BlogPoll Week Thirteen Draft: How far should Nebraska fall? What goes on in Craig James's head?
by Kevan Lee on Nov 22, 2010 1:00 PM PST
in Boise State football
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PrintWith three of the top teams idle this weekend, I could have pretty much mailed in this week's BlogPoll and nobody would have been the wiser. And don't think the thought didn't cross my mind.
Responsibility won out, and the Week 13 BlogPoll draft is after the jump. I'm filling in for MKingery this week, so don't expect any poll revelations. But you can expect my pointing out what a moron Craig James is. Because if there's one thing I know, it is morons.
But first, a note about Craig James
I value my well-being, sanity, and physical health, which is why I've largely stayed away from the whole poll scene this year. As such, I have been largely oblivious to just how bad some of the pollsters have been. Like Craig James. Perhaps his polls are atrocious every week (I have no reason to believe otherwise), for for some reason, this week's ballot - and James' justifications - caught my attention.
Here is his Top Ten as grabbed from PollSpeak (red = most extreme rankings among all voters):
- Stanford at No. 3: No other voter has the Cardinal at No. 3 or even at No. 4.
- Wisconsin at No. 4: Many have the Badgers at No. 5, many more have them at No. 6 or below.
- Boise State at No. 5: Several voters have the Broncos at No. 4, typically with TCU, Auburn, and Oregon ahead of BSU.
- TCU at No. 6: The nearest vote for the Horned Frogs are three guys who have TCU at No. 5 with each putting LSU into the Top Four.
Craig James's ballot stands alone in its ignorance. And so do his explanations.
I did not watch the BCS standings show on ESPN (again with the well-being thing), but many of the Idaho media did. Here are their Tweets.
Craig James plays the "better athletes" card to rank Stanford and Wisconsin ahead of TCU, BSU. On field performance? Who cares?
Dave Southorn
BSUDave
Craig James using television contracts to judge which teams should be ranked higher. Unreal.
Brian Murphy
murphsturph
Craig James: "Best coaching staffs out there" are in the bigger conferences.
Bronco Beat
IDS_BroncoBeat
Whaaa?
Craig James is the worst.
BlogPoll Draft Week Thirteen
OBNUG Ballot - Week 13
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boise St. Broncos | -- |
| 2 | TCU Horned Frogs | -- |
| 3 | Auburn Tigers | -- |
| 4 | Oregon Ducks | -- |
| 5 | LSU Tigers | -- |
| 6 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys |  1 |
| 7 | Stanford Cardinal | 1 |
| 8 | Michigan St. Spartans | 1 |
| 9 | Wisconsin Badgers | 1 |
| 10 | Ohio St. Buckeyes | 1 |
| 11 | Alabama Crimson Tide | 1 |
| 12 | Arkansas Razorbacks | 1 |
| 13 | Nebraska Cornhuskers |  -7 |
| 14 | Missouri Tigers | -- |
| 15 | Oklahoma Sooners | -- |
| 16 | Virginia Tech Hokies | -- |
| 17 | South Carolina Gamecocks | -- |
| 18 | Texas A&M Aggies | -- |
| 19 | Nevada Wolf Pack | -- |
| 20 | Arizona Wildcats | 3 |
| 21 | Hawaii Warriors | 3 |
| 22 | N.C. State Wolfpack | -- |
| 23 | Florida St. Seminoles | -- |
| 24 | Northern Illinois Huskies | -- |
| 25 | Mississippi St. Bulldogs | -- |
| Dropouts: USC Trojans, Miami Hurricanes, Iowa Hawkeyes | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "
Your usual BlogPoller, Mike Kingery, makes his poll choices based on a flawless formula followed up with rational human reasoning. I have neither of those things, so I pretty much just stuck with what he did last week and adjusted based on Nebraska pooping the bed.
Feel free to disagree constructively in the comments, and I'll adjust accordingly for the final BlogPoll draft.
Moving up
- A bunch of teams behind Nebraska. I shied away from screwing majorly with Kingery's BlogPoll from last week, which is why most of the movement is Nebraska-loss-related. There is one move that I considered making but thought better of. Should Wisconsin be above Michigan State based on how those teams are playing right now?
- Hawaii. For no good reason, really.
- Northern Illinois. The Huskies are new to this week's poll, mostly because I am partial to their SB Nation blog.
Moving down
- Nebraska. Could that have been the worst 9-6 loss in the history of football? Nebraska was whistled for 16 penalties. Coaches were screaming at players on the sidelines. And now starting QB Taylor Martinez - an early season Heisman contender - may have left the team.
- Iowa. The Hawkeyes are either the best 7-4 team in the country or they are a 7-4 team and therefore don't deserve to be ranked. I went with the latter.
Your turn
Did you watch Craig James on ESPN's BCS show? Was it as bad as it sounds? What do you think I should do with Wisconsin? Any other changes to the BlogPoll? Share your thoughts in the comments.
[Note by Kevan Lee, 11/23/10 8:55 AM MST ]
Final BlogPoll
Thanks to the comments, Stanford and Wisconsin are up, the Big XII is down, and Virginia Tech is probably higher than they should be.
OBNUG Ballot - Week 13
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boise St. Broncos | -- |
| 2 | TCU Horned Frogs | -- |
| 3 | Auburn Tigers | -- |
| 4 | Oregon Ducks | -- |
| 5 | Stanford Cardinal | 3 |
| 6 | LSU Tigers | -1 |
| 7 | Wisconsin Badgers | 3 |
| 8 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys | -1 |
| 9 | Michigan St. Spartans | -- |
| 10 | Ohio St. Buckeyes | 1 |
| 11 | Alabama Crimson Tide | 1 |
| 12 | Arkansas Razorbacks | 1 |
| 13 | Virginia Tech Hokies | 3 |
| 14 | Nebraska Cornhuskers | -8 |
| 15 | Missouri Tigers | -1 |
| 16 | Oklahoma Sooners | -1 |
| 17 | South Carolina Gamecocks | -- |
| 18 | Texas A&M Aggies | -- |
| 19 | Nevada Wolf Pack | -- |
| 20 | Arizona Wildcats | 3 |
| 21 | Hawaii Warriors | 3 |
| 22 | N.C. State Wolfpack | -- |
| 23 | Florida St. Seminoles | -- |
| 24 | Northern Illinois Huskies | -- |
| 25 | Mississippi St. Bulldogs | -- |
| Dropouts: USC Trojans, Miami Hurricanes, Iowa Hawkeyes | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "
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Comments
I'd put Wisconsin and Stanford over LSU
I understand that the SEC is really good, but I think all those close wins is a sign that LSU is not a top-5 team.
We want to build a university our football team can be proud of. -- Dr. George Lynn Cross
Agreed
Plus we have no reliable information that their respective coaches are ruminants. OK, maybe Les doesn’t have four stomachs and chews cud. But it sure appears to me that Beezlebub has been exacting a public price from his pact with Miles in an obvious and embarrassing display. Faust got a better deal, methinks.
Think Stanford is easily better than OK State or LSU
Sagrin has the Pac 10 as the best conference. ESPN doesn’t, they claim SEC and Big 12 — purely on the basis of BCS ranked teams. I don’t see any Big 12 team being top 7 and would not rank all three Big 10 teams so highly OR close together.
I'd rather be surfing.
by Pac 10 Alum on Nov 22, 2010 2:26 PM PST up reply actions
"Best coaching staffs" in the big conferences?
Oh, you mean the guys that get 4 and 5 star recruits yet get beaten like a drum week in and week out (Texas, Notre Dame…)?
Stanford and Wiscy have better athletes? Stewart Mandel says Boise State has best D-line in the country. Several VT players have said Boise State D best they’ve faced and Titus Young fastest player they’ve faced. How about Pat Hill saying he’d rather play Wisconsin 3 or 4 times a year than have to face the Broncos? Craig James is so far out of touch with reality he’s reached “crazy hobo” levels.
by Drew Roberts on Nov 22, 2010 1:12 PM PST reply actions 3 recs
Craig James blows my mind all over the room.
Kinda’ like a mind grenade. In the same breath that he says his rankings are based on better coaching staffs being in bigger conferences, he changes his mind each week on how he is going to rank teams. Whatever reasoning keeps Boise State as low as he possibly can is what he uses. It is completely asinine. I bet he votes for his son for the Heisman as a write in candidate each week as well.
http://broncochase.blogspot.com/
This whole thing would be a lot easier for Craig if...
He just admitted to America his utter lack of respect for all for Non-AQs or just said what he obviously believes, that no matter how good the team is a Non-AQ doesn’t deserve to be ranked that high.
Rather, he claims respect which he obviously doesn’t have and throws some reasoning that any nitwit in America knows simply is not true, at least this year, with this team.
The coaching thing is utterly unbelievable…so is he saying Brett Bielema is a better coach than Pete, oh reaaaaaaaaaally.
Craig James
This guy is a piece of work. According to “pony” every August we should determine our national champion by the following:
-How many 5 star players you have
-How big and fast are those 5 star players
-How big is your stadium
-What is your team’s athletic budget
Forget about coaching, execution, desire, etc… Let’s give the damn trophy to the Longhorns every year…
By the way, this is all coming from the big bad SMU grad.
if craig james had the power. he would give boise state the "death penalty"
the only power that mr james has in in the weight room with jesse palmer and since mr. palmer was the bachelor and did not find love with a woman (he must playing for the other side). these two love birds were found in a blue and orange jacuzzi together. lee corso took the pictures and lou holtz will reveal them on the final bcs rankings.
Why do canadians stick together? The same reason why Chris Horodecki turned his body and face around in his first WEC fight.
by wolfmanshowlforever on Nov 22, 2010 3:51 PM PST up reply actions
Can I just say
how tired I am of hearing him say “showing my respect for Boise State” week in and week out. Blah, blah, blah. Haters gonna be hatin’.
OBNUG Resident Mom
More Craig
How this guy is allowed to have anything to do with college football in a professional capacity after the Texas Tech fiasco is completely beyond me.
Craig James has "respect"
for BSU and TCU. Really! Is that why out of all possible voters he gave them the lowest rankings. Let me go get my Webster’s dictionary…I must be confused on what the term “respect” means. A…B…C…D…Hey look….they do have Craig James picture under D-bag. He has actually won D-bag of the year honors several years in a row. You learn something new everyday kids. :)
THOUGHTS ON THE CJ DEBACLE
CJ flip-flopped Oregon and Auburn this week (both teams were idle,) Auburn now his number 1.
Hummmm, what was it CJ? Did you not like the way Oregon struggled against it’s bye this week? Or maybe it was the way Auburn completely dominated it’s bye week that got you to make the switch?
Even more puzzling. CJ moved Stanford from 6 to 3 this week? Ok, but tell me Craig, who BEAT Stanford this season, Oregon or Auburn?
CJ, how do you give Stanford all that respect and then immediately discount the team that beat them 45 seconds later in your rankings?
Truly a mad genius that James is. So clear is his process, it makes normal folk like you and me look ignorant.
by bluecrushing on Nov 22, 2010 3:20 PM PST reply actions 1 recs
I think it was
LSU’s dominating win over the ole Nutter that made him reevaluate Auburn’s resume.
what was up with pony's brown suit with orange or red pinstripes? is he pimpin' on the side?
craig james’ lousy taste in clothes is only rivaled by his execrable reasoning abilities. just goes to show you what kind of education he got at smu. he must have skipped statistics and logic. thank god we’ve only got two more weeks of his drivel.
This is national TV. So don't pick your noses or scratch your nuts.
Don't ever call him pony.
That’s a nickname he likes. D-bag or Nancy’s mom are acceptable alternates.
~ :: ~
"Everyone counted us out. I don't know why they keep doing that." -- Kyle Wilson
"It takes no talent to give great effort."
"We’re not going to play to the outside noise." -- Chris Petersen
"[Kellen] Moore is a walking Staples® button." -- Ivan Maisel
"I’ve been around football a long time and I’ve never seen a better prepared team than the Boise State Broncos and it was a privilege to watch them play." -- Lou Holtz
but we all know what's under a pony's tail...
This is national TV. So don't pick your noses or scratch your nuts.
by joe bob priddy on Nov 22, 2010 6:15 PM PST up reply actions
A douchebag?
I swear if I ever get to see Craig James in person I will let him know what retard he looks like on TV. That’s a promise. I’ll keep on running my neck until he gets fed up and takes a swing or something. Then I’ll him hit once or twice, black my eye maybe. Then I’ll call up munson and sue his ass for as much as I can get. After the settlement, I keep talking on the way out about huge doucher he is.
Hell I’ll do it for free.
Championships should be earned on the field, not in newspapers or computers.
by Mikrino on Nov 22, 2010 7:05 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
Let him hit me I mean.
Championships should be earned on the field, not in newspapers or computers.
by Mikrino on Nov 22, 2010 7:07 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
Craig James wants a playoff but doesn't even realize it. He said it Sunday night.
“You’ve got to find a way to somehow differentiate between these schools.” – Craig James on ESPN BCS Countdown, Nov 21, 2010 immediately after he and Robert Smith debated how Cal hung with Oregon, but was smashed by a Pac 10 team and Nevada.
by Dave Mesenbrink on Nov 22, 2010 7:46 PM PST reply actions
Nebraska and A&M are too high
The big-12 sucks this year. A&M only has quality wins on the assumption that the Big 12 is good. Ditto for Nebraska. That assumption is wrong. So Missouri and Oklahoma are also probably ranked to highly as well.
I've wondered about this.
WHY is the Big12 getting so much credit this year? Their OOC has been pretty weak, other than Oklahoma’s alone — and that has only been, at best, “average.” But, for some reason they are getting a LOT of credit in the computers.
~ :: ~
"Everyone counted us out. I don't know why they keep doing that." -- Kyle Wilson
"It takes no talent to give great effort."
"We’re not going to play to the outside noise." -- Chris Petersen
"[Kellen] Moore is a walking Staples® button." -- Ivan Maisel
"I’ve been around football a long time and I’ve never seen a better prepared team than the Boise State Broncos and it was a privilege to watch them play." -- Lou Holtz
ya
it doesn’t seem clear to me either. I can stomach a decent ranking for Oklahoma. And I guess Oklahoma State (and, so, for whoever wins between them). But the rest of the Big-12 is either iffy or subpar this year so I don’t get the love in the human rankings and in particular in the computer rankings.
Craig James
Should ask Texas Head Coach Mack Brown if he thinks Boise (or TCU for that matter) has a right to play for the national championship. Craig James’ head would explode at the response that coach Brown gives. Absolutley, “why are we still categorizing teams as AQ and Non AQ? If a team is division 1 football they have a right to play for the NC Game… especially with the resume of Boise and TCU.” That is pretty darn close to what Mack Brown said prior to the start of this season on a phone call during, I belive CFB live or Sports nation. Suck on that Craig James you arrogant, Mike Leach firing, forked-tongue, SEC oral sex giving, poor excuse of a college football fan.
Agree
All those adjectives, plus a few more BW’s.
Do the people who run ESPN not see what a moron that guy is!
just like the folks at fox news are laughing behind sarah palin's back
all the guys in the back room at four letters must be having a great time making fun of ‘the pony’. but they love the fact that james is such a polarizing figure. it falls into the category of “any attention is better than no attention.”
people watch that crap show about the bcs standings, in part, because they know that dipstick is going to have some off-the-wall, totally-indefensible and untenable, asinine take on where to rank the non-aqs. he’s a total moron; as evidenced by the fact that he has bsu and tcu ranked lower than anyone else and wisconsin and stanford ranked higher than anyone else. nobody, and i mean nobody, takes him seriously. he’s a dolt.
This is national TV. So don't pick your noses or scratch your nuts.
by joe bob priddy on Nov 23, 2010 6:27 AM PST up reply actions
I asked Chris Folker on Sunday..
(via Twitter) ..if he and other analysts felt embarrassed when Criag James talks. Of course, Fowler gave a pretty political answer, but it was enough to know that many people at ESPN don’t respect him:
CJ has his opinions… Some of us have very different ones. he embodies Strict “power conference” mindset, and says so plainly —
~ :: ~
"Everyone counted us out. I don't know why they keep doing that." -- Kyle Wilson
"It takes no talent to give great effort."
"We’re not going to play to the outside noise." -- Chris Petersen
"[Kellen] Moore is a walking Staples® button." -- Ivan Maisel
"I’ve been around football a long time and I’ve never seen a better prepared team than the Boise State Broncos and it was a privilege to watch them play." -- Lou Holtz
Fowler*
~ :: ~
"Everyone counted us out. I don't know why they keep doing that." -- Kyle Wilson
"It takes no talent to give great effort."
"We’re not going to play to the outside noise." -- Chris Petersen
"[Kellen] Moore is a walking Staples® button." -- Ivan Maisel
"I’ve been around football a long time and I’ve never seen a better prepared team than the Boise State Broncos and it was a privilege to watch them play." -- Lou Holtz
and this is why
I quit watching that show after the 1st 2 weeks. I can get the update online and not listen to the B.S.
CJ's Resume, Bias and Intelligence are suspect - yes alot like Palin's
The posts in this entire string are all spot-on, amusing and- mostly- come from people who are well-informed about FBS football. This is the same Craig James who repeatedly picked Oklahoma to win their BCS championship opps.
A couple of other observations: 1 James’ lack of respect for TCU is thinly masked in his alma mater – SMU having been (back when they were relevant) the chief rival of the Frogs. 2 – SMU orchestrated the most corrupt college football program ever seen and then were given the death penalty….maybe that is what he longs to relive in his support of the big schools and conferences. Notice that Auburn, Oregon have had more than their fair share of extracurricular activity in the last year. ’Nuff said.
you did not know. todd palin the "first dude" is on his way out. sarah palin and the pony......
are hooking up? sarah palin, president and craig james the first douche? lol.
Why do canadians stick together? The same reason why Chris Horodecki turned his body and face around in his first WEC fight.
by wolfmanshowlforever on Nov 24, 2010 7:18 AM PST up reply actions
good rant on james in your last sentence.
Why do canadians stick together? The same reason why Chris Horodecki turned his body and face around in his first WEC fight.
by wolfmanshowlforever on Nov 24, 2010 7:16 AM PST up reply actions
Craig James just doesn't get it.
My biggest problem with his comments are that he says the “BIG” conference schools play tough teams week in and week out and it is hard to go undefeated in those conference and not get a loss. Has he looked at Wisconsins schedule?
UNLV – W 41-21 This is not a good team.
San Jose St – W 27-14 what would have the pollsters done to us if this was the score. And this was at home.
Arizona State W 20-19 Again a bottom tier Pac-10 team
Austin Peay W 70-3 Congratulations.
Michigan State L 34-24 I think Michigan State is suspect.
Minnesota W 41-23 bottom tier Big Ten
Ohio State W 31-18 Finally a signature win on the schedule
Iowa W 31-30 Decent team with some vulnerablities.
Purdue W 34-13 Bottom tier Big Ten
Indiana W 83-20 Very bottom of the Big Ten. How many times could we have had time score.
Michigan W 48-28 If you stop Robinson you stop Michigan. Kaep would be tougher than this guy to stop.
So all in all Wisconsin’s schedule isn’t all that impressive. Also, we have blown through our competition and beat the team big that we were suppose to beat big. The San Jose St. score that Wisconsin had would have sunk us by the pollsters.
We have to play and win every game and win it big. In the Big Ten or any other conference you can get a loss, maybe two and still make it to the Big Ten. I would gladly take Wisconsin’s schedule and play those teams.
Craig James and all the other analysts can keep talking about our lack of SOS but we are not the ones who are keeping us out of the big conferences, it is the big schools and ESPN. So they can keep making these same stupid comments but all in all it is only them who are keeping us out.
If you don’t think we can hack it in a big conference let us in and find out.
open letter to craig james
craig, you need to realize it’s 2010 and not one of the years of the last decade in which you were relevant – the 1980’s.
take the devo “whip it” cassette out of the cassette player. and the video tape of “top gun” out of the vcr. turn off mtv. and stop drooling over your strawberry shortcake doll collection. it’s the new millenium. it’s time to get your new wave-boomtown rats-g i joe-donny and marie-michael jackson-freddy kruger-quiet riot-twisted sister-dukes of hazzard-chips-johnny quest-scooby doo lovin’ butt into the present.
craig, whether you like it or not, it’s not 1980 anymore. the old-school college football powerhouses have been joined by a new elite. teams like boise state and texas christian are part of the present group of teams that, while they lack the storied pasts of the good old boys, they can play the heck out of the game and, believe it or not, they are usually going to beat the pants off of the stale, dated, stuck-in-the-eighties, big conference teams you seem to love so much.
get with it, pony van winkle. it’s time to wake up. it’s 2010.
This is national TV. So don't pick your noses or scratch your nuts.
by joe bob priddy on Nov 23, 2010 11:06 AM PST reply actions
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2012 Boise State Football Schedule
@ Michigan State  |
Fri 08/31 | 6:00 p.m. MT |
| Miami (OH) | Sat 09/15 | 2:00 p.m. MT |
| BYU |
Thu 09/20 | TBA |
| @ New Mexico | Sat 09/29 | TBA |
| @ Southern Miss | Sat 10/06 | TBA |
| Fresno State | Sat 10/13 | 1:30 p.m. MT |
| UNLV | Sat 10/20 | 1:30 p.m. MT |
| @ Wyoming |
Sat 10/27 | 1:30 p.m. MT |
| San Diego State | Sat 11/03 | 8:30 p.m. MT |
| @ Hawaii | Sat 11/10 | 5:00 p.m. MT |
| Colorado St. | Sat 11/17 | 1:30 p.m. MT |
| @ Nevada | Sat 12/1 | TBA |
