Mumme Poll results, week seven

Here you go:

Rank	Team	Votes (top five)
1	Alabama	341     (341)
2	Florida	339     (328)
3	Iowa	337     (212)
4	Texas	336     (316)
5	Cincinnati	322     (195)
6	Southern Cal	322     (152)
7	Boise State	302
7	Miami	302
9	TCU	286
10	Georgia Tech	275
11	LSU	268
12	Oregon	258
13	Penn State	127
14	Virginia Tech	113
15	Oklahoma State	64
16	Houston	23
17	BYU	15
18	Pittsburgh	11
19	Ohio State	7
19	Texas Tech	7
21	South Carolina	6
22	Oklahoma	5
22	South Florida	5
22	West Virginia	5
25	Utah	4

COMMENTS

• To start with, please accept our apologies for some glitches at the site that caused some problems with the voting.  That’s probably reflected in the lesser number of ballots we processed this week.  Accordingly, if you didn’t vote this week for whatever reason, it won’t be counted against your eligibility as a participant.
• Alabama was the only team this week to appear on every ballot cast.
• If the Mumme Poll were more prominent, c0uldn’t you just hear Pete Carroll’s whining about USC’s ranking?
• There were votes cast for a total of 33 schools.
• No ballots were tossed this week for questionable votes.  Good show, gang.
• Highest ranked team without a top five vote?  #15 Oklahoma State.
• Lowest ranked team with a top five vote?  #22 Oklahoma.  (And, no, it wasn’t cast by an Oklahoma-affiliated voter.)
• Bias watch:  340 registered Georgia voters (186 ballots), 0 votes for Georgia, 157 votes for Georgia Tech.  You know that had to hurt.

Advertisement

Kiffin watch: reaping what you sow

He was asking for the tiniest of favors, he thought.  Surely no one would mind.

Wrong, bacon breath.

Alabama denied a request by Tennessee to wear its home orange jerseys on the road against the Tide, Volunteers coach Lane Kiffin said Monday evening.

…

“In talking with some people in the offseason about the history here and both teams wearing the home jersey, I thought it would be something that would be really neat for our fans and for their fans,” Kiffin said. “We were approved by the SEC, and Alabama denied us that.”

I have no doubt that every Alabama fan with a pulse is deeply appreciative of Junior’s thoughtfulness.

Maybe the Laner should pick up the phone and lobby Nick Saban personally.  Even better, maybe he could have Lance Thompson call his former boss.  I hear Thompson is a fantastic people person.  He could probably smooth over this little unpleasantness.

The University of Tennessee made the hiring of former Alabama football assistant coach official Saturday with an announcement that new head coach Lane Kiffin had completed his coaching staff.

Thompson will coach linebackers at Tennessee.

Kiffin released a statement on his new staff that seemed to take a shot at Alabama, among other schools.

“To be able to take South Carolina’s recruiting coordinator, Mississippi State’s recruiting coordinator, Alabama’s best recruiter and Auburn’s best recruiter over the past 10 years was a great accomplishment for us,” Kiffin said…

Seriously, Junior can’t be that tone deaf, can he?  Does Nick Saban really strike him as a forgive and forget kind of guy concerning matters like this?

This is beginning to smell like a dangerous trap game for Alabama.  The Tide had better be careful, else Kiffin leaves Tuscaloosa with his second moral victory of the season.

Being open minded at 4-3.

This caught me by surprise.

… Sophomore running back Richard Samuel – who started the first six games, but waited until the third quarter for his first carry in Saturday’s win at Vanderbilt – could eventually move to linebacker, but not before the offseason, Richt said Monday.

“I don’t know if we’re at the point right now where we’re ready to say that he should move and we really haven’t taken the time to try to evaluate that,” Richt told the Touchdown Club of Atlanta in a lunchtime appearance streamed on the Internet. “I think he’s still very valuable to us as a running back. … That’s one of the things we’ll have to decide.”

…

Richt said since Samuel will still get work at tailback, now is not the time to make any position change.

“If you’re going to make that move, make it in the offseason, make it when he has the whole spring and summer to understand what to do,” Richt said. “I still believe he’s a heck of a back and he can help us win at that position.”

Not the move itself – it’s been pretty clear for a while now that tailback may not be the ideal position for Samuel – but (1) that Richt is willing to consider making the move and (2) that he would discuss his consideration publicly.  That tells me a little more about what kind of season it’s been for him.

Package deal

Jimmy Johnson has a suggestion for making sure the GPOOE™ has a chance to succeed in the pros:

… Sunday, Fox’s Jimmy Johnson suggested how Florida star Tim Tebow could remain a TV star in coming years, saying “the key” to the quarterback in the NFL would be for the team drafting him to hire Gators coach Urban Meyer so Tebow could stay in his college offense since he “is not going to fit in with a pro-style offense.”

Maybe, but I’m not sure Corch Meyers is ready to make that move, when he’s got such a good gig going in Gainesville.  Everything is organized to succeed there.

SEC Power Poll Ballot – Week Seven

There are three givens in this conference to date:  Florida and Alabama will win, and Vanderbilt will lose.  The rest is just a bloody mess, which is entertaining, if nothing else.

1. Alabama. The Tide offense looks less shaky than Florida’s, so that’s why I moved ‘Bama to #1.  In reality, it’s still a 1 and 1-A situation, though.
2. Florida. I have this nagging feeling that Arkansas’ defense is still pretty lousy.  That’s not a good thing for Florida to consider.
3. LSU. Sometimes, no news is good news.  It’s time for the Tigers to step it up.  The good thing for LSU is that they still have Alabama left on the schedule against which they can prove themselves.  Of course, the bad thing is that they still have Alabama left on the schedule.
4. South Carolina. I’d really prefer to leave this slot blank.  There isn’t a team in the SEC worthy of being called fourth-best right now.   They get it by virtue of a good win over Mississippi, but they’d better beat another decent team soon.
5. Ole Miss. Their resume isn’t better than the ‘Cocks, but their defense surpasses any team’s not yet mentioned.
6. Arkansas. Their moral victory against Florida was better than Tennessee’s, so that’s why they’re here.
7. Tennessee. Let’s see how they fare against Alabama, shall we?
8. Georgia. Could be the next beneficiary of the bye week bounce.  The Dawgs showed a pulse against Vandy, but still have more question marks than any team in the conference.
9. Kentucky. These guys lose starters and play better.  At the rate the ‘Cats are going, it could be a helluva November.
10. Auburn. With Todd coming back to earth, it feels like the wheels are starting to come off the wagon.
11. Mississippi State. I heart Anthony Dixon.
12. Vanderbilt. When your quarterback can’t take advantage of Georgia’s defensive largesse, you know he’s bad.  It feels like it’s only going to get worse for this team.  If that’s possible.