November 9, 2009 · 6:45 AM

My Mumme Poll ballot, Week 10

Stability at the very top, but a lot of underbrush clearing for the rest of the ballot…

TOP FIVE

  • Alabama
  • Cincinnati
  • Florida
  • Texas
  • TCU

BEST OF THE REST

  • Boise State
  • Georgia Tech
  • Iowa
  • Miami
  • Ohio State
  • Oregon
  • Pittsburgh

COMMENTS

  • I couldn’t agree more with Matt Hinton about the pollsters’ ridiculous decision to rank Southern Cal ahead of Oregon.  There is absolutely zero justification for it.
  • Matt’s also got one other excellent point worth mentioning here:  “The SEC has three teams (tying it with the Mountain West and ACC), but all three are in the top eight, even though Alabama and Florida’s only victories over another top-20 team are over LSU, and LSU has no wins over another team in the top 25.” I just don’t see the Tigers as one of the nation’s twelve best right now with that offense.
  • The top four ranked teams nationally in total defense are Texas, Florida, TCU and Alabama.  Coincidence?  I think not.
  • Cincinnati isn’t as highly ranked in defense as those four, but the Bearcats are ranked third in the nation in total offense.  (TCU, by the way, is eighth.)
  • As indicated, my top five was a pretty easy call.  I looked at Southern Cal, Penn State, LSU, Utah and Virginia Tech (don’t laugh – the Hokies’ schedule has been tough), but went with Miami and Pittsburgh in my last two slots.  Total time spent assembling ballot:  approximately 30 minutes.

6 Comments

Filed under Mumme Poll

6 responses to “My Mumme Poll ballot, Week 10”

  1. Munson's Call
    November 9, 2009 at 8:06 AM

    How did you justify Ohio St. over USC? I had OSU in my Top 12 too but realized I had them over USC who they lost to head to head. So I put USC in and dropped OSU out.

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  2. Munson's Call
    November 9, 2009 at 9:39 AM

    Fair enough. Wasn’t saying you were wrong to have them in over USC. I was just curious about your thought process. The last three spots were a mess for me. I ended up with LSU, USC and Oreg as my last three teams included.

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  3. Macallanlover
    November 9, 2009 at 11:04 AM

    I agree totally about USC, very weak performances all year, but especially the last two. Take away the Pick 6, their offense scroed one TD against ASU.

    What I don’t understand is Iowa remaining in your list. I know, I know, 9-1 looks impresssive, but have you looked under the hood? They have struggled in almost every game they have played, including some very bad teams (starting with that miracle comeback in the opener against powerhouse Northern Iowa!) The only “decent”win they had was against Penn State and now they don’t look so hot. I admit it is tough to find 12 teams that have separated themselves from the pack, but LSU against Iowa is a slam dunk, imo.

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  4. Nola Dawg
    November 9, 2009 at 1:39 PM

    Coupla points about the rankings.

    As far as LSU’s win, I would say it was at Washington to start the season. Not the most impressive, I know, but they did beat the team that beat USC. Not to say that is enough reason alone, but their only losses were both close against the top 2 (or 3) teams.

    As far as the statistic about the only top-20 victory for ‘Bama and Florida being LSU, I think Matt might be being a bit intentionally misleading (which is said with all due respect for someone who reports on the game with his consistency and depth of knowledge). The only team on your list (from a quick perusal of schedules) with a top-20 out of conference victory is Boise, which they followed up with nothing. Not to say ‘Bama and Florida are clearly the best, but that single statistic doesn’t necessarily mean anything when no one has a particularly glamorous resume.

    Definitely agree with you on Iowa over LSU, although not by much. The injuries are going to kill them, which is kind of sad, as I was hoping to see them in the Rose Bowl. tOSU has looked better in the last 2 games, and if they keep it up they may convince me, but Terrelle Pryor has been very hit or miss this year, so I’m waiting to see if he can stay consistent enough to keep them looking good.

    The only difference in my ballot was Miami over tOSU. That loss to Purdue is looking better, but not as good as Miami’s losses to a surging Clemson in OT and a good Va Tech team on the road in the rain.

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