2021 Mumme Poll, Week 14

Well, some of y’all checked out after the SECCG.  The number of voters this week plummeted to 239, by far the lowest of the season.

Those that voted tended to distill their choices.  The average number of teams on a given ballot was down to 5.3.  Keep in mind that only two weeks ago, that number was almost seven.  52 teams received at least one vote.  (Believe it or not, one of those teams is Florida.)

Here’s how our final top 25 of 2021 played out:

And here’s how the selection committee’s top 25 looks:

The order may be a little different, but there’s a high degree of correlation, overall.  You have to go all the way down to 13th in the MP before you find a team (UTSA) not on the selection committee’s list and 14th (Oregon), vice versa.  When you throw this into the mix…

… it’s hard to justify the current arrangement.  Approval voting is easier and has less of an appearance of bias/conflict of interest, not to mention eliminating the costly trips to a Texas resort and awkward explanation’s from the committee’s chairman.

That’s particularly true with regard to selection of the four-team playoff field.

Conference breakdown:

Voters from Georgia made up 61.3% of the total pool.

Again, thanks to all who contributed in making the MP go this year.  I would be remiss if I didn’t recognize the efforts of my partner in crime, Peyton, who was the man behind the scenes making this puppy work smoothly.

Approval voting works.

Week 14 Mumme Poll ballot link

A lot of you are gonna have fun with this, amirite?  Here’s the link to vote; as always, get it in by midnight tomorrow.

This will be the last MP vote of the season, so make it count.

My Week 13 Mumme Poll ballot

Ch-ch-ch-changes…

• Cincinnati
• Michigan
• Alabama
• Georgia

I thought about adding Oklahoma State and Notre Dame, but ultimately their net ypp numbers (just a tick over one for the Cowboys and under one for the Irish) led me to a thumbs down.  Hell. Michigan at 1.63 net ypp was a stretch.

Still, got ‘er done in less than ten minutes.

Week 13 Mumme Poll ballot link

Well, that was an interesting weekend, wasn’t it?  Might actually have to spend more than a minute on this week’s ballot.

The link is here.  Don’t forget to vote before midnight tomorrow.

2021 Mumme Poll, Week 12

With the Oregon and Cincinnati results, things appear to have snapped into shape with this week’s 289 Mumme Poll voters.  The average number of teams selected on a ballot was 6.7, the smallest number so far this season.  Only 45 teams received at least one vote, also the smallest amount of the year.  (Once again, that number doesn’t include Florida.)

Here’s our top 25:

And here’s what the selection committee, in its infinite wisdom, popped out last night:

The order may be a little different, but other than UTSA and Ole Miss, the top ten for both contain the same schools.  And we managed to accomplish that without death threats ($$) or awkward explanations from the committee chair.

We also managed it without having to spend an inordinate amount of time doing so.

97% in under five minutes.  There are commercial breaks on ESPN’s selection show that last that long.  There’s no reason approval voting couldn’t work in a credible way, at least that I can see.

The conference breakdown shows the gap between the SEC and Big Ten has widened again.

But that doesn’t appear to be due to a regional bias, as Georgia representation lessened a little this week, to 61.9%.

As for the bonus question, dressing/stuffing dominated, taking almost 70% of the vote.  (Sweet potato casserole narrowly beat out mac and cheese for second place, in case you’re wondering.)

Takeways from Week 12:

• What really snapped into place was a playoff field, with four teams appearing on more than 90% of the ballots cast.  Those four teams also happen to be the same top four on the selection committee’s list.
• Michigan and Oklahoma State are lurking, though, in the next two spots, although neither received votes on 75% of the ballots.
• Georgia again scored a 100% mark.

My Week 12 Mumme Poll ballot

Between its dominant win over a decent SMU team and Oregon’s drubbing at the hands of Utah, Cincinnati had a very good Saturday.  That means my ballot deciding process got considerably shorter.  Less than five minutes?  Hell, more like less than one minute:

• Cincinnati
• Ohio State
• Alabama
• Georgia

I am leaving the door open to consider Oklahoma State, if the Cowboys run the table.  And, of course if Michigan pulls off the upset Saturday…

Week 12 Mumme Poll ballot link

I have a feeling this week’s MP is gonna be interesting.  Link to the ballot is here; make sure to get your vote in by tomorrow midnight.

2021 Mumme Poll, Week 11

I was pleased to see that some of last week’s wayward flock returned to vote, as we had 293 folks cast ballots.

Cutting to the chase, here is this week’s Top 25:

In all, 54 teams received at least one vote.  Florida wasn’t one of those, despite its epic win last weekend.

Here’s what the selection committee hath wrought:

We’re not perfectly aligned, but there’s a pretty strong correlation between the two and none of us have had to say anything as stupid to defend our results as Gary Barta did.  The biggest variation I see is UTSA, who we love a lot more than the selection committee does.

As always, we continue to do our work more briskly than the committee does… of course, their quarters are probably nicer.

As far as conference selection goes, the Big Ten rallied this week.

There’s a big drop off after the top two.  Thanks to Cincinnati, the AAC winds up with a better showing on our ballots than the rest of the P5.  Embarrassing.  And also a good illustration of why we’ll soon be getting a 12-team playoff.

The geographic concentration of our voters has remained incredibly consistent over the season.  Georgia voters made up 64.7% of the total.

And to what should be nobody’s surprise, Kirby Smart was the runaway winner of this week’s bonus question, receiving just shy of 90% of the votes cast.

This week’s takeaways:

• Georgia continues to keep their 100% showing rolling.
• Alabama was the only other team to crack the 90% threshold.
• Last week, there were six teams appearing on at least 75% of the ballots; this week, only five did.  I think that will continue to shrink, unless chaos really strikes at the top.

My Week 11 Mumme Poll ballot

Down goes Okie.  Although I will say I’ve left the door open for redemption if the Sooners beat Oklahoma State and go on to win the Big 12.  (Same may apply to the Cowboys if they manage the same result.)

The tough call this week was Cincinnati.  The Bearcats haven’t exactly dominated their last four opponents, which had a whopping total of seven wins between them going into Saturday.  In the end, I let that Notre Dame win carry them for another week, but that’s getting to be thin beer at this point.

All told, the Cinci decision took about nine minutes and forty five seconds of my ten minutes of ballot time.  The rest was easy.

• Cincinnati
• Ohio State
• Oregon
• Alabama
• Georgia

Week 11 Mumme Poll ballot link

It’s been a crazy week, but approval voting can handle what’s thrown at it.  Cast your ballot here.  And do it by tomorrow night!