Monday, October 01, 2007

BlogPoll Roundtable: The Shake Up

I have the pleasure of hosting this week’s BlogPoll round table discussion and what a week to do it! Five of the top 10 teams in the country go down over the weekend and LSU, Kentucky and Florida are about to run the gauntlet of eliminating each other with USC/Cal and Ohio State/Wisconsin waiting for their turn. The heat just got turned up on the pressure cooker so let’s talk about it!

The Battle for #1 – USC and LSU are separated by one vote in the AP poll. We made the switch in last week’s blogpoll by putting the Tigers in our top spot. State your case for who should be the top team in the country.

I’ve got to stay with the Trojans. Granted, USC snuck away with an unimpressive win at Washington but LSU ran over Tulane in New Orleans. Both teams were “on the road” but come on. I’ve driven from Baton Rouge to New Orleans and I’ve seen the Tigers play in the Super Dome. There is absolutely no way you can consider that a road game for LSU!

It really is a coin toss between the two but for now I’m sticking with the Trojans as the best team in the country.

Oklahoma, Florida, West Virginia, Texas and Rutgers were all upset this weekend. Of those teams, who has the best shot of getting back into the national title hunt?

The Florida Gators are a long way from being done! They have the opportunity to make a huge statement this weekend against LSU and with the SEC being what it is should the Gators run the table and win the conference they would have a great chance of making an appearance in the BCS title game. Remember, a one loss Florida team won the national championship last year.

Looking at the current AP Top 10, who is grossly overrated and who should be in there that isn’t?

South Florida at #6 is a mistake! Sorry but I’m not buying the Bull. As a closet West Virginia fan I’m sick of the Big East. We tout it every year as being a conference of explosive offenses and dangerous quarterbacks. Let’s call it what it is, a conference that desperately misses Miami and Virginia Tech. West Virginia is overrated, again, Louisville is just bad, Rutgers is not what they were last year and we have South Florida as the beneficiary.

As for teams left out of the Top 10 I think that South Carolina has a serious gripe for not being ranked. The Gamecocks have a win over a ranked opponent (Georgia) and their lone loss was at the hands of LSU. Meanwhile ahead of them is Oklahoma. The Sooners resume includes a win over Miami, Fl. with a loss to Colorado. I don’t know. Maybe someone can explain that to me?

What is the worst coaching mistake you’ve seen this season?

Mack Brown had Texas go for a two point conversion and failed leaving Central Florida within 10 points instead of 11 had they just gone for the PAT but the Longhorns still won by 3.

The worst coaching mistake that I’ve seen this season was from my own beloved Sooners. Colorado, within field goal range, faced a 4th and 3 with 25 seconds left on the clock. Instead of calling a time out Bob Stoops let the clock run down until Colorado stopped it at two seconds, leaving only enough time for the Buffs game winning field goal.

You have to wonder what could have happened with those additional 23 seconds.

That’s my take and now we want to hear yours. Leave your responses (or a link to them) in the comments section below and I’ll post a roundup at the end of the week. Thanks for stopping by!