With Texas' loss to Texas Tech on Saturday, the Bronco Blogger Top 26 was forced to crown a new No. 1 team for the first time in several weeks. Unfortunately, Boise State was not that team.
Alabama was, and the Crimson Tide are deserving of the title. As the SEC's best school other than Florida, Nick Saban's group have benefited most from the fall of the Longhorns, as they have risen to number one in pretty much every poll that matters (including ours).
At least the Bronco Blogger poll fixed the egregious error of last week when we had Utah ahead of Boise State. OBNUG's Kevan ranking the Broncos No. 4 probably helped quite a bit.
For more on the Top 26 poll, visit the poll's homepage or download the Top 26 poll pdf. It makes a great Christmas gift.
- Alabama
- Texas Tech
- Penn State
- Florida
- Texas
- USC
- Oklahoma
- Oklahoma State
- Boise State
- Utah
- TCU
- Georgia
- Ball State
- LSU
- Missouri
- Ohio State
- BYU
- MIchigan State
- North Carolina
- Georgia Tech
- California
- West Virginia
- Maryland
- Northwestern
- Pittsburgh
- Tulsa
Say good-bye to: Florida State, Minnesota, Oregon, South Florida
Also receiving votes: Florida State, Minnesota, Kansas, Arizona, Oregon State
J.T. Ray of Bronco podcast and BNN fame explains his Top 25 poll below. We're particularly interested in how he summoned the courage to put one-loss Florida ahead of no-loss Penn State.
1 Texas
Tech
2 Alabama
3 Florida
4 Penn
State
5 Texas
6 USC
7 Oklahoma
State
8 Oklahoma
9 Boise
State
10 Utah
11 LSU
12 TCU
13 Missouri
14 Ball
State
15 Georgia
16 BYU
17 Ohio
State
18 Michigan
State
19 Northwestern
20 Minnesota
21 Tulsa
22 California
23 Georgia
Tech
24 Pittsburgh
25 Florida
State
Texas Tech, despite the Texas comeback, dominated throughout. The way they scored with ease in the last 1:29 was indicative of how much better they were than Texas. With wins over Missouri and Texas, Texas Tech is a notch ahead of Alabama and Penn State.
Penn State is ranked behind Florida simply because Penn State and the Big Ten are not good. With a squeaker against Ohio State, Penn State has the same number of signature wins as Boise State does. Florida had a lapse against Ole Miss early on, but the way they handled Georgia reminded me of Z's full body cramp in 2005.
The Big 12 is above and beyond the rest, and having four teams in the Top Ten is clearly what sets them apart from the rest.
I ranked Boise State ahead of Utah simply because Utah is getting hyped based on games they have yet to play. Michigan is 2-7, and was preseason Top 25 because the good old boy club put them there. If pollsters think Boise State has to win big in every game, then Utah must do the same. A 13-10 win over New Mexico is not getting it done.
Everybody else outside of the Top 10 isn't worth mentioning except for Ball State, who is 8-0. They have a 42-20 win over Indiana and have won big against the rest of the teams they have played. My question now is who will step up in the Big East and ACC. It is pitiful they can't get a team in the Top 10.