Your Top 15 for 10/22/06

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

Shouldn't be too much change here:

1 Ohio St
2 Michigan
3 USC
4 Texas
5 WVU
6 Auburn
7 Tennessee
8 Louisville
9 Florida
10 Clemson
11 Arkansas
12 Cal
13 Notre Dame
14 Wisconsin
15 Rutgers

[BraveFan]

1. Ohio State
2. Michigan
3. USC
4. WVU
5. Texas
6. Auburn
7. Florida
8. LSU
9. Clemson
10. Wisconsin
11. Rutgers
12. Louisville
13. Cal
14. Arkansas
15. Notre Dame

[StrandedTexan]

1. OSU
2. Mich
3. USC
4. Texas
5. WVU
6. Auburn
7. Florida
8. Louisville
9. Tenn
10. Arkansas
11. Clemson
12. Cal
13. ND
14. LSU
15. Rutgers

[MuchoBulls]

1 - Ohio State
2 - Michigan
3 - USC
4 - West Virginia
5 - Texas
6 - Louisville
7 - Auburn
8 - Florida
9 - Tennessee
10 - California
11 - Clemson
12 - LSU
13 - Notre Dame
14 - Arkansas
15 - Rutgers

[Danimal]

1. OSU
2. Mich
3. USC
4. WV
5. Texas
6. Florida
7. Auburn
8. Louisville
9. Cal
10. Clemson
11. ND
12. Tenn
13. LSU
14. BC
15. Wiscy

[Van]

1-Ohio State
2-Michigan
3-USC
4-Arkansas (Gotta do it, if we're to be fair here.)
5-Auburn
6-Florida
7-Texas
8-Tennessee
9-Cal
10-Boston College
11-Clemson
12-W. Virginia
13-ND
14-LSU
15-Rutgers

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

You truly do hate Louisville don't you?

Yeah, their resume isn't all that impressive so far, but the fact they've remained undefeated without their starting QB and RB most of the way speaks impressively of their ability to recruit talent. That's a deep and talented team they've got. You have to reward that.

And I'm not saying you have to put them in your top 5, but a spot in the top 15 is certainly appropriate and warranted.

We'll know a lot more about them...and WVU, on 11/2. Looking forward to that one.

[Van]

No, I don't hate Louisville. I simply know nothing about them (or W. Virginia, or Rutgers), and neither does anybody else here. How could we?? With the debatable exception of the Goldtoof U game none of the three have played a decent team yet this season.

So, until they do, I'll go with teams who've actually proven something on the field against actual competition.

Here's the deal, Mgo. In order to include Louisville in my Top 15 who am I supposed to bump? Who on my list there hasn't shown me more than Louisville so far this season? Hell, I thought I was being generous to include Rutgers at 15 rather than the very possibly better and more deserving Wisconsin...

Notice where I ranked Arkansas? I'm trying to do this on merit shown on the field; solely on merit shown on the field. By going ahead and slotting Arkansas where their play thus far in the SEC describes them I then also felt okay with making Dins happy and slotting Auburn back atop Florida...

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

I'd bump LSU. A two loss team with zero quality wins is less impressive than an undefeated team with zero quality wins...imo, of course.

Or I'd bump Rutgers. They have a 1aa team on their schedule. Louisville doesn't. They haven't beaten or played a ranked team. Louisville has done both.

[Dinsdale]

I then also felt okay with making Dins happy and slotting Auburn back atop Florida...

You don't think you're getting let off the hook with this little bit of appeasement, do you?

You know me better than that, Van.

How could you drop LSU down from last week, after the flawless performance against Fresno in the Night Game?

I mean sure, it's a Fresno team that's had their back broken and the wind taken out of their sails...granted, and this isn't overlooked. The worse the team you're playing, the easier it is to look good(pretty sure we'll all agree on this, to a man), but...

Despite the quality of opponent, you still have to get out there and execute your gameplan. And LSU's execution was absolutely jaw-dropping. While their offensive strategy was typical SEC-anemic, they did what it was they set out to do. On defense, they executed. On special teams, they executed.

Really, they put on a near-flawless display of execution. They did EXACTLY what they set out to, exactly how they set out to.

No major beef here(although I'm sure we could turn it in to one, should we be bored enough), but I don't understand dropping LSU (I only went back and looked because my memory told me you had them ranked with Auburn and Florida...my bad) in your rankings after such an amazing display of execution.

I like your positioning of Arkansas, though.


In case you're wondering, I didn't post a top 15 because I don't feel qualified. While I slurp up the CFB like it's going out of style, I know nothing about Rutgers, I've seen all of a few minutes of WVU, and not much Louisville. Heck, for that matter, it seems like Tenn rarely comes across my TV, which is in stark contrast to years gone by. I just don't really feel like I could be anywhere near fair with it, so I'll abstain. The aforementioned teams, and some others, exist in my CFB world only in brief highlights at this point.

It's looking like OSU and UM are the cream of the crop right now, though. Texas doesn't suck, nor does USC(although they're ripe for the plucking if they don't grow some balls).


But I'm kinda with you(rare) -- The upper crust of the SEC looks REALLY sharp...if only they'd play somebody and stop with their broken-record bullshit, we'd have a better idea how they really are. But I've seen some fine execution from the SEC this year, and I think they're a better conference than previous years, in which they're generally overrated. Definitely the best conference this season.

[Van]

I'd bump LSU. A two loss team with zero quality wins is less impressive than an undefeated team with zero quality wins...imo, of course.

I'll give you that, on principle.

My problem there is I just can't help but feel after seeing LSU's D that if LSU played Louisville on a neutral field in a game that was equally important to both teams the result would be very unkind to Louisville. Also, I don't really downgrade LSU much for their loss to Auburn since Auburn's much better than anybody on Louisville's schedule and the Auburn win was controversial as hell anyway.

Or I'd bump Rutgers. They have a 1aa team on their schedule. Louisville doesn't. They haven't beaten or played a ranked team. Louisville has done both.

Thought about that one too. Only reason I chose Rutgers over Louisville is Rutgers has a big road underdog win in conference. Louisville's got Goldtoof U, and nothing else.

I'd be fine though with Louisville over Rutgers. Like I said, I'm not even sure I wouldn't prefer Wisconsin there.

[Van]

Dins, I wasn't even aware I'd dropped LSU. It certainly wasn't my intent. It probably had to do more with giving recognition to some teams like Clemson, Boston College and Arkansas than with any intended slight of LSU.

To me LSU is the classic case of that ugly cliche that's always mistakenly applied to the Raiders early in most every recent season: "The best <fill in the blank bad record> team in the NFL!"

Put it this way: LSU is NOT who you'd want to meet in some mid tier Consolation Bowl. Also, I have a very strong feeling that even right now LSU would (deservedly) be a six point neutral field favorite vs someone like Louisville. I also wouldn't be surprised to see LSU hold Louisville to under 10 points on the way to an easy double digit victory...

[Terry in Crapchester]

1. OSU
2. Michigan
3. West Virginia
4. USC
5. Texas
6. Louisville
7. Auburn
8. Florida
9. Notre Dame
10. Tennessee
11. Clemson
12. Cal
13. Arkansas
14. Wisconsin
15. Rutgers

[Killian]

It's nice to see Tennessee get the benefit of the doubt with close wins over Air Force and Alabama, and Cal to get the benefit of the doubt with a close win over Washington.

1-OSU
2-UofM
3-USC

All the rest don't matter until Nov. 18th, with the exception of the USC games to come.

[Cicero]

1 - Ohio State
2 - Michigan
3 - USC
4 - West Virginia
5 - Texas
6 - Louisville
7 - Auburn
8 - Florida
9 - Tennessee
10 - Clemson
11 - Notre Dame
12 - LSU
13 - California
14 - Arkansas
15 - Rutgers

[Vito Corleone]

1. tOSU
2. UM
3. USC
4. Texas
5. UF
6. WVU
7. AUB
8. Tenn
9. Clemson
10 ND
11 Kal
12 LSU
13 Louisville
14 Ark
15 Nebraska two losses to 2 top 5 teams

[Shoalzie]

1. Ohio State
2. Michigan
3. USC
4. West Virginia
5. Texas
6. Louisville
7. Notre Dame
8. Auburn
9. Florida
10. Tennessee
11. Clemson
12. Arkansas
13. LSU
14. California
15. Wisconsin
(16. Rutgers)

[FLW Buckeye]

1-OSU
2-UofM
3-USC

All the rest don't matter until Nov. 18th, with the exception of the USC games to come.

Rack...

Only thing that matters now is a USC loss.

[Shoalzie]

1-OSU
2-UofM
3-USC

All the rest don't matter until Nov. 18th, with the exception of the USC games to come.

Rack...

Only thing that matters now is a USC loss.

If Michigan loses on the 18th, I'm rooting for complete and utter chaos for the BCS. I want to see Cal beat USC and have one of the Big East teams stay unbeaten just to have them passed over for a one loss team from a bigger conference. Nothing personal towards the teams involved...I just want that system to take another gut shot even after they add this 5th game and they act like they fixed the problems they've had in the past.