I didn't drop anyone out of my preseason top 25 on the draft of my week 1 poll ballot, but Stanford was put on probation, and a number of teams got shuffled now that we have some results to judge everyone but TCU (the Horned Frogs don't open until next week) by. Depending on who has the most technical difficulties in Monday night's game between Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech, I might make a further adjustment, though.
Building The Dam Ballot - Week 1
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | USC Trojans | -- |
| 2 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -- |
| 3 | Oregon Ducks | -- |
| 4 | LSU Tigers | -- |
| 5 | West Virginia Mountaineers | -- |
| 6 | Oklahoma Sooners | -- |
| 7 | Florida St. Seminoles | -- |
| 8 | Georgia Bulldogs | -- |
| 9 | Wisconsin Badgers | -- |
| 10 | Nebraska Cornhuskers | -- |
| 11 | Arkansas Razorbacks | -- |
| 12 | South Carolina Gamecocks | -- |
| 13 | Michigan St. Spartans | -- |
| 14 | TCU Horned Frogs | -- |
| 15 | Kansas St. Wildcats | -- |
| 16 | Clemson Tigers | -- |
| 17 | Michigan Wolverines | -- |
| 18 | Ohio St. Buckeyes | -- |
| 19 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys | -- |
| 20 | Texas Longhorns | -- |
| 21 | Louisville Cardinals | -- |
| 22 | Virginia Tech Hokies | -- |
| 23 | Boise St. Broncos | -- |
| 24 | Utah Utes | -- |
| 25 | Stanford Cardinal | -- |
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "
I moved Oregon up ahead of both LSU and Oklahoma, based on relative speed and impressiveness, but while the Ducks were arguably even more impressive than USC and Alabama while they were in the game, the relative strength of the opposition is still a relative unknown, limiting how much mileage that track meet in the first 20 minutes of the game in Eugene can be afforded.
Michigan took a big tumble, but I believe the Wolverines will still prove to be a force, and what happened in Dallas was more about what's right about the 'Tide than Michigan's shorfalls.
Clemson was one of the more impressive opening week winners when figuring in the opposition and the fact that they weren't at home when they beat Auburn.
I didn't drop Boise St. clear out because they were in the game all the way, and Michigan St. answered some serious questions in the home win.
Schedule plays a role, and where a team's likely to wind up is strongly affected by schedule, and also where they get placed into the poll, so there's a sizable dose of anticipation at this point.
For that reason, the probable consequences of Notre Dame's toughest in the country schedule as well as uncertainty about just how weak Navy might turn out to be means I need to see more from the Irish, though they put themselves high on the list of candidates to move into the top 25 in the weeks to come.
It's also why Oklahoma St. didn't move up until they face some actual opposition.
South Carolina was underwhelming in their win over Vanderbilt, while Nebraska was impressive in overwhelming Southern Mississippi, necessitating the movement of both.
Fortunately, in another week or two, we'll know a lot more about the meaning of opening weekend's action.
Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com