Week 4 BlogPoll Ballot

SBNation says it's Week 4, so I'll call it that, even though we have only three weeks' data for the poll. Here's my submission. Remember (and it appears plenty of y'all don't) I'm resume polling. That means I don't give a flip about how good a team is going to be; I only care about what a team has done for me lately. I have three rules, and applying them to the three weeks already passed in college football, here's what I see:

The Purple Wimple Ballot - Week 4

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Oklahoma Sooners	5
2	Texas Longhorns	8
3	Ohio St. Buckeyes	1
4	Michigan St. Spartans	10
5	Alabama Crimson Tide	2
6	Auburn Tigers	7
7	Arizona Wildcats	--
8	Utah Utes	-3
9	LSU Tigers	-6
10	Oklahoma St. Cowboys	5
11	Florida Gators	-2
12	Nebraska Cornhuskers	4
13	USC Trojans	4
14	Boise St. Broncos	6
15	Fresno St. Bulldogs	6
16	South Carolina Gamecocks	-14
17	Michigan Wolverines	-16
18	Temple Owls	6
19	TCU Horned Frogs	3
20	N.C. State Wolfpack	--
21	Stanford Cardinal	--
22	Kansas St. Wildcats	--
23	West Virginia Mountaineers	--
24	Wisconsin Badgers	-5
25	Missouri Tigers	--
Dropouts: East Carolina Pirates, Texas Tech Red Raiders, Oregon Ducks, Kentucky Wildcats, Air Force Falcons, California Golden Bears

SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "

Recall: Rule #1: I make exceptions to all of the following rules, as I see fit, except for Rule #2. Rule #2: for at least one week, the winner of a game must outrank the loser of the same game. Rule #3A: We cannot measure a team’s quality until it beats a quality opponent. (I understand that the "quality opponent" is subjective, and I’ve gotten over it. So should you.) Rule #3B: Beating a 2A team is usually a meaningless exercise.

Quick: how many teams have beaten three D-1A opponents this season? Thirteen. On my ballot, the only team not among those 13 that is ranked higher than 13th is Arizona, which rides its win over Iowa to #7. Wisconsin is the only three-1A-beating team to fall below 13th on my ballot; squeaking by Arizona State, at home, by one point, is just pathetic. I put the Badgers at 24th for that effort. Beating UNLV in Las Vegas is a better win for Big 10+1+1 contender.

Texas and Michigan State are high risers in this week's ballot. Beating Texas Tech in Lubbock is a solid win, and Michigan State's heart-attack inducing overtime triumph over Notre Dame was too awesome to leave unrewarded. Auburn gets major kudos for its sweat-fest win over Clemson. Michigan and South Carolina tumbled like Baylor's mojo down my ballot this week; the Wolverines need a secondary, bad; the Gamecocks could use one, too. Neither team bulldozed its 2A opponent like a ranked team should. Oregon State looked vulnerable against Louisville, cheapening TCU's best win so far. Temple is 3-0 for the first time in my lifetime.

Again, the number of teams appearing for the second week in a row on my ballot rises; this week it's 19.

[Wednesday Edit:] So the BlogPoll allows voters to update their ballots by Wednesday. Hongabear's comment convinced me to re-think my placement of Nebraska in relation to Oklahoma State. I also moved Arizona, Boise, Stanford, and TCU up a little:
<!-- SB Nation BlogPoll Top 25 Ballot -->

The Purple Wimple Ballot - Week 4

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Oklahoma Sooners	5
2	Texas Longhorns	8
3	Ohio St. Buckeyes	1
4	Alabama Crimson Tide	3
5	Auburn Tigers	8
6	Utah Utes	-1
7	Arizona Wildcats	--
8	Michigan St. Spartans	6
9	Nebraska Cornhuskers	7
10	LSU Tigers	-7
11	Oklahoma St. Cowboys	4
12	Florida Gators	-3
13	Boise St. Broncos	7
14	USC Trojans	3
15	South Carolina Gamecocks	-13
16	Fresno St. Bulldogs	5
17	Michigan Wolverines	-16
18	TCU Horned Frogs	4
19	Stanford Cardinal	--
20	Temple Owls	4
21	N.C. State Wolfpack	--
22	Kansas St. Wildcats	--
23	West Virginia Mountaineers	--
24	Wisconsin Badgers	-5
25	Missouri Tigers	--
Dropouts: East Carolina Pirates, Texas Tech Red Raiders, Oregon Ducks, Kentucky Wildcats, Air Force Falcons, California Golden Bears

SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "