WARNING: this is a resume ballot, and there are only a few teams with anything resembling a decent resume after the first week of games. Things will sort themselves out, mostly, by the end of September.
So if your team hasn't yet actually won a game (I'm talking to you, Oregon, TCU, Notre Dame, and Georgia) hold the bellyaching until you're above .000. Next class of whiners: if your team has only beaten a 2A team (but you beat 'em real good!), hush your whining until you have beaten a team with the same number of scholarship players as your team. (I'm talking to you, Michigan State, Nebraska, Arkansas, Penn State, and Texas Tech. Exception: Virginia Tech beat a really good 2A team, so the Hokies get a pass.) Picking on little guys, even if you picked on 'em real good, isn't resume building. It's unfair, disgraceful, and shouldn't be allowed in the first place.
That leaves one last class of whiners-- the "how the heck can you rank those guys over my guys?" crowd. Here's how-- if those guys actually (a) won a game (b) over a 1-A team with a pulse before your guys did, that means, based on this season's record, we know a lot more about those guys than we know about your guys. Get it?
OK-- I think we've preemptively dismissed 90% of the complaints. The offending ballot is below the jump; commentary follows. If you've got an issue that doesn't arise in this introduction, put it in the comments, and I'll address it.
Frogs O' War Ballot - Week 2
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | LSU Tigers |
 12 |
| 2 | Boise St. Broncos | -- |
| 3 | South Florida Bulls | -- |
| 4 | Clemson Tigers | -- |
| 5 | California Golden Bears | -- |
| 6 | South Carolina Gamecocks |
1 |
| 7 | Baylor Bears | -- |
| 8 | Oklahoma Sooners |
 -7 |
| 9 | Texas A&M Aggies |
-1 |
| 10 | Missouri Tigers |
5 |
| 11 | Michigan Wolverines | -- |
| 12 | Florida St. Seminoles |
-3 |
| 13 | Northern Illinois Huskies | -- |
| 14 | BYU Cougars |
6 |
| 15 | Maryland Terrapins | -- |
| 16 | Syracuse Orange | -- |
| 17 | Houston Cougars |
8 |
| 18 | Auburn Tigers | -- |
| 19 | USC Trojans | -- |
| 20 | Southern Miss. Golden Eagles | -- |
| 21 | Purdue Boilermakers | -- |
| 22 | Northwestern Wildcats | -- |
| 23 | Fla. International Golden Panthers | -- |
| 24 | Stanford Cardinal |
-13 |
| 25 | Virginia Tech Hokies |
-19 |
| Dropouts: Alabama Crimson Tide, Oregon Ducks, Wisconsin Badgers, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Oklahoma St. Cowboys, TCU Horned Frogs, Mississippi St. Bulldogs, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Central Florida Knights, West Virginia Mountaineers, Arkansas Razorbacks, Air Force Falcons, Michigan St. Spartans, Utah Utes | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "
Wow-- that's a lot of changes from the pre-season poll (which was a power poll ballot, because there was no real information to go on). It will be interesting to watch the power poll teams climb back into my ballot over the next few weeks, as they develop resumes worth a grain of salt.
But, in the meantime, Cal, Baylor, Maryland, Syracuse, Auburn, Southern Miss, Purdue, Northwestern, and FIU get a day in the sun. Enjoy it-- with continued winning it may prolong.