The Blogpoll and Big 12 Ralphie Report Rankings - Week 1

by WoodrowWilson on Sep 2, 2008 12:10 PM MDT in Blog Poll

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Southern Cal	1
2	Ohio State	1
3	Florida	--
4	Oklahoma	--
5	Missouri	1
6	Georgia	1
7	West Virginia	--
8	LSU	2
9	Texas Tech	--
10	Texas	1
11	Auburn	2
12	Wisconsin	2
13	Brigham Young	2
14	Oregon	2
15	South Florida	3
16	Kansas	1
17	Clemson	9
18	Wake Forest	2
19	Cincinnati	4
20	Fresno State	4
21	Utah	4
22	Alabama	4
23	Arizona State	2
24	Penn State	2
25	Illinois	3

Dropped Out: Virginia Tech (#12), Tennessee (#19).

Explanations on the movement and my Big 12 Rankings after the jump...

Other teams that I considered for my rankings (in order):

26) Tennessee
27) Virginia Tech
28) South Carolina
29) UCLA
30) California
31) Oklahoma State
32) Boston College

Breakdown:

I waffled back and forth on whether or not to keep Ohio State #1 after this first week's action. The more I got to thinking about it I decided that I was going to do my rankings as objecitvely as possible, which means that these first set of rankings after the season has begun must be a complete reset of who I believe are the best teams and not just shuffling teams up and down from my preseason rankings. USC looked fantastic against a weaker BCS oppenent on the road and Ohio State in now facing the possibility of facing the Trojans on the road without their Heisman candidate running back at full strength.

Missouri jumped over Georgia with the strength of their win over Illinois. I think that the Illini are going to be very strong once again and this win will look better and better for the Tigers as the season goes on. I still believe that the Bulldogs lose AT LEAST two games this year and they can't feel good as the injuries continue to add up.

Clemson fell from number 8 to number 17. I still think that the ACC will come down to either the Tigers, Wake Forest or Miami but man was that one uninspired performance.

LSU jumped above Texas Tech due to my concerns about the Tech secondary. It will be interesting to compare how the Buffs defense holds up against EWU after this weekend.

I dropped Virginia Tech all the way out of the rankings. While they will win some games in the weak ACC, without Taylor on the field their offense is going to struggle each and every week.

South Florida jumped one spot above the Jayhawks due to their dismantling of Tennessee-Martin, but like USC - OSU situation it doesn't really matter because the teams will decide the debate on the field next weekend.

I moved Fresno State, Utah and Alabama ahead of the Sun Devils. I am very happy that the Bulldogs and Utes both validated my preseason top 25 rankings and I am not a believer in Rudy Carpenter or Arizona State.

Finally, Penn State joined the Crimson Tide as newcomers into my top 25 and Illinois just hung on at number 25 because I really liked what I saw from Juice.

College football is great because of the weekly rankings and the ensuing debate over who should be ranked where so chime in and let me know where I screwed up and who you think I should move. As always you can view the chart showing the picks for the entire year and below you can see how I rank the Big 12.

Week 1 Big 12 Rankings

	The Sooners had an expected easy time with UTC, next week's game with Cincinnati will give us a much better idea of how the Sooners and Tigers compare.
	Mizzou's offense looked great against the Illini, but concerns have been raised about the defensive performance. Did Juice's passing really improve THAT much over the off-season?
	Similar to Missouri, the offense did exactly what was expected, the "revamped" defense? Not so much… At least the Tigers played a much stronger opponent than the Red Raiders.
	I was very impressed with Texas' debut. After UTEP was exposed by Buffalo, we most likely won't see the Longhorns get a true test until they head up to Boulder.
	Mangino's defense is going to be on the field a lot more than he will like if they can't get their running game going before the match up in South Florida.
	Great start to the season for the Pokes. Let's hope they don't over look the Cougars this week as Coach Sumlin is very familiar with Okie State and the game should turn into a shootout.
	It will be a very interesting comparison watching the Buffs against a team that did better than expected against the Red Raiders this year.
	Reactions have been very mixed after Nebraska's opening week win against Western Michigan. Most fans are very happy with the offense. The defense? Not quite yet.
	Kansas State sure played well in a victory over North Texas but how much can we actually read into that? Beat Louisville on the road and they should be 4-0 when Texas Tech comes to town.
	I'm going to give Coach Sherman a slight mulligan after his game 1 debacle against Arkansas State, but are we so sure that Iowa State and Baylor would have lost to the Red Wolves at home?
	Thank you Iowa State. I feel much better about my Big 12 survivor pool now that I have gotten your win out of the way…
	Bear fans have to be excited about Robert Griffin's tantalizing debut. I am interested to see how the Bears perform against a much weaker team than they had to play in week 1.

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Comments

I think everyone is drinking to Kool-Aid

on Oklahoma State. I know we are talking about the #6, #7, #8 teams in the conference but I still think they are a .500 team with that defense. Colorado and Nebraska, in my opinion, are better teams right now.Good ranking on Texas Tech at #3. Everyone seems like they are going to jump ship on Tech after a not so good defensive performance but the Buffs will realize this weekend that Eastern Washington is a good team and Tech can still outscore people on their worst days so good to hold them at #3.

Shoulder to Shoulder...The Ralphie Report - All CU, All the Time http://www.ralphiereport.com/

by irish1611 on Sep 2, 2008 12:59 PM MDT 0 recs

I think that there are a lot of teams in the Big 12 that have the same problem that Oklahoma State does. I

RalphieReport.com - University of Colorado Athletics

by WoodrowWilson on Sep 2, 2008 2:10 PM MDT up 0 recs

I really don't understand why Ohio State is ranked in the top five

This is a team that routinely gets exposed in bowl games and plays in what I think is the most over-rated conference in the nation. Obviously, they will get a harsh leason when they play USC, at best they are No. 9, just ahead of Texas Tech.

"How do the berries taste Ralph?" Bart Simpson
"They taste like burning." Ralph Wigam
Broncoman

by Broncoman on Sep 2, 2008 2:25 PM MDT 0 recs

They might not be the #1 or #2 come seasons end but right now, they have the talent to play

in the national championship game. We will find out a lot about the Buckeyes Sept 13th when they play USC but if Beanie Wells is out, Ohio State will be a big underdog

Shoulder to Shoulder...The Ralphie Report - All CU, All the Time http://www.ralphiereport.com/

by irish1611 on Sep 2, 2008 3:28 PM MDT up 0 recs

I think Mizzou and Auburn are overrated by every poll. Time will tell.

by soonergray02 on Sep 2, 2008 2:30 PM MDT 0 recs

Mizzou

definitely got exposed in the secondary but they have the talent back there to get the problem fixed. I think Mizzou will go undefeated in the regular season and then you have the Big 12 championship game where anything can happen. I am really high on Mizzou because they have a great QB and a bunch of playmakers around him.

Shoulder to Shoulder...The Ralphie Report - All CU, All the Time http://www.ralphiereport.com/

by irish1611 on Sep 2, 2008 3:14 PM MDT up 0 recs