FINAL POLL finally POSTED ... on PAGE 4!

Re: SportsJournalists.com college football poll. PRESEASON POLL POSTED

Neither is Wisconsin ... surprised the Badgers received so much support.

And I think all of our voters sent ballots after the Braxton Miller injury was announced, so Ohio State's rating is lower than in the AP or coaches poll.

 

Re: SportsJournalists.com college football poll. PRESEASON POLL POSTED

Hey, just a reminder ... under the "McNuggets Plan," we're taking a break from voting until the second weekend of October (AFTER the games on Oct. 11).

We're doing our best imitation of the College Football Playoff selection committee: No computers, no early-season rankings, and no clue!

If as pollsters it helps you to do a new poll each week, by all means continue, but I won't be tallying them until Oct. 11.

 

Re: READY TO RESUME the SportsJournalists.com college football poll. SEE PAGE 2

Attention all SportsJournalists.com pollsters ... AND NEW POLLSTERS:

We're putting the band back together for the rest of the season and resuming the SportsJournalists.com college football poll next weekend.

To vote, send me a PM with your top 25 teams by NOON Central Time Monday, Oct. 13. Any polls received on Sunday are MOST WELCOME by your faithful tabulator.

We'll keep it at the top 25 teams for now, but I'm thinking about narrowing it down to the top 10 in November. Let me know what you think.

Again, new pollsters are welcome to join those of us who were part of the preseason poll. It's starting to get interesting ... let your opinion be heard.

 

Re: READY TO RESUME the SportsJournalists.com college football poll. SEE PAGE 2

1. Florida State
2. Mississippi State
3. Ole Miss
4. Baylor
5. Notre Dame
6. TCU
7. Alabama
8. Oklahoma
9. Auburn
10. Oklahoma State
11. Oregon
12. Michigan State
13. Kansas State
14. Georgia
15. Arizona
16. East Carolina
17. Utah
18. Clemson
19. USC
20. Stanford
21. UCLA
22. Arizona State
23. Nebraska
24. Kentucky
25. Minnesota

 

Re: READY TO RESUME the SportsJournalists.com college football poll. SEE PAGE 2

Oh yeah ... have to compile the poll today!

Everybody's vote is in; will have poll/story within an hour or so.

 

Re: READY TO RESUME the SportsJournalists.com college football poll. SEE PAGE 2

Just a job to do

By I SHOULD COCO
Toein’ the Line

Whether the top teams are determined by media polls, BCS computers or a playoff pickin’ committee, one thing hasn’t changed about college football:

Don’t leave your team’s fate on the foot of a kicker.

Arizona learned this lesson the hard way Saturday night, in a furious comeback effort against USC. Even after a 2-point conversion was stuffed, the Wildcats recovered an onside kick with about a minute left. They quickly marched into field-goal range, and it looked like another miraculous home win would keep their unbeaten season (and football playoff chances) alive.

Instead, Casey Skowron pushed his 36-yard-attempt wide left for this third missed FG of the night. If that wasn’t bad enough, Skowron added some bad acting to his failure as he spun, fell backward on his butt and grabbed his right (kicking) leg — all without being touched by a USC player.

But don’t worry, Casey, you’re not the first kicker to strike out when teammates needs you to PERFORM THE ONLY DAMN JOB YOU HAVE on the football team.

In fact, just the previous week, UCLA’s Ka’imi Fairbaim suffered the same fate — albeit on a longer attempt. Plus, because UCLA has a much better acting program, he managed to sell the refs on a running-into-the-kicker penalty. Which allowed Fairbaim to go 0-for-2 on the game-winning attempt as the Bruins fell to Utah in the first of two straight home losses which basically sank their season.

Again, this isn’t a new phenomenon. Just ask Bobby Bowden about, oh, more than a decade of crucial missed kicks at Florida State. Or ask Boise State how many millions a missed kick cost them at Nevada a few years ago.

Whenever last-minute kicks are missed — from the NFL down to high-school football — coaches like to, quite accurately, note how it’s a team game and one play didn’t cost them a win. That’s true, coach. What really cost you a win is playing badly enough to hope a lucky rabbit’s kickers foot can bail your team out.

• • •
​

On with the polling! Thanks to everyone for coming back and resuming our poll at the midway point of the season (with another longtime SportsJournalists.com college football poll voter joining the mix).

As with the Associated Press poll, our voters put Mississippi State in the top spot after the Bulldogs received not a single vote in the preseason poll. I guess that’s what consecutive wins over LSU, Texas A&M and Auburn will do.

We varied a bit from the AP poll, too — such as Ole Miss tying for the No. 2 spot, as many of our voters had the Bulldogs and Rebels at Nos. 1 and 2. We also did not have a fifth SEC team (Georgia) in the top 10, as Texas Christian and Oklahoma rated above those ’Dawgs.

Here’s the rest of the first 2014 SportsJournalists.com college football poll:

SportsJournalists.com COLLEGE FOOTBALL POLL
2014 NUMERO UNO — 10/13/14
RK. TEAM (1st) PTS PREVIOUS (preseason)
1. Mississippi St. (9) 344 —
2. Florida St. (5) 330 1
(tie) Ole Miss 330 18
4. Baylor 302 9
5. Notre Dame 297 20t
6. Auburn 267 5t
7. Alabama 256 2
8. Oregon 246 3t
9. Michigan St. 215 5t
(tie) Texas Christian 215 —
11. Oklahoma 211 3t
12. Georgia 198 12
13. Oklahoma St. 170 —
14. Arizona 166 —
15. Kansas St. 140 20t
16. Ohio St. 128 10
17. Arizona St. 105 17
18. Nebraska 96 22
19. East Carolina 78 —
20. Southern Cal 68 16
21. Stanford 67 11
22. Utah 61 —
23. Texas A&M 59 19
24. Marshall 44 —
25. Clemson 34 14

Also receiving votes: Louisiana St. 26, Duke 17, Kentucky 17, Georgia Tech 16, UCLA 13, Minnesota 11, Washington 10, Colorado St. 5, West Virginia 4, Oregon St. 3, Rutgers 1.

The SportsJournalists.com college football poll committee: I Should Coco (tabulator), Oz, Della9250, Huggy, Mile High, KYSportswriter, Songbird, dragonzo3, Starman, Donnie, in his element, TheWritingWaffle, McNuggets Man, Meatie Pie, the_lorax.

 

Re: WE'RE BACK! New SportsJournalists.com college football poll. SEE PAGE 2

1. Mississippi State (UNR)
2. Ole Miss (20)
3. Baylor (8)
4. Florida State (1)
5. Notre Dame (17)
6. Michigan State (7)
7. Oregon (2)
8. Auburn (5)
9. Alabama (3)
10. Georgia (9)
11. Oklahoma (4)
12. TCU (UNR)
13. Ohio State (15)
14. Kansas State (19)
15. Oklahoma State (UNR)
16. Arizona State (18)
17. East Carolina (UNR)
18. Arizona (UNR)
19. Nebraska (UNR)
20. Utah (UNR)
21. Southern Cal (16)
22. Stanford (12)
23. Clemson (14)
24. Texas A&M (22)
25. Marshall (UNR)
Fell out: UCLA (6), South Carolina (10), LSU (11), Wisconsin (13), Washington (23), Missouri (24), North Carolina (25).

 

Re: WE'RE BACK! New SportsJournalists.com college football poll. SEE PAGE 2

I'll post my poll when I get home. It's on another computer...

But I am always intrigued when I see how other people vote. I place head to head at a premium in my poll. So it baffles me when I see this happen:

11. Oklahoma (4)
12. TCU (UNR)

6. Michigan State (7)
7. Oregon (2)

Not trying to be a dick. I am just trying to understand how other people view their poll vote. Considering the head to head results on the field, how did you come up with these rankings?

(I'll post my ballot later tonight so you can rip me apart of rankings that seem stupid)

 

Re: WE'RE BACK! New SportsJournalists.com college football poll. SEE PAGE 2

Shit. I flipped them and didn't even realize it. TCU should be ranked ahead of OU. I completely forgot about TCU's win over the Sooners when I was doing the ballot.

And the same for Oregon-Michigan State. Dammit.

 

Re: WE'RE BACK! New SportsJournalists.com college football poll. SEE PAGE 2

I'm glad to see all voters ranked one-loss TCU ahead of one-loss Minnesota.

Must be the head-to-head result ...

 

Re: WE'RE BACK! New SportsJournalists.com college football poll. SEE PAGE 2

Well, I had Oregon 6 and Sparty 21, so don't yell at me.

 

Re: WE'RE BACK! New SportsJournalists.com college football poll. SEE PAGE 2

Here is my ballot for people to rip as well.

I tried to respect head to head as much as possible -- probably to the detriment of the overall ballot.

1 Mississippi St
2 Ole Miss
3 Baylor
4 Notre Dame
5 FSU
6 Auburn
7 Alabama
8 TCU
9 Oklahoma
10 Arizona
11 Oregon
12 Georgia
13 Michigan State
14 Texas A&M
15 Arizona ST
16 LSU
17 Nebraska
18 Kentucky
19 Duke
20 Georgia Tech
21 East Carolina
22 Kansas St
23 OK State
24 Ohio State
25 Minnesota