It was Socrates who said “the unexamined life is not worth living.” If you’ve read BH long enough, you hopefully understand how strongly I abide by that credo.
The BlogPoll ballot you’re going to see below and in the following weeks aims to reflect an “examined” approach to college football rankings. It combines my subjective assessment of the quality of teams with a more objective analysis of the results to this point in the season. What I “think” about the quality of a team has, in effect, nothing to do with its ranking here. It does, however, have a shit ton to do with where its opponents are ranked. (For a baseline idea of my views on team strength, check out my preseason ballot.)
Capice?
With that in mind, the three factors I weigh most heavily when evaluating a team’s resume are (in order):
- strength of competition;
- circumstances, primarily venue;
- “style” of wins and losses, i.e. quality of performance.
Hopefully, this approach will create an equally “examined” discussion of where teams are slotted. Seeing as we’ve only played one week of the season, this ranking system will yield some results that deviate significantly from the norm. Also, bear in mind that my ballot will have a high degree of volatility, especially in the early weeks of the season.
In other words, if you don’t like the fact that Northwestern is in the top five and your squad isn’t ranked, keep your shirt on. If your team really is better, that will play out in the course of the season. After all, the only rankings that really matter are the last ones.
(Note: I’m filling this out prior to Monday night’s tilt between Miami and Maryland, which will be reflected in next week’s ballot.)
Blatant Homerism Ballot – Week 2
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | LSU Tigers |  2 |
| 2 | Boise St. Broncos | 4 |
| 3 | South Florida Bulls | – |
| 4 | Baylor Bears | – |
| 5 | Northwestern Wildcats | – |
| 6 | BYU Cougars | – |
| 7 | Houston Cougars | – |
| 8 | USC Trojans | 16 |
| 9 | Hawaii Warriors | – |
| 10 | Syracuse Orange | – |
| 11 | Oklahoma Sooners |  -9 |
| 12 | South Carolina Gamecocks | -3 |
| 13 | Texas A&M Aggies | 4 |
| 14 | Michigan Wolverines | – |
| 15 | Missouri Tigers | 4 |
| 16 | Clemson Tigers | – |
| 17 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -16 |
| 18 | West Virginia Mountaineers | 4 |
| 19 | California Golden Bears | – |
| 20 | Florida St. Seminoles | -16 |
| 21 | Florida Gators | -1 |
| 22 | Mississippi St. Bulldogs | -1 |
| 23 | Wisconsin Badgers | -12 |
| 24 | Stanford Cardinal | -12 |
| 25 | Ohio St. Buckeyes | -11 |
| Dropouts: Oregon Ducks, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Arkansas Razorbacks, Georgia Bulldogs, Virginia Tech Hokies, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Oklahoma St. Cowboys, TCU Horned Frogs, Texas Longhorns, Michigan St. Spartans | ||
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