the 2005 regular season?
Consider the defense of USC's upcoming opponents so far:
Oregon's defense gave up 24 points to Houston, 14 to Montana (weak Div. 2A ) and 34 to Fresno State.
Arizona State's defense gave up 16 to a weak Temple team, 31 to LSU and 21 to a weak Northwestern.
Arizona's defense gave up 27 points to Utah, 12 to a weak Northen Arizona and 31 to Purdue.
Notre Dame's defense gave up 21 points to Pitt (Pitt only scored 6 against Nebraska), 10 to Michigan (one has to wonder about Michigan's offense) and 44 to Michigan State.
Washington's defense gave up 17 to a weak Air Force, 56 to California, 6 to Idaho (Idaho scored 26 against Washington St.).
Washington State's defense gave up 26 to Idaho, 21 to weak Nevada, 7 to even weaker Grambling State.
Stanford's defense gave up 38 to Navy (won by 3 points) and 20 points to pathetic UC Davis (Stanford lost).
Cal's defense gave up 3 to weak Sacramento State, 17 to weak Washington and 20 to sub-par Big Ten Illinois (I don't think Illinois is a Big Ten powerhouse this year).
Fresno State's defense gave up 17 to weak Weber St., 37 to Oregon.
UCLA's defense gave up 21 to weak San Diego State, 21 to weak Rice and 24 to overrated Oklahoma.
Where's the defense to stop USC? I don't see it happening. Do any of you?
Cal, Arizona State and Notre Dame are probably the only USC opponents in 2005 with any chance of upsetting the mighty Trojans!
The only way USC will lose a regular season game is if its defense is unable to stop the offenses of California, Arizona State, UCLA, Notre Dame, Oregon or Fresno State.
I think Florida, Tennessee, Alabama and maybe even Georgia all have better defenses than any USC opponent in 2005. That's just the SEC. I'm sure there are other conferences with teams that have better defenses than the Pac 10.
Where's the defense to make a worthy national champion?
posted on September 21, 2005 5:22 PM — link — abuse?
I think you should do a little more research on who's defense gave up what. Just because an opposing team scores doesn't mean that the defense gave up those points - and just because you're team scores, it doesn't mean that those points were created by the offense.
ASU gave up 14 points on special teams and 17 on defense, not 31.
Cumberland Ave said:
posted on September 21, 2005 8:07 PM — 24.215.202.246 — link — abuse?
Dave,
I am well aware that 14 of the points LSU scored against ASU are attributable to poor decisions by ASU.
If you had read my posts elsewhere you would know that. I watched the game. ASU pulled its protection to the right on one of those plays and allowed LSU's rush to come straight up the gut and block the punt. The other blocked kick, if memory serves me well, came as a result of poor protection by ASU.
Defense and special teams are different but they still can contribute to a team giving up points. Split hairs if you like.
Using your logic, we can say Tennessee only gave up 7 points against UAB and 7 points against Florida.
A Rick Clausen interception led to UAB's sole TD.
UT's poor special teams play gave Florida 9 points.
Which is a more impressive defense? UT that gave up 7 against Florida or ASU that gave up 17 against LSU?
Turnovers (fumbles, interceptions), poor field position, poor clock management, poor time of possession can also contribute to a loss.
Th bottom line is the final score.
Show me a guy that has watched every college football game in detail every Saturday and you'll show me a super human being who has nothing better to do in life than obsess about football.
How do you propose that I research every Pac 10 and SEC game in detail each week? Am I supposed to watch every game? That's physically impossible. Am I supposed to watch game film from every game? No one has that much time. Am I supposed to read every AP wire service account of every game? None of those will give me the full picture and no one has the time to read every AP college football story.
How exactly do you propose that I do a little more research on defenses?
Cumberland Ave said:
posted on September 21, 2005 8:12 PM — 24.215.202.246 — link — abuse?
Dave,
I am well aware that 14 of the points LSU scored against ASU are attributable to poor decisions by ASU.
If you had read my posts elsewhere you would know that. I watched the game. ASU pulled its protection to the right on one of those plays and allowed LSU's rush to come straight up the gut and block the punt. The other blocked kick, if memory serves me well, came as a result of poor protection by ASU.
Defense and special teams are different but they still can contribute to a team giving up points. Split hairs if you like.
Using your logic, we can say Tennessee only gave up 3 points against UAB and 7 points against Florida.
A Rick Clausen interception led to UAB's sole TD.Do we attribute that UAB TD to good UAB defense or to poor UT offense or to poor UT defense?
UT's poor special teams play gave Florida 9 points.
Which is a more impressive defense? UT that gave up 7 against Florida or ASU that gave up 17 against LSU?
Turnovers (fumbles, interceptions), poor field position, poor clock management, poor time of possession can also contribute to a loss.
Th bottom line is the final score.
Show me a guy that has watched every college football game in detail every Saturday and you'll show me a super human being who has nothing better to do in life than obsess about football.
How do you propose that I research every Pac 10 and SEC game in detail each week? Am I supposed to watch every game? That's physically impossible. Am I supposed to watch game film from every game? No one has that much time. Am I supposed to read every AP wire service account of every game? None of those will give me the full picture and no one has the time to read every AP college football story.
How exactly do you propose that I do a little more research on defenses?
posted on September 21, 2005 8:43 PM — link — abuse?
Well, you might start by just paying a little more attention to details. For example, I don't go by "Dave". :)
As far as what's the right/wrong thing to do research-wise, it's hard for me to say. I'm not the one asking & answering questions that don't really relate to the subjects. I guess I'm a little out of my league there.
If you want an answer to your question about tough defenses facing USC, I would suggest to you that's it more important to consider how the scheme & athleticism of each defense matches up with USC. Pac 10 teams have traditionally played USC closer, perhaps because those DCs are more familiar with the Trojans offensive trends.
Somewhere down the line, someone is going to get catch lightning in a bottle & knock off USC.
Husker Power said:
posted on September 22, 2005 4:21 PM — 68.15.236.86 — link — abuse?
A young man at Alabama takes his girlfriend, a Tide freshman, to her first-ever football game. After the game was over he asked her what she thought of the game.
She replied, "It was OK I guess, but I don't understand why all that fighting for only 25 cents".
The young man looks perplexed and asks, "What do you mean?"
She looked at him straight in the eye and with a serious look replied, "Well, at the beginning of the game, the referee tosses a coin, then through the game these huge men are beating each other up yelling GET THE QUARTER BACK, get the QUARTER BACK. I just wanted to yell at them and tell them, "Like, it's only 25 cents boys, no need to be so rude and uncivilized about it".WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Hang on to any of the new State of Alabama quarters. If you have them, they may be worth much more than 25 cents.
Cumberland Ave said:
posted on September 22, 2005 4:44 PM — 24.215.202.246 — link — abuse?
Kevin, Dave, what's the difference. Whatever your name, would you care to explain how my posts have not adhered to the subjects of discussion? While you're doing that, you might also provide an analysis of schemes, athleticism and matchups that you find so lacking in my posts. Furthermore, if you want to chastise me for mistakenly calling you Dave instead of Kevin, perhaps you should take more care with your misspelled words and/or careless proofreading in your posts.
Pac 10 teams have probably given USC closer games in recent years because of the greater familiarity among conference foes than non-conference opponents, conference rivalry and the common denominator of potent offenses and average defenses among the teams in the Pac 10.
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Aaron said:
posted on September 20, 2005 8:40 PM — 67.183.232.99 — link — abuse?How in the world did USC lose first place votes? Didn't Texas only have one first place vote last week?