What does three National Championships in a row say for the SEC??? Its good to be on top. Florida was solid down the stretch, while Oklahoma squandered chance after chance in the first half.
Some might argue Utah higher, but I think they caught Alabama at the right time…coming off a dishearting loss in the SEC Championship Game. Ole Miss leaps 8 spots after they throttled a sloppy Texas Tech squad in Dallas.
You can see the complete BlogPoll over at CBS Sports.com.
Here’s the RazorBloggers final ballot for this season:
| Rank | Team | Record | Previous | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida | 13-1 | 1 | Gators, Tebow grab 3rd straight NC for SEC. |
| 2 | USC | 12-1 | 5 | HC Carroll had Trojans playing their best at the end. |
| 3 | Texas | 12-1 | 3 | Horns, McCoy struggle, top Buckeyes 24-21. |
| 4 | Oklahoma | 12-2 | 2 | Couldn’t capitalize on Gator mistakes. |
| 5 | Utah | 13-0 | 8 | Showed its merit with big win over Tide. |
| 6 | Alabama | 12-2 | 4 | Too much time on Bourbon Street for ‘Bama??? |
| 7 | Penn St. | 11-2 | 6 | PSU outclassed by surging USC in Rose Bowl. |
| 8 | Georgia | 10-3 | 14 | QB Stafford, RB Moreno off to make their NFL $$$. |
| 9 | Ohio St. | 10-3 | 9 | QB Pryor gives Bucs hope for the future. |
| 10 | TCU | 11-2 | 15 | TCU’s two losses…Oklahoma, Utah…not bad. |
| 11 | Oregon | 10-3 | 16 | Nice Holiday Bowl win…42-31 shootout vs. Okie St. |
| 12 | Oklahoma St. | 9-4 | 10 | Hope OSU enjoyed their trip…SD nice this time of year. |
| 13 | Mississippi | 9-4 | 21 | HDN flies to 9 wins in his first season in Oxford. |
| 14 | Virginia Tech | 10-4 | 18 | HC Beamer wins 10th game for 5th straight season. |
| 15 | Missouri | 9-5 | 19 | Hangs on for Alamo Bowl win vs. Northwestern. |
| 16 | Boise St. | 12-1 | 11 | Broncos lose 17-16 thriller to TCU in Poinsettia Bowl. |
| 17 | Texas Tech | 11-2 | 7 | Slopped around in pitiful Cotton Bowl loss to Ole Miss. |
| 18 | Cincinnati | 11-3 | 12 | Breakthrough year for Bearcats in Big East. |
| 19 | LSU | 8-5 | NR | Showed Ga.Tech what for in 38-3 rout in Atlanta. |
| 20 | Oregon St. | 9-4 | 22 | Beat Pitt 3-0 in Sun Bowl…worst bowl game in history of mankind. |
| 21 | Michigan St. | 9-4 | 17 | Nice Big Ten team…couldn’t handle UGA in Orlando. |
| 22 | Florida St. | 9-4 | NR | Young Seminoles knock out Wisconsin 42-13. |
| 23 | West Virginia | 9-4 | NR | Pat White first QB to win 4 straight bowl games. |
| 24 | Nebraska | 9-4 | NR | HC Pelini has Huskers going in right direction. |
| 25 | Georgia Tech | 9-4 | 13 | Dismal showing vs. LSU drops Tech to the bottom. |
| Others considered: BYU, Ball St., Iowa, Maryland, Kansas, Boston College, California, Tulsa, Pittsburgh. | ||||
How do you put a 2 loss team over Utah, who didn't lose a game and beat Alabama easily?
No doubt, I was impressed with Utah. They played well against Bama…looked faster, more ready to play certainly. I kept coming back to this on Utah….how many games would they have lost if they played in the SEC? Or for that matter in the Big 12 South? More than zero I suspect.
If you lined up Utah and OU on a neutral field, both with something to play for, I don't think there's any question who would win.
Utah indeed looked sharp. Alabama was likely out of sync because they lost their best player on the line because of the agent problem and then his backup was injured early on in the game. That had to hurt. With the reduction in scholarships some years back, I do not care how good you are, loses such as that can be devastating to your team. That has even affected talent-loaded teams such as Univ. of Southern Cal in the past. One analysis of Super Bowl winners found that in most cases they did not repeat because of injuries. I also think that this past season has shown once again how valuable a seasoned QB is. There are not too many Peyton Mannings out there as Tenn. has found out. It will be interesting to see how Alabama handles that in the 09 season. Saban being a smart coach will likely adjust for it. LSU sure suffered from QB leadership. It would appear that Miles' coaching skills were lacking during the season because he should have known to protect his inexperienced QBs more than he did rather than put them in bad situations. No wonder some LSU fans are still skeptical of Miles' abilities. After this past season, I would rank him on the bottom as a coach in the SEC. The months' practice in December gave LSU time to polish their talented QB and it showed in the bowl game. He looked sharp. Again, I did not think that Miles showed much skill in how he handled his talented team during the regular season.
I would like to see a blog on how you project next season's teams…just for fun.
Bowl matchups are very important as to how teams look. You could shuffle the bowl matchups and come up with some teams looking much sharper playing a totally different opponent. Some teams just match up better with particular teams. That is why I am skeptical that having a football playoff would mean that we would then know who is the best football team. Yes, we would have one crowned, but we already have that. I feel the same about basketball in March. Shuffle the basketball match ups and you would have a totally different champion. Yes, you do have a champion but I do not necessarily believe that the champion is the best team, although the system says they are. Of course in the scheme of life, it really does not matter. We just need to enjoy the season of football and basketball, as I am sure most fans do. Perhaps, not all OU fans are happy, although they should be, but they are having to get use to losing bowl games in their new bowl-losing era. When they played TT, their players looked like they were on steroids with the bad sportsmanship. Then, in their bowl game, no. 5 again showed his poor sportsman, win at all costs, when Percy Harvin was tackled and he reached up and pulled Harvin's hurt leg. That is shades of their conduct under Switzer, except they did not shoot a gun off a university balcony. I know some who were for OU in the game but switched to support Florida after he did that.
Anyway, Happy New Year everyone! 2009 should be a good year.
All very logical Sunshine. I don't disagree. I just prefer to be less logical and perhaps give a nod to the traditions that have shaped college football. How many times has a one loss team been better than the eventual national champ? Look as close to home as 1964 with Texas, Alabama, and Arkansas. It was simply settled on the field.
No, all undefeated seasons or teams are not equal. A great team will play flat or without focus and blow their chance to an inferior team.
Mostly based on the quality of play I saw during the post season I might have voted Utah No.1, certainly no lower than No. 2. Florida played well enough to win but neither team looked that impressive, certainly not as good as USC.
Sunshine, You are now officially on my bad list! You have that team in your top 25. I'll sick the darksiders on you.