2012 SJ.com College Football Poll -- FINAL poll finally posted on page 12!

Re: 2012 SportsJournalists.com College Football Poll

You dropped Michigan from No. 8 to out of the poll for losing to a higher-ranked team?

 

Re: 2012 SportsJournalists.com College Football Poll

Evidently he over-ranked Michigan in the preseason poll.

Another question could be asked of him: You dropped Boise State out of the poll for losing to a higher-ranked team that it had a good chance of winning in the fourth quarter?


Personally, I dropped Michigan 12 spots, I think. From 11 to 23 or something like that. I also only dropped Boise one spot, from 24 to 25.

 

Re: 2012 SportsJournalists.com College Football Poll

I kept three losing teams in the poll at 23-25: Michigan, Boise State, Georgia Tech

Dropped out: Stanford and Florida

 

Re: 2012 SportsJournalists.com College Football Poll

I moved Michigan from 18 to 22 and Boise State from 21 to 25. Florida was the only team to get the boot and was replaced by BYU. Thankfully, I knew not to rank shit Stanford.

 

Re: 2012 SportsJournalists.com College Football Poll

For the first week, we've had great "turnout at the poll" [/no politics]

Just have a handful of voters who haven't sent in their ballot; I'll send out a quick PM.

Should have the new poll and story posted in a couple hours.

Thanks for sending all those ballots after a holiday weekend ... hopefully this will continue to work smoothly as we get into our regular college football weekend schedules.

 

Re: 2012 SportsJournalists.com College Football Poll

After sending in my preseason ballot, I started feeling as if I had the Wolverines too high. That, combined with a 27-point loss, led to removing them entirely. I know it was Alabama, but I believe wholesale changes in the rankings can be appropriate after Week 1. In this case, Michigan is 0-1, while Tennessee beat a solid N.C. State team, for example. Plus, it's a post-Week 1 ballot. Michigan has 11 games left to climb back in and up the rankings.

 

Re: 2012 SportsJournalists.com College Football Poll

Men without hats: Not a huge problem

(but the solution could be)

By I SHOULD COCO
(Small) Equipment Manager

Not a lot of upsets and really not a lot of analysis to be done after the first week of college football.

Most of the BCS schools scheduled cupcakes for opponents, and the top teams all got what they were looking for: an easy win and padded stats for their stars.

The cupcakes, with a few exceptions (hello, Ohio Bobcats!), were blown off the field but received a sizable paycheck for their efforts as cannon fodder.

Sure, a few BCS schools squared off, and those results were pretty much as expected, too. Did anyone really think Michigan had a chance to dump Alabama? That Arkansas State could stop Oregon? That Iowa State wouldn’t breeze past Tusla?

No, the most interesting observation from the opening weekend were the football helmets. Or more specifically, what happened when they flew off.

To sum up: WTF is going on with that lame-ass helmet rule?

Here’s the four main components of the NCAA’s helmet rule, which must have been approved while we were all distracted by Katniss Everdeen and her arrow-shooting abilities:

•If a player loses his helmet, it will be treated like an injury and the player must sit out the next play. The rule does not apply if the helmet comes off due to a penalty.

•If a ball carrier loses his helmet, the play will be blown dead immediately.

•If a player other than the ball carrier loses his helmet, he can no longer be involved in the play.

•If a ball carrier’s helmet comes off with less than a minute to play in either half, there will be a 10-second runoff. A coach can use a timeout to keep the 10 seconds on the clock.

The NCAA brass claims that by forcing players to sit out a play if they lose their head, er, helmet, they will finally get serious about safety, tightening up and snapping on those chin straps on every down. That’s probably true, but the cynic in me would add this: as the media increasingly focuses on player safety and issues like concussions, the new helmet rule is a good P.R. move, too.

The NCAA is trying to make sure some gruesome, bloody replay of a player getting his unprotected face smashed during a tackle doesn’t dominate YouTube for an entire football season. And if players happen to be better protected as a side effect, well, that’s a nice bonus.

Here’s the problem: At some point this season, we will have a close game with national championship implications where a decisive play is missing one team’s key player because, despite his best efforts, equipment failed and his helmet flew off on the previous down. Or it will cost a team a critical time out to keep 10 seconds from being run off the clock. Or a potential game-changing play will be blown dead because a running back or wide receiver loses his helmet.

I’m all for measures that boost player safety, or rules that reduce injuries. But were flying helmets really a major issue, or an increasing problem from previous years? The University of Wisconsin football team, according to the Madison.com web site, had three instances of helmets coming off during a play in all 13 of its games last season. That’s literally three times in thousands of plays. Not exactly an epidemic.

I can’t think of a reason why a player would intentionally want his helmet to fly off during a play (taking it off to pose and celebrate after a play is another matter). If it happens by accident, that’s when an equipment manager is called in to fix the issue.

The bottom line is this rule is mostly about public relations, and instead of truly helping players, it could have a negative impact on a key game for very little gain in players’ safety. If the NCAA really is serious about reducing head injuries, it should take some of the TV contract money it gets and put it toward brain injury research.

Thanks for letting me clear my head on that issue ... and here’s the (mostly unchanged) SportsJournalists.com college football poll:

SportsJournalists.com COLLEGE FOOTBALL POLL
WEEK ONE — 9/4/12
RK. TEAM (1st) PTS PREVIOUS
1. Alabama (23) 767 1
2. Southern Cal (7) 744 2
3. Louisiana St. (1) 705 3
4. Oregon 655 4
5. Oklahoma 602 5
6. Florida St. 586 7
7. Georgia 550 6
8. West Virginia 496 8
9. South Carolina 491 9
10. Arkansas 489 11
11. Michigan St. 445 13
12. Clemson 429 14
13. Wisconsin 382 10
14. Nebraska 326 17
15. Texas 311 15
16. Virginia Tech 297 16
17. Oklahoma St. 290 18
18. Ohio St. 266 22
19. Michigan 218 8
20. Kansas St. 188 19
21. Texas Christian 169 20
22. Stanford 117 21
23. Notre Dame 93 —
24. Louisville 91 —
25. Florida 86 24

Also receiving votes: Brigham Young 52, Boise St. 37, Utah 28, Baylor 25, Tennessee 25, Auburn 21, Georgia Tech 18, Washington 14, Missouri 13, Vanderbilt 9, South Florida 6, UCLA 6, Miami (Fla.) 5, Mississippi St. 5, North Carolina St. 5, Ohio 4, Illinois 2, Nevada 2, North Carolina 2, Texas A&M 2, Louisiana Tech 1.

The SportsJournalists.com college football poll committee: I Should Coco (tabulator), dparker85, huggy, TheWritingWaffle, scottwcoleman, Della9250, the_lorax, KYSportsWriter, DragonSteamboat, TrooperBari, Hank_Scorpio, McNuggetsMan, Rumpleforeskin, HanSenSE, azom, joe_schmoe, Precious Roy, Inky_Wretch, Mizzougrad96, Starman, NorrinRadd, Versatile, TommyDreamer, MileHigh, Layman, Suicide Squeezer, Donnie in his element, dragonzo, Oz, Madhavok, Matt Stephens. Not voting: slappy4428, MysteryMeat II.

 

Re: 2012 SportsJournalists.com College Football Poll -- WEEK 2 now posted!

I dropped Michigan eight spots to 16, and dropped Boise out of the poll (I had them ranked something like 22nd or 23rd in the preseason).

But dropping Michigan completely out of the poll from eighth is absurd.

 

Re: 2012 SportsJournalists.com College Football Poll -- WEEK 2 now posted!

I agree with all of this.

But again ... is it that big of a problem, that helmets are flying off during high school games? I've covered quite a few, and the only time I ever remember it happening is when someone grabbed a face mask and/or chin strap. Or maybe an equipment problem.

Either way, not the helmet wearer's fault.

 

Re: 2012 SportsJournalists.com College Football Poll -- WEEK 2 now posted!

I say this as a Bucky homer -- no clue what makes people think Wisconsin is better than Va. Tech, OK State, Ohio State, Notre Dame or many of the teams currently listed below them.