OBNUG Ballot - Week 8
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ohio St. Buckeyes | -- |
| 2 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish |
 2 |
| 3 | Alabama Crimson Tide |
2 |
| 4 | Florida Gators |
2 |
| 5 | Oregon Ducks |
14 |
| 6 | Boise St. Broncos |
6 |
| 7 | Oregon St. Beavers |
8 |
| 8 | Louisville Cardinals |
8 |
| 9 | Northern Illinois Huskies |
 -1 |
| 10 | Tulsa Golden Hurricane |
3 |
| 11 | Louisiana Tech Bulldogs |
-4 |
| 12 | South Carolina Gamecocks |
-9 |
| 13 | Rutgers Scarlet Knights |
4 |
| 14 | Toledo Rockets |
-4 |
| 15 | Kansas St. Wildcats |
-4 |
| 16 | Ohio Bobcats |
-14 |
| 17 | Mississippi St. Bulldogs |
1 |
| 18 | LSU Tigers |
3 |
| 19 | USC Trojans |
4 |
| 20 | Georgia Bulldogs |
2 |
| 21 | Nevada Wolf Pack |
-12 |
| 22 | ULM Warhawks | -- |
| 23 | Duke Blue Devils | -- |
| 24 | Northwestern Wildcats |
-10 |
| 25 | Ball St. Cardinals |
-1 |
| Dropouts: UCLA Bruins, Utah State Aggies | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "
My Top 25 operates under the assumption that all FBS football teams are equal because, if they weren't, the NCAA obviously wouldn't group them all into the same classification. That would just make no sense.
Therefore, to choose the best from the FBS, I am building my BlogPoll based on one very big factor: Wins over fellow FBS teams. When ties happen within my standings (and they happen A LOT early in the season), I will do the tie-breaking based on a new stat every week, like, say, points allowed or Dairy Queens per capita. You know, real scientific stuff.
This week's tie-breaking method is fewest in-state players. At first, the tiebreaker was most in-state players, but then I realized that being good, being Texas, and recruiting 100 Texans onto your roster isn't nearly as impressive as being good, being Oregon, and having to go outside of the Pacific Northwest to find your talent. That, and Boise State looks better when I sort it fewest to most.
Notable:
- Academics-first schools like Northwestern and Duke had a significant shortfall of in-state players, supposedly because the admission requirements are tougher and, unlike the SEC, exist. I would add Notre Dame to the list of academics-first schools, but I don't want to get made fun of in the comments.
- Out of my Top 25 schools, Notre Dame had the fewest in-state players at 14. Second place was Nevada. The Wolf Pack only have 15 natives on their roster.
- I thought it telling that there were exactly zero conclusions that could be drawn from looking at Top 25 teams and in-state players. Some schools are good because they call Texas and Florida home, and other schools are good because they go out of state for their talent. Now you know.
- Boise State has 22 players from the state of Idaho on its roster.
- Ties were broken with state population, per the 2010 census.
The complete Top 25 table is below.
| Team | Total Wins | FCS Wins | Real Wins | In-state Players | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ohio State | 8 | 8 | 74 | |
| 2 | Notre Dame | 7 | 7 | 14 | |
| 3 | Alabama | 7 | 7 | 52 | |
| 4 | Florida | 7 | 7 | 76 | |
| 5 | Oregon | 7 | 1 | 6 | 20 |
| 6 | Boise State | 6 | 6 | 22 | |
| 7 | Oregon State | 6 | 6 | 22 | |
| 8 | Louisville | 7 | 1 | 6 | 41 |
| 9 | Northern Illinois | 7 | 1 | 6 | 50 |
| 10 | Tulsa | 7 | 1 | 6 | 54 |
| 11 | Louisiana Tech | 6 | 6 | 54 | |
| 12 | South Carolina | 6 | 6 | 54 | |
| 13 | Rutgers | 7 | 1 | 6 | 54 |
| 14 | Toledo | 7 | 1 | 6 | 55 |
| 15 | Kansas State | 7 | 1 | 6 | 56 |
| 16 | Ohio | 7 | 1 | 6 | 57 |
| 17 | Mississippi St | 7 | 1 | 6 | 65 |
| 18 | LSU | 7 | 1 | 6 | 83 |
| 19 | USC | 6 | 6 | 90 | |
| 20 | Georgia | 6 | 6 | 97 | |
| 21 | Nevada | 6 | 1 | 5 | 15 |
| 22 | Louisiana-Monroe | 5 | 5 | 28 | |
| 23 | Duke | 6 | 1 | 5 | 28 |
| 24 | Northwestern | 6 | 1 | 5 | 33 |
| 25 | Ball State | 5 | 5 | 40 | |
| 26 | Utah State | 6 | 1 | 5 | 44 |
| 27 | Stanford | 5 | 5 | 44 | |
| 28 | Michigan | 5 | 5 | 45 | |
| 29 | Wisconsin | 6 | 1 | 5 | 53 |
| 30 | Penn State | 5 | 5 | 55 | |
| 31 | Kent State | 6 | 1 | 5 | 63 |
| 32 | Clemson | 6 | 1 | 5 | 65 |
| 33 | UCF | 5 | 5 | 71 | |
| 34 | UCLA | 5 | 5 | 81 | |
| 35 | Florida State | 7 | 2 | 5 | 90 |
| 36 | Texas Tech | 6 | 1 | 5 | 93 |
| 37 | Texas | 5 | 5 | 102 |
Got a suggestion for a tie-breaking procedure? I'm all ears.
Got a beef with the way I do my polling? Beef away in the comments.
Got some ways to make this Top 25 better? Please help. I'm easily swayed.