The theme of my Week 10 SB Nation BlogPoll ballot is reorganization.
And not just reorganization in the vein of moving up winning teams and dropping losing teams, mind you.
For instance, Oklahoma State suffered from Texas A&M's loss, which deprived the Cowboys of any wins over currently ranked teams. (That's something they obviously can remedy Saturday, however.)
Yes, there are wins over Baylor, at Missouri, at Texas and at Texas A&M, which all have been ranked at some point this season, but those teams now are a combined 18-12, hardly the stuff of champions.
Even though I suspect the Cowboys are a better team than Boise State and Stanford, mostly because of their more difficult overall schedule, those teams' wins over Georgia at a neutral site and at USC give them the nod for now.
Such is the nature of my reorganization efforts, which I discuss in more detail after the jump.
Bring On The Cats Ballot - Week 10
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | LSU Tigers | -- |
| 2 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -- |
| 3 | Boise St. Broncos |
 3 |
| 4 | Stanford Cardinal |
3 |
| 5 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys |
 -1 |
| 6 | Clemson Tigers |
-3 |
| 7 | Oregon Ducks |
1 |
| 8 | Arkansas Razorbacks |
1 |
| 9 | Nebraska Cornhuskers |
4 |
| 10 | South Carolina Gamecocks |
5 |
| 11 | Oklahoma Sooners |
3 |
| 12 | Houston Cougars |
5 |
| 13 | Penn St. Nittany Lions |
5 |
| 14 | Kansas St. Wildcats |
-9 |
| 15 | Virginia Tech Hokies |
-4 |
| 16 | Michigan Wolverines | -- |
| 17 | Michigan St. Spartans |
-7 |
| 18 | Wisconsin Badgers |
-6 |
| 19 | Arizona St. Sun Devils | -- |
| 20 | USC Trojans |
-1 |
| 21 | Georgia Bulldogs | -- |
| 22 | Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets | -- |
| 23 | Cincinnati Bearcats |
-3 |
| 24 | West Virginia Mountaineers | -- |
| 25 | Southern Miss. Golden Eagles |
-4 |
| Dropouts: Illinois Fighting Illini, Louisiana Ragin Cajuns, BYU Cougars | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings
Undefeated Teams
Pretty straightforward stuff. LSU has wins over three ranked teams and Alabama has two. But the matter will be settled for good Saturday night.
Boise State, Stanford and Oklahoma State all were discussed before the jump.
Houston gets a courtesy nod at No. 12, but the six one-loss teams ahead of it all are clearly better teams.
One-Loss Teams
These teams aren't strictly ranked by resume because you have to consider both the loss and all quality wins. So I separated them into tiers.
Tier One is Clemson, Oregon, Arkansas, Nebraska, South Carolina and Oklahoma, who complete my top 11.
You probably could draw these teams out of a hat in any order and it would be valid, but there's what I did.
First, I ranked them by loss:
-
Oregon: vs. LSU (1)
-
Arkansas: @Alabama (2)
-
Nebraska: @Wisconsin (19)
-
Clemson: @Georgia Tech (22)
- South Carolina: Auburn (25)
- Oklahoma: Texas Tech (unranked)
And then I did the same thing with quality wins:
-
Clemson: @Virginia Tech (12), Auburn (25)
- Nebraska: Michigan State (15)
- Oklahoma: @Kansas State (17)
- South Carolina: @Georgia (18)
-
Oregon: Arizona State (20)
-
Arkansas: Auburn (25)
If you simply average the two sets of rankings, Nebraska and South Carolina come out on top. But that just doesn't pass the smell test with me. Oklahoma has a chance to rocket up this thing if Texas is ranked next week, BTW.
Tier Two is the following four teams, ranked by quality of loss (none have wins over currently ranked teams):
- Penn State: Alabama (2)
- Kansas State: Oklahoma (7)
- Virginia Tech: Clemson (11)
-
Michigan: @Michigan State (15)
Tier Three simply is the two remaining one-loss teams in the nation: Cincinnati and Southern Miss.
Two-Loss Teams
Arizona State and Georgia passed their tests last week and moved back into my ballot. Texas A&M and Texas Tech clearly did not. Gee, who looks like the smart one now? :-)
Michigan State obviously leads the pack with two wins over ranked teams. No one else has more than one.
The five-pack tier of Wisconsin, ASU, USC, UGA and Georgia Tech presented the same issues as Nos. 6-11.
Of those, Georgia has the best "losses," but has beat no one of substance. USC's losses are second-best, but the only resume win is Notre Dame, nothing to write home about.
Meanwhile, Georgia Tech has the best win (No. 11 Clemson), but easily the worst losses (on the road to two unranked teams). Wisconsin gets the nod here by virtue of its win over a top-10 Nebraska squad.
West Virginia was the only other two-loss team I deemed worthy of inclusion this week (Big 12 pride!), but the waiting list contains several teams who can move up either with a win this week or losses by teams ahead of them.
Texas is foremost among those. A win over Kansas does nothing for me, but following it up with a win at home over Texas Tech (something Oklahoma couldn't do) and becoming bowl-eligible would assure me the Longhorns have recovered nicely from their two-game swoon. Trailing them are Washington, Louisiana, Arkansas State and TCU.
Three-Loss Teams or Worse
Call me when you have nine wins. Otherwise, shut up. You had your chance. Three strikes and you're out, Auburn.