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A strange, simple way of building a BlogPoll

See that mess up there? Let me explain.

College football is unique among sports in that one of its governing principles is inherently dumb. Sports are not meant to be run by polls (translation: opinion). Sports are meant for standings (translation: results). You would never see the NFL playoff field chosen by ESPN power rankings. Even sports like college basketball, which features a poll throughout its season, are smart enough to recognize that a poll is no way to actually decide anything important. That's what giant tournaments are for.

To summarize, polls are dumb. On a related note, I am a voter in a poll each week.

The BlogPoll is a collection of brilliant college football people who also happen to be bloggers. The idea is that bloggers can figure out CFB's best as well as - if not better than - the media and coaches and computers. I'm probably not going to help this premise much, what with my wonky view on all things poll.

So why vote? Firstly, because I was asked, and I am too polite to say no. Second, the BlogPoll allows us bloggers to bring our expertise to the table, and in lieu of expertise, I plan on bringing something just as good: honesty.

With that in mine, here is the method behind my poll's madness:

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 was Academic Progress Rate.

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.

The complete Top 25 table is below.

Team Wins FCS Wins New Wins APR
Ohio State 2 2 988
Clemson 2 2 983
Stanford 2 2 977
Florida 2 2 972
Alabama 2 2 970
Georgia 2 2 970
Notre Dame 2 2 970
South Carolina 2 2 966
LSU 2 2 964
UCLA 2 2 956
Arizona 2 2 951
Ohio 2 2 949
Oregon 2 2 948
USC 2 2 947
Michigan State 2 2 943
Iowa State 2 2 938
Texas 2 2 937
Northwestern 2 2 914
Duke 1 1 989
Rice 1 1 986
Middle Tenn 1 1 983
Rutgers 2 1 1 982
Miami 1 1 980
UCF 1 1 974
Wake Forest 2 1 1 973