BLOGPOLL WHA-WHAT! Week Nine
We had a great and crazy week eight folks as this weekend was grazy (great + crazy) with upsets and dominating performances from teams all the rankings spectrum. Going into the weekend I was full on board with Oklahoma getting to the title game and Wisconsin navigating through the Big Ten unscathed but as the games went on I got real "football happy" seeing Michigan State and Texas Tech stick to their gameplan and expose the Badgers and the Sooners. Just love watching good ball, especially well coached teams ripping at the vulnerable underbelly of weaknesses in a defense that are purely personnel related and can't be "schemed away."
So things have shaken up a bit and keep in mind that we're on a week to week cloud here folks so teams are going to be in and out and move up and down. Here's the week nine Blogpoll:
In The Bleachers Ballot - Week 9
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | LSU Tigers | -- |
| 2 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -- |
| 3 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys |  3 |
| 4 | Stanford Cardinal | 4 |
| 5 | Boise St. Broncos | -- |
| 6 | Oregon Ducks | 1 |
| 7 | Clemson Tigers | 2 |
| 8 | Arkansas Razorbacks | 2 |
| 9 | Virginia Tech Hokies | 4 |
| 10 | Kansas St. Wildcats | 6 |
| 11 | Nebraska Cornhuskers | 4 |
| 12 | Texas A&M Aggies | 5 |
| 13 | Michigan St. Spartans | 6 |
| 14 | Houston Cougars | -- |
| 15 | Wisconsin Badgers |  -11 |
| 16 | Oklahoma Sooners | -13 |
| 17 | Arizona St. Sun Devils | 5 |
| 18 | USC Trojans | -- |
| 19 | Georgia Bulldogs | 2 |
| 20 | Texas Tech Red Raiders | -- |
| 21 | Southern Miss. Golden Eagles | -- |
| 22 | Cincinnati Bearcats | -- |
| 23 | TCU Horned Frogs | -- |
| 24 | Penn St. Nittany Lions | -- |
| 25 | Michigan Wolverines | -- |
| Dropouts: Notre Dame Fighting Irish, West Virginia Mountaineers, Washington Huskies, SMU Mustangs, Auburn Tigers, Illinois Fighting Illini | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings ยป
We've got six teams out and six teams in. We've got five big movers up and two mega down spins. Get excited, the explanation is the part I know you want.
Moving Out: Six teams all waving goodbye this week; Notre Dame, West Virginia, Washington, SMU, Auburn and Illinois. They all say peace out cub scout. Notre Dame got waxed at home and my eternal hope that has been carrying the Irish to an abnormaly high ranking in my poll is super dead. Three L's and the BCS dream of the Fighting Irish is dead in the water. West Virginia, they got beat down by Syracuse in a game that proved the 3-3-5 isn't exactly the best defense for stopping a team determined to shove the ball down your throat. Washington got boat raced by Stanford in what I was hoping would be a bit of a coming out party for Keith Price and Co.
SMU and Illinois lost games that both one loss squads needed to win to keep their goal of a conference title alive. Neither was able to as Illinois suffered an embarrassing defeat at Purdue's homecoming and SMU got the beast released on them by Southern Miss at The Rock. As for Auburn, the Tigers proved that they still aren't ready for primetime. LSU scared the bejesus out of Clint Moseley and the Bayou Bengals offense proved this young Auburn defense has so much improvement to be made.
Moving In: Six teams leave so six teams enter; Cincinnati, Southern Cal, Penn State, TCU, Texas Tech and Southern Miss. A handful of one loss teams make their debut in the ITB blogpoll as the Bearcats are the loan one loss team in the Big East and after their loss to Tennessee it seems Butch Jones has them playing good ball. Penn State, while I'm not exactly sold on the Nittany Lions their only loss is to our number two team Alabama so they finally make their way into the poll. Southern Miss beats down SMU so we replace one Conference USA team with another.
Southern Cal has been playing well and Lane Kiffin's team deserves some credit, I'll gladly give it to them as they head into their big match up with Stanford this weekend. Texas Tech breaks into the poll not just by virtue of beating Oklahoma but also the fact that they have lost two heartbreakers to teams that are actually pretty solid. TCU sneaks back into the poll, they're playing solid football right now, looks to re-energize that Boise State match up that looms quite large in the coming weeks.
Moving On Down: Only Wisconsin and Oklahoma move down. Yes, they moved down a lot, 11 for Wisconsin and 13 for Oklahoma. The Badgers' edge defense and inability to stop the vertical game was exposed and it was a thing of beauty watching the Spartans surgically take apart this defense. As for OU, their defense is not in the league with LSU and Alabama and that was apparent this weekend as Texas Tech dismantled the Sooners.
The coaches knew what was coming, the players knew what was coming, hell we all knew what was coming and there was not a damn thing that the Sooners could do to stop it. Back to the drawing board for Venables and Stoops. All is not lost as the Sooners still have Texas A&M, Baylor, Oklahoma State and of course Kansas State this week remaining.
Moving On Up: This is my favorite part of the poll as teams do work and get rewarded, Kansas State and Michigan State are the big move-up artists followed by Texas A&M, Stanford, Virginia Tech and Oklahoma State. Kansas State's win over Texas Tech now holds more weight for me, they were able to finish the drill, something Oklahoma could not even get started against the Red Raiders. Michigan State, despite their loss to Notre Dame is now playing ball. They worked their plan and all praise should be directed to their coaching staff.
A&M's Tech win also grabs my eye as a more quality win than originally thought following Tech's beating of OU so they get some shine. Virginia Tech is rounding into form and after starting slow they imposed their will on Boston College, like a team should do in a game where they have their opponent outclassed. Stanford's nod is a testament to my believe in Washington's high powered offense and their defense starting to prove to me that they are a legitimate force in the Pac-12. Oklahoma State's leap comes in response to their taking apart of Mizzou, well deserved props given to the Cowboys who, since halftime of the aTm game, have been one of the nation's most focused squads.
Of course do your worst people, we've got all day to talk about the rankings stew that has been thrust upon you.
