Mid-Majors crash Charlie’s Week 1 Blogpoll
It was tough. For those of you who frequent us here, you know how much disdain I hold for mid major schools and their unbelievably easy road to a BCS game compared to a team from a power conference. So with that in mind, there are 4 such teams in my Top 25 following week 1. 2 of which were unranked in the preseason ballot. That’s how much of a statement both BYU and Boise State have made on a skeptic like me. So without further ado, here’s my week 1 Blogpoll ballot.
| Team | Last Week | Score | Record | |
| 1 | Florida | 1 | W Charleston Southern 62-3 | 1-0 |
| 2 | Texas | 2 | W Louisiana-Monroe 59-20 | 1-0 |
| 3 | USC | 5 | W San Jose St 56-3 | 1-0 |
| 4 | Alabama | 11 | W #7 Virginia Tech 34-24 | 1-0 |
| 5 | Oklahoma State | 7 | W #13 Georgia 24-10 | 1-0 |
| 6 | Ole Miss | 8 | W Memphis 45-14 | 1-0 |
| 7 | BYU | NR | W #3 Oklahoma 14-13 | 1-0 |
| 8 | Penn State | 9 | W Akron 31-7 | 1-0 |
| 9 | California | 15 | W Maryland 52-13 | 1-0 |
| 10 | Boise State | NR | W #16 Oregon 19-8 | 1-0 |
| 11 | Ohio State | 6 | W Navy 31-27 | 1-0 |
| 12 | Virginia Tech | 4 | L #5 Alabama 24-34 | 0-1 |
| 13 | LSU | 10 | W @Washington 31-23 | 1-0 |
| 14 | Ge0rgia Tech | 14 | W Jacksonville State 37-17 | 1-0 |
| 15 | Oklahoma | 3 | L #20 BYU 13-14 | 0-1 |
| 16 | Oregon State | 17 | W Portland State 34-7 | 1-0 |
| 17 | Missouri | NR | W Illinois 37-9 | 1-0 |
| 18 | Georgia | 12 | L @ #9 Oklahoma State 10-24 | 0-1 |
| 19 | Miami | NR | W @ #18 Florida State 38-34 | 1-0 |
| 20 | North Carolina | 20 | W Citadel 40-6 | 1-0 |
| 21 | TCU | 21 | Idle | 0-0 |
| 22 | Utah | 23 | W Utah State 35-17 | 1-0 |
| 23 | Texas Tech | 24 | W North Dakota 38-13 | 1-0 |
| 24 | Notre Dame | NR | W Nevada 35-0 | 1-0 |
| 25 | Michigan | NR | W Western Michigan 31-7 | 1-0 |
Dropped out: Oregon (L @ Boise State), Florida State (L Miami), Iowa (W Northern Iowa), Kansas (W Northern Colorado), Illinois (L Missouri)
The effort and performance put on by both Oregon and Illinois were pathetic. Both teams were considered darkhorse contenders in their respective conferences, and they simply rolled over in week 1. Oregon did not even earn a first down until halfway through the third quarter. The only other team with a similar defensive effort was Penn State who held Akron from gaining a first down for the entire first half.
Illinois was equally inept on offense. After losing A. Benn on the first series of the game, Illinois was just ineffective in every facet of the game against a Missouri team many expected to rebuild following the loss of their QB and WRs to graduation. The way the Tigers picked apart the Illini defense bodes well for the rest of the Big Ten, especially Lion fans considering how effective Daryll Clark was with his receivers in week 1.
Iowa needed to block 2 field goal attempts by Northern Iowa in the final seconds to preserve a 1 point win. Enough said.
I am still very much in the air about both Notre Dame and Michigan. Alot of people have propelled both teams into the 20-15 range following their week 1 victories over Nevada and Western Michigan. I believe most voters are simply overreacting to the improvement by both teams from their 2008 versions. Considering how Michigan won 3 games and Notre Dame was beat by Syracuse last season, the bar was set exceedingly low and an improvement is just not telling enough for either squads. We will know much more when both teams face each other in week 2.
Oklahoma suffered the biggest drop. Although they did lose to a ranked BYU team, it was Oklahoma’s rebuilt line, not Sam Bradford was the biggest reason for their loss. If the line is unable to make vast improvements in the coming weeks, they might not even get past an impressive Miami squad that upset Florida State in Tallahassee on Monday night.
What do you think? Who’s ranked too high / too low?
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