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My Sept. 7 AP ballot; USF No. 13
Posted By Brett McMurphy at Sep 07, 2008 at 10:25 AM
Updated Sep 07, 2008 at 10:31 AM

This week Team Last week
1. Georgia 1
2. USC 3
3. Florida 4
4. Missouri 5
5. Oklahoma 6
6. LSU 7
7. Ohio State 2
8. Auburn 9
9. Texas 10
10. East Carolina 22
11. Penn State 12
12. Texas Tech 11
13. South Florida 14
14. Arizona State 15
15. Kansas 17
16. Oregon 18
17. Wisconsin 19
18. Alabama 13
19. BYU 16
20. Wake Forest 20
21. Illinois 25
22. UCLA NR
23. Clemson 23
24. Utah 24
25. Fresno State NR

Almost in: Cal, Vanderbilt

See you later: West Virginia, South Carolina

Before you ask about the Bulls: USF inches up one spot to No. 13. The Bulls had a dominating performance – statistically, at least – against UCF, but poor special teams play and questionable clock management nearly cost them. Like I said last week, the Bulls should make their biggest movement in the polls this week based on their performance against Kansas.

Quick thoughts: Yes, East Carolina is No. 10. Maybe I should have them higher? They’ve defeated the defending ACC and Big East champions in back-to-back weeks. They completely dominated West Virginia, 24-3. They remind me of USF last year when the Bulls had wins over Auburn and West Virginia (USF jumped from No. 18 to No. 6 after beating WVU 21-13). East Carolina has arguably the two best wins of anyone in the Top 25. Maybe I should have put them higher? … I dropped Ohio State from No. 2 to No. 7. The Buckeyes needed five – five! – turnovers to hold off Ohio. I agree with Ohio State WR Brian Hartline, who said: “That was pathetic. OU should’ve won the game.” … Alabama dropped five spots – perhaps having the Tide No. 13 after beating Clemson was too high – after Bama was limited to 172 yards and one offensive TD against Tulane. … Next week’s poll should get jumbled up pretty good with USF-Kansas, Ohio State-USC and UCLA-BYU on tap.

Send Us Your Comments

Posted by Brett McMurphy, on 09/07 at 09:05 PM

KB, absolutely. You ever hook a couple off the first tee into the drink? If you’re giving me a mulligan after the first two weeks, I’d go with: 1-USF, 2-WVU, 3-Cincy, 4-Pitt, 5-Rutgers, 6-UConn, 7-UL, 8-Syracuse. Putting Cincy third is dependent on QB Grutza returning in four weeks from a broken leg. If he’s out all season, I would drop UC to fifth. If I could pick ties for specific places, I would have 1-USF, 2-WVV and then a four-way tie for third between Cincy, Pitt, Rutgers and UConn. I would keep UL seventh and Syracuse (if they’re not kicked out for embarrassing the league before the season ends) remains eighth.

Posted by KB, on 09/07 at 08:12 PM

Brett,

After two weeks of play would you change your Big East final standings prediction?

Posted by Brett McMurphy, on 09/07 at 11:38 AM

Brian, WVU was outgained by both I-AA Villanova and East Carolina. I nearly dropped Clemson out after losing to ‘Bama the week before. Maybe I should have. I just felt there were more deserving teams right now (in fact I could have put Cal or Vandy in there instead of Clemson, Fresno or Utah) that should have been ranked instead of WVU. I obviously don’t expect WVU to remain out of my Top 25 for very long.

Posted by Brian, Sanford on 09/07 at 10:57 AM

Brett, I won’t complain too much, but WVU @ 8 gets beat by the team you put @10 and they drop out? A little bit of a stretch, but then again they were dominated.

Just hope they get back in next week if they don’t stink it up.

Thanks, Brett. This poll is pretty good.