Monday, August 17, 2009

2009 Preseason Blogpoll Ballot

The Blogpoll is Back

The blogpoll is back and BC Interruption will again be representing Boston College in this year's voting. If you aren't quite sure what the blogpoll is, be sure to read this. In a nutshell, it's basically the AP poll except with bloggers.

The BC Interruption Approach

Instead of coming to some general consensus week to week (no small task), Jeff and I each compile our own Top 25 ballot and average the two together to arrive at this blog's ballot. This is a fairly unique approach to blogpoll voting that not many participating blogs follow, and this has two unintended consequences.
  1. Whack Blogpoll Ballots - If one of us REALLY likes a certain program and that program isn't even on the other's radar, this team could sneak into our Top 25 ballot.
  2. Law of Averages - Sometimes our ballot might look strangely boring and predictable, but that is simply a byproduct of averaging out two very distinct ballots. It's not a reflection of us "mailing in our ballot" and just going with what the mainstream media is saying. Trust us. We take our blogpoll balloting seriously.
After we throw out a preliminary ballot for the week, that's where you come into play. Tell us why we're flat out wrong, pose changes to our first ballot (all in the comments section), and we'll try to incorporate your feedback into the week's final ballot.

Our approach and the goal of the blogpoll is also for full transparency, so we'll let you know which games we watched from week to week.

Here is our 2009 preseason Top 25 ballot.

RankTeam
1 Florida
2 Texas
3 Oklahoma
4 Southern Cal
5 Mississippi
6 Penn State
7 LSU
8 Virginia Tech
9 Oklahoma State
10 Ohio State
11 California
12 Oregon
13 Alabama
14 Florida State
15 Michigan State
16 Georgia Tech
17 Nebraska
18 Georgia
19 TCU
20 Clemson
21 Miami (Florida)
22 Boise State
23 Utah
24 Brigham Young
25 Pittsburgh


Other Teams Considered: Oregon State, Cincinnati, West Virginia, Kansas, Iowa, Texas Tech, North Carolina, NC State, South Florida, Tennessee, Northwestern, Missouri, Boston College, Notre Dame (to name just a few)

By Conference: SEC 5, ACC 5, Big XII 4, Pac 10 3, Big Ten 3, Mountain West 3, Big East 1, WAC 1

Jeff's Thoughts
  • Texas, Florida, and Oklahoma are the only teams you should be considering ranking #1 and should fill out everyone's top 3 slots. USC might be four in some polls but they are a distant fourth.
  • Who's the second best team in the ACC behind Virginia Tech? We'll find out but it could be just about anyone including Boston College. But more likely the second best team in the conference will be Georgia Tech, Miami (Fla.), Florida State or Clemson.
  • Don't be surprised if South Florida plays Miami (Fla.) in the Orange Bowl ...
  • ... or if Alabama loses 4+ games.
  • Lastly, the Big XII South is loaded!!!!
Brian's Thoughts
  • Jeff and I disagreed on who should be No. 1. I was initially leaning Texas but switched over to the defending champ's camp. Besides, as Jeff mentioned, the Big XII South is loaded, and while I have no doubt that Texas will beat both Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, they seem to have a bit of a harder road to get to the National Championship. (Since we can't have ties on our ballot, the tiebreaker goes to the champs.)
  • The SEC West is as equally loaded as the Big XII South this season. I like Ole Miss's chances the best out of the three as they get both Alabama and LSU at home this season. Can the Rebels make their first SEC Championship game appearance riding the arm of Jevan Snead?
  • Clemson and Miami (Fla.) miss my Top 25 but make our combined ballot, while Boise State and Utah miss Jeff's Top 25 ballot make the cut.
  • I previously made a stand against Rutgers, and I'll make a similar stand against Notre Dame. While I do think they have the talent of a Top 25 team, I want to see them rattle off a few wins before I consider voting them in (Nevada is no slouch).
  • Speaking of Rutgers, who is the best team in the Big East? We have no idea, and considered the chances of basically 1/2 the league - Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, West Virginia and South Florida. Jeff likes Pittsburgh the best while I give the nod to the defending champs.

Leave your thoughts, comments, and suggestions in the comments section below.

3 comments:

BCMike said...

Since when did Ole Miss get the Notre Dame treatment? Four losses and a top five preseason prediction?

I'm not buying the Ole Miss hype. 11 is the highest I would put them.

Bird said...

Ole Miss is the team doomed to failure this year. However, their play against TTU in the bowl game last season didn't hurt at all.

Jeff said...

Ole Miss is just that team this year who people are jumping on to finish high who is not a perennial power. They finished strong last year and had some impressive wins. Last year it was probably Texas Tech and Clemson that people jumped on preseason. Not the best company to be in although TT had their one shining moment at least which cannot be said about Clemson.

The problem is though, who do put above them? Personally, I had LSU higher but Ole Miss still top 10 and ahead of all ACC teams.