Showing posts with label San Diego State. Show all posts
Showing posts with label San Diego State. Show all posts

Monday, November 15, 2010

The Guru's BlogPoll Ballot (Week 12)

The Guru's ballot this week, destined for another mention for Mr. Xanax. But hey, this late in the season, with virtually no upsets, what do you expect? More below:


* Frankly, I think it's quite laughable that voters in other polls (and probably this one as well) punished TCU for a close game against San Diego State? Have they seen the Aztecs play this season? Instead of lauding Brady Hoke's bunch for breaking through TCU's stellar defense, the Frogs were massacred in the polls. Of course, Utah stinking it up in South Bend didn't help, neither did Oregon State's unraveling.

* Still, the San Diego State game changed nothing in my mind. Every team has one of those close calls late in the season, when the pressure is on. Oregon barely escaped at Cal. Auburn win against Georgia wasn't assured until the fourth quarter (and don't let that final score deceive you). And I'll take the Aztecs over either Cal or Georgia in terms of the quality of the opponent as the computer rankings can attest.

* USC may be ineligible to play in a bowl this season, but the Trojans seem to be on a quest to consign as many Pac-10 teams to the same fate as they possibly can. They pretty much ruined Arizona's hopes of a decent bowl game, severely hurt Arizona State's chances to be bowl eligible, and Oregon State and UCLA may be toast as well after USC gets through them in the next couple of weeks. So all those teams hoping to pick up bowl berths left vacant by the Pac-10 must secretly be chanting Fight On!

* Other teams considered: Florida State, Miami (Fla.), San Diego State, Mississippi State, Hawaii.

Monday, November 1, 2010

The Guru's BlogPoll Ballot (Week 10)

This week's BlogPoll ballot, with comments below:


* Nothing changes at the top. Oregon solidified its hold on No. 1 after an impressive conquest of USC. Boise State continues to hum along, as does TCU, with a showdown against unbeaten Utah coming up this weekend. Auburn still needs to prove that it can stop elite teams defensively - and it's a stretch to call LSU an elite team.

* Wisconsin and Stanford appear to be the best one-loss teams, resume-wise. Alabama may be No. 5 in some polls, but that's more of a product of legacy voting: The Tide are last year's champs, which should have nothing to do with this year. They're still No. 13 on my ballot, with a chance of moving up a bit if they can defeat LSU this weekend.

* San Diego State makes its first-ever appearance on my ballot. The Aztecs have made a dramatic turnaround under Brady Hoke. They also will have a chance to really become a nasty spoiler for the Mountain West in the BCS title/bowl races, with back-to-back games against TCU and Utah still to come.

* Other teams considered: Northwestern, Florida State, USC.

* P.S. Yeah, there is not a single Big East team on my ballot (or even being considered), and just one ACC team. Yet it's almost a lock that either Boise State or TCU will miss out on a BCS bowl game, while the likes of Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Virginia Tech and N.C. State are guaranteed a spot if they just win their conference title. (You bet this will be a major post later this week.)
Google