Top 25

By this point it’s already old news, but here is this week’s top 25:

1. USC (21) 1-0 1539 3
2. Georgia (20) 1-0 1506 1
3. Ohio State (15) 1-0 1497 2
4. Oklahoma (2) 1-0 1432 4
5. Florida (5) 1-0 1415 5
6. Missouri (1) 1-0 1301 6
7. LSU (1) 1-0 1207 7
8. West Virginia 1-0 1108 8
9. Auburn 1-0 1033 10
10. Texas 1-0 1028 11
11. Wisconsin 1-0 849 13
12. Texas Tech 1-0 842 12
13. Alabama 1-0 834 24
14. Kansas 1-0 748 14
15. Arizona State 1-0 672 15
15. Brigham Young 1-0 672 16
17. South Florida 1-0 588 19
18. Oregon 1-0 508 21
19. Penn State 1-0 467 22
20. Wake Forest 1-0 414 23
21. Fresno State 1-0 242 NR
22. Utah 1-0 214 NR
23. UCLA 1-0 151 NR
24. Illinois 0-1 147 20
24. South Carolina 1-0 147 NR
Others Receiving Votes
Clemson 143, East Carolina 108, California 91, Boston College 36, Florida State 36, Cincinnati 35, Tennessee 30, Boise State 19, Bowling Green 17, Virginia Tech 14, Connecticut 9, Rutgers 6, Kentucky 5, Nebraska 4, Oklahoma State 3, Arizona 2, TCU 2, Tulsa 1, North Carolina 1, Notre Dame 1, Miami (FL) 1.
Dropped From Rankings
Clemson 9, Virginia Tech 17, Tennessee 18, Pittsburgh 25.

I really only have a couple issues with the poll.

1. As good as USC may have looked on Saturday, over the course of this season you’ll find that probably more than half of that equation was Virginia being really, really bad. This is one of the scourges of the polling system. USC decimates a hopelessly overmatched team with a good name while Georgia and Ohio State look just fine while their starters are in the game against FCS schools and they get dropped down. Although I’m not against penalizing teams for scheduling games of that nature.

2. As bad as Clemson looked against Alabama I don’t think they should’ve fallen all the way out of the poll. That’s a good team and they’ll get their act together against their horrible conference.

3. Wake Forest and South Florida are still way too low.

Back with my poll in a bit.

Go East, my friends

Boy, was Tennessee a letdown on Monday night or what?

I really thought they were a potential sleeper in the SEC, but Jonathan Crompton looked awful at quarterback, that much-ballyhooed offensive line didn’t look so stout (maybe Erik Ainge was a little better than we thought?) and the defense couldn’t have covered the O-A news sports staff if UCLA had gone four-wide with us by the fourth quarter.

At this point you definitely have to move the Vols under Alabama in the pecking order, and maybe even South Carolina.

They certainly could get things straightened out, but with a home date with Florida and road trips to Auburn and Georgia coming up, Phil Fulmer’s seat might get a bit warm.

But there has been one point I’ve been meaning to make about Tennessee all week and haven’t had a chance to.

Hate them all you want - and there are a multitude of reasons to do so - but they are the only SEC team that has consistently stepped out of conference and played top-quality competition over the last two decades.

I decided to go through and see who all they - and everyone else - have played, just since the league expanded in 1992.

I’ll break it down by BCS conference schools. Several, Tennessee among them, have played some pretty good non-BCS schools in their day and even made trips there, but I’m not going to go there.

Tennessee:

Duke (1993, 2003), UCLA (1994, 1996, 1997, 2008). Washington State (1994), Texas Tech (1997), Syracuse (1998, 2001), Notre Dame (1999, 2001, 2004, 2005), Rutgers (2002), Miami (2002, 2003), California (2006, 2007)

That’s 19 games against BCS conference schools in 17 seasons. Not great, of course, but certainly better than anyone else when you throw out the rivalry games of a few schools.

Alabama:

N.C. State (1995, 1996), UCLA (2000, 2001), Oklahoma (2002, 2003), Duke (2006), Florida State (2007), Clemson (2008)

Nine games in 17 years. The Tide did play South Florida in 2003, but they were still a member of Conference USA at the time and not yet even a canddiate for the Big East.

Arkansas:

Texas (2003, 2004, 2008), USC (2005, 2006)

A whopping five games in 17 years! Although it could be argued the Hogs played the toughest challenges of anyone with their few ventures outside cupcakeland. Arkansas also played USF in 2002, but that was before they were even in Conference USA.

Auburn:

Virginia (1997, 1998), Syracuse (2001, 2002), USC (2002, 2003), Georgia Tech (2003, 2005), Washington State (2006), Kansas State (2007), South Florida (2007), West Virginia (2008)

12 games in 17 years, with 10 of them coming this decade.

Florida:

Florida State (1992-2008), Houston (1995 - they were still a member of the now-defunct Southwest Conferene at the time), Miami (2002, 2003, 2008)

21 games in 19 years, but only four really count since FSU is a rivalry game. The Gators also played Louisville way back in 1992, before Conference USA even existed and well before anyone thought the Cardinals would be in a BCS conference.

Georgia:

Georgia Tech (1992-2008), Texas Tech (1993, 1996), Clemson (1994, 1995, 2002, 2003), Colorado (2006), Oklahoma State (2007), Arizona State (2008)

We have a new leader in the clubhouse with 26 games in 19 years. But those 17 with Tech don’t really count, and the ones with Clemson really only half do, since the two are old rivals.

Kentucky:

Indiana (1992-2005), Louisville (2005-2008)

18 games, but the Cats get a little bit of the shaft. They played Louisville for 10 years before the Cardinals were a BCS team, (but the games against UL and IU were both rivalry games) and had games against Cincinnati, Connecticut and South Florida before they made it to the Big East.

LSU:

Texas A&M (1992-1995), Notre Dame (1997, 1998), Virginia Tech (2002, 2007), Arizona (2003, 2006), Oregon State (2004), Arizona State (2005)

12 games in 17 years

Ole Miss:

Texas Tech (2002, 2003), Missouri (2006, 2007), Wake Forest (2006, 2008)

Six games in 17 years

Texas (1992), Baylor (1995), Oklahoma State (1998, 1999), Oregon (2002, 2003), West Virginia (2006, 2007), Georgia Tech (2008)

nine games in 19 years

South Carolina:

Clemson (1992-2008), N.C. State (1999, 2008), Virginia (2002, 2003), Temple (2002 - still a member of the Big East), North Carolina (2007)

23 games in 19 years, but 17 of those were a rivalry game

Vanderbilt:

Duke (1992, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006, 2008), Wake Forest (1992, 1993, 1994, 2000, 2005, 2007, 2008), Notre Dame (1995, 1996), TCU (1995 - still a member of the SWC), Georgia Tech (2002, 2003), Rutgers (2004), Michigan (2006)

21 games in 19 years and by far the most variety of teams. I also had no idea they had played Duke and Wake Forest so often.

In short, I haven’t really told you anything you didn’t already know. The SEC needs to schedule more big-time games. Although if they continue to go like they have this decade (the SEC is, by my count, 40-43 in such games this decade counting the rivalry games) they might even continue to schedule fewer.

Mark me off five yards

I meant to have all the posts you’ll see today up yesterday, but we took my 1-year-old daughter to the zoo for the first time yesterday morning and spent the rest of the day calming her down.

I’ll take the delay of game penalty.

A few Tennessee thoughts, AP poll thoughts and this week’s “If I Had A Vote” poll coming over the course of the day.