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SURVEYING THE LANDSCAPE
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College Football Notebook
Monday, October 6, 2008
By Denny O'Brien |
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Consistency carries the vote
By
Denny O'Brien
©2008 Bonesville.net
All Rights Reserved.
Harris Poll
For the third year in a row, Denny O'Brien is a member
of the voting panel
for the Harris Interactive College Football Poll,
commissioned by the Bowl Championship Series. As a
service to readers of this site, O'Brien's ballot will
be published in this space each Monday throughout the
season.
The
Harris Poll is a component of the BCS Standings. This
season's first Harris poll will be released on Sept. 28.
The first 2008 BCS Standings, which also take into
account the USA Today Coaches Poll and an average of six
computer service rankings, will be released on Oct. 19.
A senior
columnist for Bonesville.net, Bonesville Magazine and
The Pirates' Chest, O'Brien was nominated to the Harris
Poll panel by Conference USA. View a list of the
Harris Poll panel members
on this week's national polls page. |
Denny O'Brien's Harris Poll Ballot
(Ballot cast
10.05.08)
1.
Oklahoma
2. Alabama
3. Missouri
4. LSU
5. Texas
6. Penn State
7. Texas Tech
8. Brigham Young:
9. Southern Cal
10. Georgia
11. Florida:
12. Ohio State
13. Oklahoma State
14. Vanderbilt
15. Utah
16. Boise State
17. Pittsburgh
18. South Florida
19. Kansas
20. Virginia Tech
21. Kentucky
22. North Carolina
23. Tulsa
24. Ball State
25. Michigan State
Out: Auburn, Oregon, Wisconsin, Fresno State, Maryland
In: Pitt (17), Kentucky (21), Tulsa (23), Ball State
(24), Michigan State (25)
Almost in: Wake Forest, California, TCU, Georgia Tech |
View this Week's Complete
Harris, AP & Coaches Polls |
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Harris Poll ballot blog:
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Oklahoma: Consistency
counts for a lot on my ballot, and the Sooners are the portrait of
that. Oklahoma has routed everyone in its path, setting up Game of
the Year II with its upcoming match-up with rival Texas next week.
Hopefully it will exceed that USC-Ohio State dud.
-
Alabama: The Tide
slides down a notch for its lackluster performance against Kentucky.
‘Bama also loses style points for winning a squeaker – and looking
unimpressive doing so – at home. Still, the complete body of work to
date keeps it firmly in the Top 2.
-
Missouri: The Tigers
didn’t beat your father’s Nebraska, but the Huskers are still an
improved bunch. Winning in Lincoln means something again, and Mizzou
did so in convincing fashion.
-
LSU: No Matt Flynn,
Jacob Hester, Glenn Dorsey, or Ryan Perrilloux. No problem for these
Tigers, who start a Harvard transfer under center. LSU faces its
biggest test next week in the Swamp.
-
Texas: Vince who? The
Horns are looking just fine with Colt McCoy under center. The Red
River Rivalry is shaping up to be a barnburner this year, with the
winner in the driver’s seat for a national title game appearance.
-
Penn State: Suddenly
Joe Poe looks like he could coach well into his 90s. The spread
offense is a departure from tradition, but it sure looks good in
State College. The Nittany Lions haven’t been seriously challenged
yet, but that could come next week at angry Wisconsin, where the
Badgers will be eager to start a new streak at Camp Randall.
-
Texas Tech: The Red
Raiders have improved defensively, but their best defense is still
their offense. Quarterback Graham Harrell continues to produce Xbox
numbers, and through five games is already halfway to 4,000 yards
passing. Tech probably won’t be challenged until late October when
it visits Kansas.
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Brigham Young: The
Cougars own the nation’s longest winning streak and are the
frontrunners to crash the BCS party. Only TCU and Utah stand in
their way. The Coogs have the most balance out of the non-BCS bunch,
and are built to handle shootouts and defensive struggles.
-
Southern Cal: The Men
of Troy are the nation’s best team, yet annually forget that you
have to prove it on a weekly basis. The Trojans have a lot of work
to do to climb back into the national title picture, and will need a
lot of help from those ahead of them. Don’t be surprised if they
make it back.
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Georgia: Think the
Bulldogs will call another Black Out? Certainly not the next time
Alabama comes to town. The big question is how the Dawgs will
respond from the Tide’s roll through Athens, and the schedule ahead
won’t ease that anxiety.
-
Florida: The Gators
bounced back from their loss to Ole Miss and host the nation’s
second best game of the week next Saturday. LSU isn’t as good as
last year’s bunch, but has been playing more consistent. But the
Gators by far will pose the biggest test to date.
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Ohio State: The
Buckeyes have too many to jump to make it back to the national title
game – the cheers for that are deafening – but you can’t count them
out of the Rose Bowl picture. That much could be decided on October
25 when Penn State visits the Horseshoe.
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Oklahoma State: The
Cowboys are fighting for significance in their own state, and
starting to make some progress. Mike Gundy is now 41 – still a man,
mind you – and has Okie State shooting for the Top 10. If the
Cowboys can gun down Mizzou next week, they’ll probably make it.
-
Vanderbilt: Seriously.
Vandy? The Commodores hosted ESPN’s College Gameday and didn’t
disappoint with their victory over Auburn. Vandy’s emergence has
strengthened the Southeastern Conference even more. As if it needed
to be stronger.
-
Utah: The annual Holy
War doesn’t get the publicity of most rivalry games, but this year’s
edition looks worthy of a primetime network television event. The
Utes, behind quarterback Brian Johnson, are priming themselves for a
BCS run.
-
Boise State: They
simply reload on the Smurf Turf. The Broncos are legitimately one of
the Top 25 programs in the country, and this could be their best
team yet. Winning at Oregon is never easy, but Boise made it look
that way.
-
Pittsburgh: The
Panthers were the trendy pick to win the Big East in the preseason,
but stumbled in their season opener. They’ve slowly clawed their way
back into the drivers’ seat of the BCS’s worst league. If defense
wins championships, Pitt has to be the league frontrunner.
-
South Florida: How
quickly they can fall. Last week the Bulls were in the Top 10, but
couldn’t handle Pittsburgh at home. USF can still win the Big East
but needs someone to knock off the Panthers.
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Kansas: The Jayhawks
didn’t start well against Iowa State, but they did piece together an
impressive comeback. The schedule doesn’t set up near as nicely as
it did for Kansas last year, and staying in the polls will be quite
an accomplishment for Mark Mangino’s bunch.
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Virginia Tech: The
Hokies have righted the ship with Tyrod Taylor under center as the
young defense continues to improve. Tech could easily win out
against its weak remaining schedule and return to the ACC title game
again.
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Kentucky: It’s rare
for a team to go unranked on a ballot one week, and then jump onto
it following a loss. But that’s exactly what the Wildcats did in my
poll this week. If Alabama is the nation’s second ranked team – and
I think it deserves to be – then I don’t see how Kentucky isn’t one
of the 25 best. It wasn’t a moral victory, but nearly beating the
Tide in Tuscaloosa counts for something here.
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North Carolina: A few
weeks ago, the Tar Heels were a punch line after barely escaping
McNeese State. Now the Heels can firmly claim themselves the best in
their state. The most daunting task awaiting North Carolina might
not be any of the games remaining on its schedule. Keeping Butch
Davis from the clutches of Tennessee won’t be easy.
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Tulsa: Tulsa’s defense
couldn’t stop the Oklahoma high school state champions. But in the
Land of Misfit Defenses -- Conference USA -- it doesn’t have to.
There isn’t a defense in C-USA that can weather the Golden Hurricane
and quarterback David Johnson. This has the look of a team that will
run the table – and get left behind by BYU or Utah in the BCS
sweepstakes.
-
Ball State: If only
the Cardinals and Tulsa could join the Mountain West Conference this
season. That would make for one solid league. The Lettermen have yet
to be challenged this season and probably won’t be in the weak MAC.
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Michigan State: The
addition of the Spartans to the rankings brings some actual
legitimacy to the Big Ten as a whole. Michigan State hasn’t been
overly impressive so far, but at least it continues to win.
Out: Auburn, Oregon,
Wisconsin, Fresno State, Maryland
In: Pitt (17), Kentucky
(21), Tulsa (23), Ball State (24), Michigan State (25)
Almost in: Wake Forest,
California, TCU, Georgia Tech
Send
an e-mail message to Denny O'Brien.
Dig into Denny
O'Brien's Bonesville archives.
10/06/2008 03:24:41 AM |
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