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Today's draft BlogPoll ballot looks unusual for one big reason -- the Alabama Crimson Tide are not at the top of the poll for the first time in quite a while.
Here's my draft ballot. My comments follow, as usual.
A Sea of Blue Ballot - Week 11
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oregon Ducks |
 1 |
| 2 | Kansas St. Wildcats |
1 |
| 3 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish |
1 |
| 4 | Alabama Crimson Tide |
 -3 |
| 5 | Georgia Bulldogs |
3 |
| 6 | Ohio St. Buckeyes |
-1 |
| 7 | Florida Gators |
-1 |
| 8 | Florida St. Seminoles |
-1 |
| 9 | LSU Tigers | -- |
| 10 | Texas A&M Aggies |
6 |
| 11 | Clemson Tigers | -- |
| 12 | Stanford Cardinal |
2 |
| 13 | South Carolina Gamecocks |
-1 |
| 14 | Oklahoma Sooners |
-1 |
| 15 | Nebraska Cornhuskers |
2 |
| 16 | Texas Longhorns |
2 |
| 17 | Oregon St. Beavers |
-7 |
| 18 | UCLA Bruins |
1 |
| 19 | Louisville Cardinals |
-4 |
| 20 | USC Trojans |
1 |
| 21 | Louisiana Tech Bulldogs |
-1 |
| 22 | Rutgers Scarlet Knights | -- |
| 23 | Kent St. Golden Flashes |
1 |
| 24 | Michigan Wolverines | -- |
| 25 | Texas Tech Red Raiders | -- |
| Dropouts: Mississippi St. Bulldogs, Northwestern Wildcats | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "
Comments:
- Oregon has a tough finishing schedule, far tougher than Alabama, Kansas St. or Notre Dame. But if they win against Stanford and Oregon St, they are an unassailable #1. But Kansas St. and Notre Dame both have top 25 opponents in the next couple of weeks, and Notre Dame has to travel to USC.
- I don't think that Alabama can get into the BCS championship game without help from both Kansas St. and Notre Dame. Both the Wildcats and Irish have schedules just as tough or tougher than the Tide. By my reckoning, the Tide have only the 11th toughest schedule in the SEC.
- Texas A&M is undefeated on the road. Impressive. Most impressive.
- Louisville finally got what we all knew they had coming.
- Kent St. is looking strong on my ballot. If the Golden Flashes win their next two (admittedly difficult on the road against Bowling Green and Ohio) they could finish the season with only one loss -- to Kentucky.
- Louisiana Tech also has a very tough finish to the season against two teams with a total of 4 losses between them.
- USC-UCLA should be really fun this year, as close as these two are in the polls.
If you see any weirdness in here, be sure to talk me off the ledge.