Baltimore Sports Report Ballot – Week 2
Rank | Team | Delta |
---|---|---|
1 | Oklahoma Sooners | — |
2 | Alabama Crimson Tide | — |
3 | LSU Tigers | — |
4 | Boise St. Broncos | — |
5 | Florida St. Seminoles | — |
6 | Stanford Cardinal | — |
7 | Wisconsin Badgers | — |
8 | Virginia Tech Hokies | — |
9 | Texas A&M Aggies | — |
10 | Oregon Ducks | — |
11 | Nebraska Cornhuskers | — |
12 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys | — |
13 | Arkansas Razorbacks | — |
14 | Ohio St. Buckeyes | — |
15 | South Carolina Gamecocks | — |
16 | Michigan St. Spartans | — |
17 | Florida Gators | — |
18 | TCU Horned Frogs | — |
19 | Missouri Tigers | — |
20 | Georgia Bulldogs | — |
21 | West Virginia Mountaineers | — |
22 | Penn St. Nittany Lions | — |
23 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish | — |
24 | Auburn Tigers | — |
25 | USC Trojans | — |
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings »
The 2011 college football season is underway, which means the SB Nation College Football BlogPoll will once again be a weekly feature on BSR. I will be representing our site again this year and posting my rankings every Tuesday morning along with some thoughts about what occurred over the weekend. Above are my rankings after the first full weekend of college football. Oklahoma still gets the top spot as they blew out Tulsa, 47-14 and Alabama stays right behind them at No. 2. LSU made their way to No. 3 after handling business against previously ranked No. 3 Oregon, who slipped down to No. 10. Feel free to throw your two cents in and let me know how you think I did with the rankings. Here are a few observations I made after the first full weekend of college football.
Les Miles is one hell of a head coach
Being without a number of key starters, including starting quarterback Jordan Jefferson and starting receiver Russell Shepard didn’t seem to phase LSU as they took advantage of four Oregon turnovers and rolled to a 40-27 win. Les Miles didn’t allow his players to get sucked into the web of distractions after several players were suspended after allegedly being involved in bar fight. Miles is a great motivator and is meticulous in his preparation for games, which was especially evident in this game.
He didn’t dwell on the fact he was without a few key starters. Instead, he developed a game plan that he knew would give the Ducks trouble and it worked to perfection. Miles just always seems to have something up his sleeve. He always gives his team a great chance to win even if it looks like they are down and out. There are still a lot of games between now and the national championship, but if Miles can continue to prepare his team week after week like he did last Saturday, they will be in good shape come December.
Kellen Moore is the best quarterback in college football
It doesn’t matter who he plays against, where he plays against them or how many people are watching, Kellen Moore just wins. He proved that again this past Saturday as he led his Broncos to a 35-21 win against a very good opponent in Georgia. Moore threw for 261 yards and three touchdowns, giving him 102 in his already illustrious college career. It’s the third year in a row Moore and his team have beaten a marquee opponent to begin the season (Oregon, Virginia Tech and now Georgia). It was the first time in Boise State’s history, however, that they have beaten an SEC team. It’s just another notch on Moore’s belt, though.
Coming into this season, there were some questions as to how Moore was going to fair after seeing his two best receivers, Titus Young and Austin Pettis, get picked in the second and third rounds, respectively, of this year’s NFL draft. He answered those questions loud and clear Saturday night as he thrashed Georgia’s defense and connected with three different receivers for touchdowns. Moore was college football’s top-rated passer last season and is this season’s leading Heisman Trophy contender. And if he continues to play like he did against Georgia, there’s no doubt he will be hoisting the trophy at the end of the season.
Virginia Tech learned their lesson from last season’s start
After last season’s 0-2 start, including a season-opening loss to Boise State and an embarrassing home loss to James Madison, Virginia Tech was ready for this year’s opener. The Hokies didn’t waste any time putting away their FCS opponent, Appalachian State. Junior running back David Wilson scored on a 20-yard run on the Hokies’ first offensive play from scrimmage just 47 seconds into the game. The Hokies didn’t look back from there. They led 17-0 after one quarter and 38-0 at halftime en route to a 66-13 blowout victory. It was the second most points scored by the Hokies in the Frank Beamer era.
Virginia Tech dominated the Mountaineers in every aspect of the game and held one of the top-rated teams in the FCS to just 293 total yards of offense and 13 points. It was a great start for defensive coordinator Bud Foster and his unit after a subpar 2010 season. Sophomore quarterback Logan Thomas looked good in his first start as Tech’s quarterback, throwing two touchdown passes and no interceptions. The Hokies’ running game looked like it will once again be one of their strong points after thrashing the Mountaineers for 256 yards on the ground.
Submitted by Steve Giles
***Editor’s Note: Mississippi State was mistakenly left out from the rankings this week. I’m not going to switch the entire rankings around, as they have already been submitted to SB Nation. But they should’ve been ranked No. 16 if it wasn’t for the brain fart. Next week’s rankings will reflect the correct order with the Bulldogs included in the mix.***
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For soundly defeating a top 5 opponent, Oregon, in a nationally-televised game, LSU should have passed Alabama to take the No. 2 position. As a Tiger fan, I am happy to be in the lower position and not give the added motivation away. As a rankings’ geek, I’m fairly certain they deserved the move up. I think you will see this when the other rankings are released later today.
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Notre Dame is still ranked? With so many good teams out there I don’t see why you’re keeping an 0-1 team that looked downright sloppy in their first game. If they’d lost to Oklahoma, then I’d be with you. But a Big East darkhorse? Eh… not sure about that.
Alabama’s schedule is way to easy for them to keep high rankings all year……
I agree with the first two posts… LSU should be MUCH higher and Notre Dame shouldn’t be ranked. And this from a lifelong ND fan and a not-so-much LSU fan. Also, Georgia is still there too? But MS State doesn’t even show? If any “bulldog” should be ranked, it’d be them. At least if we’re talking SEC.
@Al Rogers – why should LSU bounce over Alabama just because Alabama had a non-SEC game this weekend?
@Jim – you obviously know nothing about SEC schools and the strength of schedule if you think that Alabama has an easy schedule this year.
Totally agree that MSU should be ranked! They are set to have a great year this year.
no MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY? the whole poll here loses all credibility without msu being in the rankings.
GOD bless
Look at the strength of schedule this season. LSU is playing 7 games ( Oregon, West Virginia, MS state, Florida, Auburn, ALabam and Arkansas) against ranked opponents. No other school hold that record. They have the toughest schedule this season. Beating # 3 Oregon should be enough for them to #2, if not #1.
Also, MS state must be around # 15. USC should jump up a little bit and ND should be out of ranking.
Really? Oregon should not be in the top ten after that. . . Notre Dame, Georgia, and TCU should not be ranked! TCU lost to the worst team in the Big 12-2-1!!!! And USC barley beat Minnesota. . . you should rank Mississippi State (for sure!), Baylor, and the Gophers before you rank the losers (or win by two’ers). I do think that Wisconsin deserves the jump, but Auburn has a lot of games to play. We can see if they earn anymore, or if Oregon just sucks. . .
Hope Nebraska can win 8 this year with they horrid offensive showing.
GO BIG RED
are you kidding? Kellen Moore the best quarterback in college football?
I think you’re forgetting someone. His name’s Andrew Luck.
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