BLOGPOLL WHA-WHAT! Week 3 Edition
We're entering week three of the season and what could be passed off last week as a "one game ordeal" is gaining a mini-body of work to become a "trend" for teams. For a team like Notre Dame the turnover bug is very real, for Alabama the Trent Richardson rushing problems seem fixed but the quarterbacing issue remains for the Tide. In the ITB Pick'em Pool we see another week go by and we've got some fun going on in the group you oughta be in.
One Man Wolfpack, Grayhound, AL and KRipsOU all tie for the weekly lead going 8-0 as they pick the Slate of Eight games. The TALLY FINALLY, cfbcampusWest and brutus are all tied for the overall lead sitting at 13-3 for the season through two weeks. Where do I fall? I finished tied for 19th this week by going 6-2 and I'm tied for 4th right now, just a point off the leader's pace at 12-4 for the year.
Now for some real football talk in the form of the most awesomest Blogpoll Ever:
In The Bleachers Ballot - Week 3
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | LSU Tigers | -- |
| 2 | Alabama Crimson Tide |  2 |
| 3 | Boise St. Broncos |  -1 |
| 4 | Oklahoma Sooners | -1 |
| 5 | Florida St. Seminoles | -- |
| 6 | Wisconsin Badgers | -- |
| 7 | Oregon Ducks | 1 |
| 8 | Texas A&M Aggies | -1 |
| 9 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys | 3 |
| 10 | Arkansas Razorbacks | -1 |
| 11 | South Carolina Gamecocks | -1 |
| 12 | Nebraska Cornhuskers | 1 |
| 13 | Michigan St. Spartans | 3 |
| 14 | Stanford Cardinal | 3 |
| 15 | Arizona St. Sun Devils | 3 |
| 16 | Virginia Tech Hokies | -2 |
| 17 | Ohio St. Buckeyes | -6 |
| 18 | West Virginia Mountaineers | 2 |
| 19 | Central Florida Knights | 2 |
| 20 | Florida Gators | 2 |
| 21 | Baylor Bears | 2 |
| 22 | South Florida Bulls | 2 |
| 23 | Houston Cougars | 2 |
| 24 | Michigan Wolverines | -- |
| 25 | Tennessee Volunteers | -- |
| Dropouts: Mississippi St. Bulldogs, Missouri Tigers | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings ยป
We've got just two departures from the poll this week; Mississippi State and Mizzou. Bye, bye. The Bulldogs have started this year the way they've started every year since 2008; losing to the SEC West like it is their job. This team may well win nine or even ten games this season but right now, squandering their shot at beating the worst of their four SEC West bugaboos, grants them a tumble out of the poll, even with their bagillion yards of offense. For Mizzou we get a hell of an effort in fighting to get back into the game against Arizona State but for the Tigers you've got some seven quarters of them playing crappy football out of eight and a bonus OT. They'll have to scrap their way in.
With the two exits from the poll we get two new faces; Michigan and Tennessee. The Wolverines grabbed their second win of the year by coming from behind to beat a Notre Dame squad that can't hold on to the football and they showed some resolve. Tennessee posted a convincing win in each of their two contests to start the season and Derek Dooley's boys have impressed me from an improvement and football standpoint. This week against Florida should be a fun one as two Saban assistants square off.
Moving On Down:
There are some legitimate moves down starting with Ohio State and their six spot drop down the list. Sure, the Buckeyes could have been playing vanilla schemes to disguise things for the Miami game this weekend. Hell, they could have even been "looking ahead" when they took the field against Toledo. Doesn't matter, they struggled mightily as Joe Bauserman did what amounts to the bare minimum as the Buckeyes clawed their way to the victory.
Virginia Tech drops a couple spots for much the same reason as Ohio State, struggling with an ECU team that we know is prone to giving up points thanks to their lack of defense. However, the Hokies don't fall nearly as far because their defense did impress me with their absolute shut down of the Pirates air attack.
Small moves down include Oklahoma, Boise State, Arkansas and South Carolina. None of those were truly performance based so don't whine people. We'll get into why they fell in our next segment once we talk about teams that moved up.
Moving On Up:
Here is where we get some movement up the ranks. Nebraska, Michigan State, Arizona State and Stanford all were more impressive than Ohio State and Virginia Tech this past weekend so they get the nod. Especially Arizona State who jumped on a ranked opponent early and then weathered their comeback to beat Mizzou. Michigan State rebounded surprisingly well after a disappointing showing against Youngstown State.
Up at the top, much like we moved the LSU Tigers and the Boise State Broncos to the top of the list following impressive wins to start the year we have done the same for Bama who physically man-handled the Penn State Nittany Lions. It was a teeth kicking in affair and Bama went on the road, not a neutral site, to get that done to kudos to them. OU has a shot to truly wrestle away the number one spot this week so we will be keeping more than just an eye on the Sooners at Florida State.
The biggest mover for me was Oklahoma State. The Pokes are hitting on all cylinders right now and they've earned themselves a move above Arkansas and South Carolina. Weeden cut off the pick-6 train and the Cowboys offense was that much better because of it. They're getting timely play out of their defense but the Pokes have to be better against the pass as they surrendered 398 yards through the air to Nick Foles and Arizona.
