Wed Nov 04, 2009 1:52 pm EST

Now in its fifth year, the Blog Poll is a weekly effort of dozens of college football-centric Web sites representing a wide array of schools under the oversight of founder/manager/guru Brian Cook at MGoBlog, and now appears on CBS Sportsline. It’s an effort to provide a more rigorous check on the mainstream polls that actually, like, count toward the mythical championship, and enthusiastically shines a light on its voters' biases. But mainly, it’s fun.
This week's ballot is brought to you by Fox News anchor and proud Ole Miss alum Shepard Smith, who reminds readers that the South has already risen, so there's no need to keep chanting about it, a'ight?
As always, the lineup is constructed exclusively on resumé to date, with no regard to predictions, abstract notions of inherent strength or any previous rankings this season; it's only reflective of games played so far.
• Because the facts keep changing. With the exception of a short, solid run with Alabama, I've swapped my No. 1 team on a near-weekly basis for various, usually fairly arbitrary reasons, and I'm back with the SEC after a brief fling with Iowa last week. The Hawkeyes' big strength-of-schedule advantage took a hit with the addition of some relatively dead weight (Indiana) and bad losses by previous victims Iowa State and Michigan, which is on the verge of becoming more of a liability on the Hawkeyes' resumé than an asset. Meanwhile, Florida's schedule improved with the addition of Georgia as a respectable win and the continued resurgence of Tennessee.
The Gators are still holding on to a top-10 win at otherwise undefeated LSU, as well, a problem at the moment for Alabama: No schedule has been hit harder the last few weeks than the Tide's, with the value of their opening win over Virginia Tech plummeting in the wake of two straight Hokie losses, leaving 'Bama with zero wins over a team that hasn't been beaten on at least two other occasions.
• Because quantity still matters. I'm not sure anyone is delivering better quality on the field or on paper right now than Texas, but with Oklahoma, Texas Tech and Missouri all sliding into mediocrity, the 'Horns still haven't done enough in-conference to completely overcome their shameful non-conference slate, highlighted by a win at Wyoming. Iowa may be squeaking out ugly wins by the hair of its chinstrap, but the Hawkeyes do have six wins over "Big Six" conference teams sitting at .500 or better, more than any other team in the country, and have three wins over ranked teams, best among teams with fewer than two losses. If Iowa gets by Ohio State in two weeks en route to 12-0, the sheer number of quality wins on its resumé is going to be hard to ignore, even if they're ugly ones.
• Because quality still matters, too. USC was humiliated on an unprecedented scale at Oregon, but the Trojans' three big road wins at Cal, Ohio State and Notre Dame are still as good a troika as any team has managed this year, and are still worth elevating to me above the very meh skins collected so far by Penn State and Pittsburgh, despite the extra tick in the loss column for SC. Ditto Miami, the only team to beat Georgia Tech and one of the teams (along with Texas) that could really benefit from an Oklahoma rally down the stretch, to boost the value of its win over the Sooners.
The full resumé chart is below the jump, and as always, everything will be completely different next week.
+/–: Average margin of victory; SoS: Strength of schedule (calculated by Jeff Sagarin); Oppt %: Combined winning percentage all opponents.

Dr. Saturday is a college football blog edited by Matt Hinton. Email him tips and feedback.

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25 Comments
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(Note: I love this blog. This isn't directed as much towards Matt as it is to pollsters in general.)
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I just hope BSU gets a chance to prove itself in a bowl game this year. And by mean "prove itself," I mean get smoked by a middle tier BCS school just so we can stop talking about them. And if TCU runs the table and doesn't stay ahead of Boise, it will be a travesty.
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First off Florida won last year. They deserve to be number one and they have the record to prove it. Until they lose that's who it is and should be. I'll make it even easier by saying that if they lose just one game then drop them out of BCS contention. Harsh I know but that should appease all the florida haters.
Now on to the rest of the bunch 'Bama, Texas, Iowa, Cincy, Oregon.....I hate the BCS, why do I hate it? Two reasons: TCU, Boise State. Each can go undefeated, everyone else can have a blemish on their record and neither will play in the title game. In Boise's case its sad that Oregon will play in the chip game way before they will. I remember a Boise team that beat Okla., that has been good for quite a few years and has to struggle just to break the top 8 much less get a national title shot. And all this because they don't play for a BCS conference. Lets be serious here!! You mean to tell me that a USC team that has two losses can eventually jump both of those schools should either of them lose once and USC win the rest of their games? I think I'm gonna puke.
As much as I hate to admit anything concerning the BCS conferences Florida (so long as they continue to win) gives us at least a glimmer of legitmancy as far as the BullCrapSeries goes. Hate it if you want but you know it to be true
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The rest of it looks quite good.
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Florida, Cinci, TCU, Penn St, Pitt, Okla St, Wisconsin and South Florida have inflated Margin of Victory numbers thanks to blow outs of inept Div I-AA teams
Florida should not be atop this list next week. The Gators will beat down hapless Vandy (2-7) while Bama takes on LSU (7-1)
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Say it, think it, learn it.
Iowa is winning.
I remember all the people who would say the Patriots would lose(when they won 3-4 super bowls) because they usually would win by 3 or so. They were wrong.
The Patriots won all 3 super bowls by 3 I think.
It's the same in college.
Wins matter, points.... don't.
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So I guess you've forgotten where that "-1" came from?
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I can only assume Iowa escaped your wrath because their MOV isn't inflated by their blow out of an inept FCS team. Far better to barely beat Northern Iowa than to inflate your MOV and disrespect the sport.
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Georgia Tech seem way underrated. If one respects Florida State (who, after all, do have road wins at BYU and North Carolina and have only lost to good teams), they have one more quality win than Oregon, two more than TCU and three more than Boise State. Might even sneak them ahead of Cincinnati, though I still have no real grasp on how good the Big East is this year.
Oregon notwithstanding, it's getting very hard to justify a top ten spot for Boise without violating the principle of taking the whole season into account.
1. Florida
2. Alabama
3. Texas
4. Iowa
5. Georgia Tech
6. Cincinnati
7. Oregon
8. USC
9. TCU
10. Pitt
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Iowa's MOV is the lowest of any team with fewer than two losses... that speaks for itself. I wouldn't put the Hawkeyes in the top 5.
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Boise State should not be ranked in any poll below Oregon. Boise State beat Oregon and that's a fact. A victory is a victory and a loss is a loss. Oregon lost and Boise State won, end of story. I have a feeling that Boise State would probably beat Oregon again should they happen to play but they won't so we have to go by the stats that we have before us.
Dr. Gobber Saturday has VA. Tech ranked @ 18. Hello! they just lost to North Carolina, they barely squeeked by Nebraska at home winning on the last play of the game. Nebraska is 5-3 with their most recent loss to lowly Iowa State. Where does this ranking come from?????? Maybe Outer Space.
I'm sure that Texas will be in the National Title game with the winner of the SEC. People were talking trash about Texas at their last trip to the National Championship game but yet they won over USC and that game was at the Rose Bowl in USC's backyard. You can trash Texas all you want but they have taken care of their business and are deserving, they win when they need to.
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Perhaps it all comes crashing down to earth vs. schizophrenic Ole Miss in two weeks, but would you really bet against them versus anyone outside the top 15 right now?
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My upset pick this week is Northwestern over Iowa.
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1. I didn't say OSU should be in the national title game or even go to a BCS game. I said they should be ranked ahead of Arizona as an example of how bad this "poll" is. I'm not sure how you can argue with this, other than being retarded. Using the criteria given in this and all the other posts in this series, there is no reason whatsoever for OSU to be ranked lower than Arizona. None. Period.
2. OSU has, in fact, beaten SEC teams. What morons like you don't remember or know is that OSU has played SEC teams OUTSIDE of bowls and has won in regular season games. The idiotic record you douches repeat includes the national title against LSU (OSU was an underdog), national title against Florida (no excuse there), and two consecutive games against a Lou Holtz-led South Carolina (see if you can remember the record - hint OSU wasn't the B10 champ), including one under Tressel and one under Cooper the year that Cooper was fired. That's the last four bowl games off the top of my head, and the only ones in the past decade. Without looking them up, can you name any others? Any at all? No, you can't, because you're a moron. Can you name the bowls where OSU was actually favored? No, you can't, because you're a moron. Can you name the other bowl games OSU has played recently?
08 - narrowly lost to Texas as an underdog. 07 - lost to LSU as an underdog. 06 - lost to Florida as a favorite. 05 - Beat Notre Dame as a favorite. 04 - Beat Oklahoma State (I'd have to look up favorite/underdog). 03 - Beat Kansas State (I'd have to look up to be sure but I think favorite). 02 - Beat Miami as an underdog (in the national championship). 01 - narrowly lost to South Carolina (have to look it up but I think underdog). 00 - lost to South Carolina (have to look it up). 99 - no bowl. 98 - Beat Texas A&M as a favorite. 97 - lost to Florida State (have to look it up). 96 - Beat Arizona State as an underdog. So let's see - since 96 OSU is 6-6 in bowl games. Wow, yeah, OSU is terrible. Or maybe anyone who says stuff like this is just an uninformed idiot.
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