November 30, 2005
Fanblogs XIV Poll - Week 14
Poll of the Fanblogs.com authors & contributors for games played through November 27, 2005:
First place votes in parenthesis. Weighted ballot points appear beside team name. Teams are ranked on likelihood to beat lower ranked teams on a neutral field, rather than a forecast of final season rankings.
1. Texas (6) 123
2. Southern California (3) 120
3. Penn St. 102
4. LSU 100
5. Virginia Tech 92
6. Ohio St. 73
7. Notre Dame 70
8. Auburn 61
9. Oregon 56
10. Miami (Fla.) 38
11. West Virginia 37
12. Georgia 27
13. Alabama 18
14. UCLA 13
Others Receiving Votes:
TCU 10, Florida 3, Louisville 1, Texas Tech 1
How They Voted:
Kevin Donahue:1) Texas, 2) Southern California, 3) Penn St., 4) LSU, 5) Ohio St., 6) Virginia Tech, 7) Auburn, 8) Oregon, 9) Miami (Fla.), 10) Notre Dame, 11) Georgia, 12) West Virginia, 13) TCU, 14) UCLA
Pete Holiday:1) Texas, 2) Southern California, 3) Penn St., 4) Virginia Tech, 5) Notre Dame, 6) LSU, 7) Auburn, 8) Georgia, 9) Ohio St., 10) Alabama, 11) Miami (Fla.), 12) Oregon, 13) Florida, 14) Texas Tech
Jeff Quinton:1) Texas, 2) Southern California, 3) LSU, 4) Penn St., 5) Virginia Tech, 6) Notre Dame, 7) Ohio St., 8) Auburn, 9) Miami (Fla.), 10) Oregon, 11) West Virginia, 12) Alabama, 13) TCU, 14) Georgia
John Ludwig:1) Texas, 2) Southern California, 3) LSU, 4) Penn St., 5) Ohio St., 6) Virginia Tech, 7) Notre Dame, 8) Oregon, 9) Auburn, 10) West Virginia, 11) Miami (Fla.), 12) TCU, 13) UCLA, 14) Georgia
Mike Boone:1) Texas, 2) Southern California, 3) LSU, 4) Virginia Tech, 5) Penn St., 6) Auburn, 7) Oregon, 8) Ohio St., 9) Notre Dame, 10) West Virginia, 11) Georgia, 12) UCLA, 13) Alabama, 14) Miami (Fla.)
Josh McClain:1) Southern California, 2) Texas, 3) Penn St., 4) LSU, 5) Virginia Tech, 6) Notre Dame, 7) West Virginia, 8) Ohio St., 9) Auburn, 10) Oregon, 11) Georgia, 12) Miami (Fla.), 13) Alabama, 14) Louisville
Dave:1) Southern California, 2) Texas, 3) LSU, 4) Virginia Tech, 5) Penn St., 6) Ohio St., 7) Notre Dame, 8) Miami (Fla.), 9) Auburn, 10) Georgia, 11) Oregon, 12) West Virginia, 13) Alabama, 14) Florida
Robert Knodell:1) Texas, 2) Southern California, 3) Penn St., 4) LSU, 5) Virginia Tech, 6) Oregon, 7) Notre Dame, 8) Ohio St., 9) West Virginia, 10) Auburn, 11) Alabama, 12) UCLA, 13) Miami (Fla.), 14) TCU
Aaron White:1) Southern California, 2) Texas, 3) Penn St., 4) Virginia Tech, 5) LSU, 6) Ohio St., 7) Oregon, 8) Notre Dame, 9) Auburn, 10) Miami (Fla.), 11) UCLA, 12) West Virginia, 13) TCU, 14) Georgia
Comments:
posted on November 30, 2005 1:38 PM — 68.35.231.61 — link — abuse?Mike Boone said:
Georgia hasn't mauled anyone of LSU's caliber in quite sometime...
SEC IS #1 said:
posted on November 30, 2005 2:26 PM — 205.174.22.28 — link — abuse?
LSU is not a bad football team, if I recall they gave up HOME field advantage at the beginning of the year and played Arizona State at home and beat them. Granted they had to score 28 points in the 4th but I believe USC had to score 21 in the 4th quarter to beat them also! So I guess the 4th best team in the land is not that much weaker than the #1 team.
How on earth does the PAC 10 and the Big 12 keep ending up #1 and two #2 year in and year out?? I'll tell you why, because they have more electoral votes than the rest of the country. It happened last year to Auburn and if things don’t change it will happen again! Hey Tommy bring them Trojans into the deep South next time you want to compare a real SEC team to a PAC 10 team!hunkerdown said:
posted on November 30, 2005 2:27 PM — 155.188.191.5 — link — abuse?
I can barely agree with the comments from tommie trojan, I agree LSU is no 4th place team. But that is the prob with College rankings anyway, its just peoples opinion. Anyways, the dispute over Arkansas is out of context. Arkansas is a much better team then they were at the beginning of the season, that part is obvious.
But if you are going to talk trash that way, Nevada can say they beat Fresno by a greater margin that USC....Should Nevada be ranked higher than USC?
And the Dawgs are going to rip through LSU just like last year!Aaron said:
posted on November 30, 2005 8:58 PM — 67.183.232.99 — link — abuse?
Yes, there's no way USC would hang another 70 on Arkansas. Unfortunately it did happen and believe me I spent that night with my face buried in the floor. USC would win, but not by anywhere near that much.
LSU is a few breaks away from having about three more losses, or I guess they're also one break away from being undefeated. Depends on how you look at it.
John Mosscow said:
posted on December 1, 2005 11:56 AM — 38.138.225.215 — link — abuse?
hunkerdown- GREAT comment- im down with what you said... The ASU game was great.. However, USC is the best team in the nation. They won the last 2 championships. USC is the best team in the nation. They won the last 2 championships. They have the 2 best players in the country on there team, Matt linert and reggie bush and they havent lost a game since about 3 yrs ago. However I am an LSU FAN. My little boy watched a great DVD- called "Team Baby" Made for all the big sporting schools teaching him how to chant the songs, and learn all about the sports.. Now I make my son a loyal fan before he can count! GO TIGERS!
John Mosscow said:
posted on December 1, 2005 11:58 AM — 38.138.225.215 — link — abuse?
hunkerdown- GREAT comment- im down with what you said... The ASU game was great.. However, USC is the best team in the nation. They won the last 2 championships. They have the 2 best players in the country on there team, Matt linert and reggie bush and they havent lost a game since about 3 yrs ago. However I am an LSU FAN. My little boy watched a great DVD- called "Team Baby" Made for all the big sporting schools teaching him how to chant the songs, and learn all about the sports.. Now I make my son a loyal fan before he can count! GO TIGERS!
John Mosscow said:
posted on December 1, 2005 11:59 AM — 38.138.225.215 — link — abuse?
hunkerdown- GREAT comment- im down with what you said... The ASU game was great.. However, USC is the best team in the nation. They won the last 2 championships. They have the 2 best players in the country on there team, Matt linert and reggie bush and they havent lost a game since about 3 yrs ago. However I am an LSU FAN. My little boy watched a great DVD- called "Team Baby" Made for all the big sporting schools teaching him how to chant the songs, and learn all about the sports.. Now I make my son a loyal fan before he can count! GO TIGERS!
JC in SoCAL said:
posted on December 1, 2005 6:09 PM — 67.113.165.178 — link — abuse?
SEC #1 c'mon man calm down. The next time USC comes to the south??? Uhhhhhh.... didn't they come down and embarress Auburn, they played them twice and beat them twice. Arkansas came out here and got 70 hung on them. Who cares, oh they are so much better now. Nobody gets any respect with that excuse. And UCS did go there, but they don't come down to prove stupid points like PAC-10 is better than the SEC. No that is for you honks in the south that live and die on how the SEC does and not your own team.
LSU I think is a really overrated team. They struggle against anyone with an offense. ASU put up points, and LSU really hasn't had a test with any team with a consistent offense. I think they will have trouble with Georgia this week in a down year for the SEC.
One more reason that USC has the biggest stones around. Here goes USC's nonconference schedule. Next year they play Arkansas, Nebraska, and Notre Dame. And then for 08' and 09' they have Ohio State and Notre Dame. There are no cupcakes on this side of coast. Chew on that SEC with your D1-AA exciting matchups.
Fight on Trojans...
Tommie Trojan said:
posted on December 1, 2005 9:05 PM — 208.57.130.196 — link — abuse?
I'll tell ya what. I really admire how Arkansas fought back after that. And, this is no BS. I have no doubt that Arkansas has become a much better team. Four freshmen All-Americans came through for them. Obviously, those players would not have been quite up to snuff at that time. They fought back hard and became a very respectable team by years end. They got to see what the standard was and then applied it to their own squad. They could have tanked after that - but, they did not. I hope they give us a real hard shot next year. And, I hope that they run the table in the SEC next year.
Now, it wouldn't occur to anyone, that with all of the freshman playing on the USC defense, that they might just be a little bit better now. But, it would to me. They have eight new starters on defense this year. So, not that the improvement would be as dramatic as Arkansas' has been, but USC has probably improved also.
I'll improvise my assessment of what might happen to LSU if they had to play USC by figuring in the ASU game (I had somehow forgot that LSU beat them by 3). USC beats Arizona State by 10 and LSU beats them by 3. USC beats Arkansas by 53 and LSU beats them by 2. 63-5 = 58/2 = 29. Yep, your right. USC would only beat LSU by 29. My bad! Now, I can see why they might be ranked 4th in the country. This changes everything!Tommie Trojan
USCoverlaod said:
posted on December 3, 2005 12:13 PM — 70.245.69.108 — link — abuse?
For two years all I ever hear about is USC. The NCAA, BCS and ESPN have so much invested in them I wonder if there isn't something funky going on. Did anybody see the USC Fresno St. game? What a joke. If the powers that be didn't stop that apple cart from being overturned, I guessthere really is a Santa.
hunkerdown said:
posted on December 3, 2005 1:05 PM — 24.168.202.81 — link — abuse?
JC in So Cal, you made a point that actually proves another point. You speak of how tough USC has for their out of conference schedule. This is the difference of the Power Conference and the Pac 10. The SEC is the highest competition week in and week out, the SEC gets their breathers in out of conference while USC gets their breathers in conference games.
I dont think anyone denies how good USC is, but except for Notre Dame they play no other national power team. You can say UCLA, but they dont play anyone either.
And Arkansas, I said they got a lot better through the year, but still, they won what 3-4 games?
And dont forget that USC has only won one complete national title. This year playing for two.
Tommie, defense with USC? that is the biggest joke I may have ever heard? defense and USC hahahaha, Whats their average points per game allowed?? 35? Prob, if FRESNO can put that up, haIrishJT said:
posted on December 4, 2005 5:08 PM — 68.62.202.243 — link — abuse?
Dear LSU, VaTech and Oregon fans:
How's it going?? Did you hear about Notre Dame?? They get $15 million to play in the Fiesta Bowl, whether they win or lose. Isn't that great? Despite their billion-dollar endowment, I'm sure they'll use the money wisely and it will inevitably help with their recruiting, program, facilities, etc. Not bad for a small, catholic university in the midwest that doesn't so much as belong to a conference. The TV people say that they are an automatic BCS bid, not even an at-large bid, because of their top 6 BCS ranking.
So how is going for you? I hear that the Holiday & Peach Bowls are pretty good. How much money will your school get for playing in those bowls? Is it about $300,000. Isn't that the salary of your special teams coach?
Anyway, happy holidays. Maybe next year Santa will bring you a program worthy of some extra consideration. Until then, maybe he'll bring you this year some Puffs!!!
Go Irish.
IrishJT said:
posted on December 6, 2005 9:25 AM — 68.62.202.243 — link — abuse?
Trey:
So the Irish BCS bid was meritless? Interesting. It was not at-large, it was an automatic berth. It was the equivalent of winning the SEC. The BCS formula is what it is. In the same way it creates spots for conference champs, it creates a spot for the non-conference Irish if they are ranked in the Top 6. Ohio State didn't even win their conference and they were an automatic bid as well.
Oregon didn't get a bid because Oregon is...well...awful. The BCS doesn't have a "mediocre-team-from-a-secondary-conference" criteria that would have given the Ducks a bid.
Go Sooners!!
Please note that all comments are subject to the Fanblogs Comment Policy.
Tommie Trojan said:
posted on November 30, 2005 9:46 AM — 208.57.130.196 — link — abuse?How on earth does LSU keep ending up 4th? They just survived Arkansas by two points. Come on, man! USC stomped this team by fifty-three points. Is the fourth best team in the land that much weaker than the best? I don't think so. I surmise that Ohio State would be #4 followed by Virginia Tech, Notre Dame and Oregon. The closest that I could possibly get LSU would be #8 - and, I am sure, that Georgia is going to maul them anyway. Hey, but just for one week, I would set them up as eight. I think Auburn and Georgia are better teams. These guys have been barely squeekin' by all year long, and now, finally it is time to pay the piper. Is there something that I am missing? Is there something that is just so impressive about LSU? Is it the vaunted defense? Well, USC (lousy defense, right?) only gave up seventeen to Arkansas also! Difference: we got seventy and LSU got nineteen. Somebody clue me in. I cannot get this one.
Tommie Trojan