The first Bowl Championship Series rankings came out at the beginning of this week. The rankings are not a surprise if one is only looking at the latest AP and USA Today polls. Yet if one looked at the preseason polls the BCS does not come close to what the “experts” were predicting at the beginning of the season. The recent losses by USC and LSU along with the surprise of Appalachian State defeating Michigan at the beginning of the season have muddied the waters.
For this blog I will use the top ten as identified by Athlon Sports and compare them with where they currently stand. Athlon’s rankings are for the most part similar to preseason AP and USA Today (give or take a spot or two here and there). It is expected that out of these top ten that three of them would be in top four BSC positions by seasons end. This year that will not happen.
1. USC – in the BCS they are now 14.
2. Texas – not in the top 15 in the BCS. In the AP they are ranked 22
3. LSU – though they lost to Kentucky they are holding at number 4
4. Wisconsin – not listed in the top twenty-five in any poll and not on the BCS list
5. West Virginia – they are currently 9 in the BCS
6. Florida – they are number fifteen in the BCS
7. Oklahoma – at 5 in the BCS
8. Michigan – not in the top 15 in BCS and is ranked 25 in the AP
9. Virginia Tech – they are number 11 in the BCS and in the same place in the other polls
10. Rutgers - unranked
In the BCS,
1. Ohio State was ranked 12 by Athlon
2. South Florida - 31
3. Boston College - 27
4. LSU - 3
5. Oklahoma - 7
6. South Carolina - 39
7. Kentucky - 43
8. Arizona State - 44
9. West Virginia – 5
10. Oregon - 40
Only three of the preseason top ten are in a position to be in the big 1 vs 2 game in January. Six of the current top ten were not ranked at the beginning of the season. In the current top ten, at least three will drop out by the time the season comes to an end five Saturdays.
This year is a lesson that people should not to caught up in the preseason hype, that upsets are why we play the game, and college games can be so unpredictable.
On a personal note, it is great to see Kentucky doing so well this year which helps to balance off the struggling Iowa Hawkeyes (Athlon had them 33 and they have not lived up that even that this year).
Reflective Wanderings - Reflections on various topics that arise out of my personal, life and professional experiences. There are also are some family related news, travels and pictures.
5 comments:
Bruce has been keeping a close watch of all the rankings as well. There have been many upsets and several surprises. Bruce's team is Notre Dame. The saying now is Notre Damn, they messed up again!
the facination with high school and college sports in the states is pretty crazy! although i wish canada would support it's amature atheletes more like our american neighbours.
The upsets continue. Number two South Florida lost to unranked Rutgers Thursday night. This will drop SFU down below ten.
Joshua stayed up to watch Rutgers beat up on South Florida last night. I'm always pleased when a Florida school bites the dust.
footall ... snore!
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