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Select 17, Week 12

Posted by Brett Kincaid on November 12, 2012

Texas A&M simultaneously pulled off its biggest win as a member of the SEC and former member of the Big XII last weekend. The Aggies and redshirt freshman superstar quarterback Johnny Manziel rocked the college football world by beating then-#1 Alabama in Tuscaloosa. In doing so they cleared the path for Kansas State to play in the BCS Championship Game. All the Wildcats have to do is take care of business this weekend at Baylor then at home against a resurgent Texas Longhorns team two days after Thanksgiving. Kansas State emerged as the #1 team in the latest BCS standings, but they have to settle for the #2 spot in most polls – including this week’s BlogHawgs.com Select 17, where Oregon reigns supreme after picking up 6 of the 9 first place votes.

The Ducks looked strong once again on Saturday at Cal. They host Stanford this weekend in another late-season test. The Civil War awaits Oregon the following week, then a date in the Pac-12 Championship Game against either UCLA or USC. Meanwhile Notre Dame responded to its lackluster performance last week against Pittsburgh by knocking off Boston College on the road. The Irish head back home to take on Wake Forest this weekend before ending its regular season in the Coliseum against Southern Cal. Notre Dame has won ugly – key word, won – but will be tested by the Trojan offensive machine.

The SEC has six teams in this week’s BCS top 10 but none of them in the top three. Two teams have to lose before the SEC champion can realistically get a shot a seventh straight BCS crown. All three teams ahead of Alabama and Georgia (also sitting with one loss and a spot secured in the SECCG) have challenging games remaining, and one slip up could open the door just enough for the nation’s most powerful conference to once again appear in the last college football game of the season.

To the numbers…

Rank Team Votes LW
1 Oregon 150 2
2 Kansas St. 147 3
3 Alabama 125 1
4 Notre Dame 121 4
5 Georgia 120 5
6 Florida 100 6
7 LSU 90 7
8 Texas A&M 87 14
9 Florida St. 82 8
10 South Carolina 69 11
11 Ohio St. 65 10
12 Clemson 58 12
13 Stanford 47 16
14 Oklahoma 30 15
15 Oregon St. 21 13
16 Nebraska 20 17
17 Louisville 15 9

Others Receiving Votes: UCLA 13, Louisiana Tech 8, Texas 6, Rutgers 3

 

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Select 17, Week 11

Posted by Brett Kincaid on November 6, 2012

The road to football Armageddon has been cleared thanks to late game heroics by Alabama and Notre Dame, a gritty home win by Kansas State, and a dominant offensive road performance by Oregon. As noted last week, all four teams have limited challenges remaining. This week, though, Bama has a suddenly tough game against Texas A&M and their high-powered offense. How will the Tide respond after an emotional win in Baton Rouge? Notre Dame travels to Chestnut Hill to face Boston College in the Catholic Bowl. Will their luck finally run out this weekend after two near/should-have-been losses at home in the past month? Kansas State hits the road this week to take on TCU, which has struggled quite a bit in its first season as a member of the Big XII. And Oregon hits the road again, this time heading to Berkeley to take on an unraveling Cal team.

If Alabama was playing on the road again this week, I’d be tempted to call for the Aggie upset. They run a completely different offense than Bama has seen this year and are playing with a ton of confidence right now. I’ll take the Aggies and 2 touchdowns (the line is currently Bama -13.5) but Bama to win. Notre Dame hasn’t looked very good offensively, but Boston College is pretty bad. The Irish should get to 10-0 this weekend. Kansas State needs to watch out for a road letdown,  but TCU’s defense – usually its strength – is one of the worst in the country this year. Bill Snyder should pick up another road win in his magical season back in Manhattan. Oregon looks to be the safest bet for a win, even if it’s on the road. The Ducks gave up a ton of points to Southern Cal, but they can easily score enough to beat a 3-7 California team with what most believe is a lame duck coach.

Georgia made up a lot of ground this weekend, narrowing the gap between them and Notre Dame to just one point in our poll. The Bulldogs play their annually rivalry game with Auburn this week, needing only a win against the pathetic War Damn Eagle Tigers to cinch the SEC East. A Bulldog win coupled with another lackluster Irish performance against a lousy team could knock Notre Dame down to a peg despite their undefeated record. Despite having 4 teams in the Top Ten, the SEC is just one Alabama loss from being a long shot to play for its 7th consecutive BCS championship.

To the numbers…

Rank Team Votes LW
1 Alabama (9) 153 1
2 Oregon 142 2
3 Kansas St. 137 3
4 Notre Dame 113 4
5 Georgia 112 6
6 Florida 100 7
7 LSU 89 5
8 Florida St. 83 8
9 Louisville 81 9
10 Ohio St. 70 10
11 South Carolina 62 12
12 Clemson 61 11
13 Oregon St. 45 13
14 Texas A&M 42 16
15 Oklahoma 31 17
16 Stanford 28 14
17 Nebraska 10 NR

 

Others Receiving Votes: Louisiana Tech 7, UCLA 7, Rutgers 2, Texas 1, Luck of the Irish 1

 

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Select 17, Week 10

Posted by Brett Kincaid on October 30, 2012

Are we really entering the 10th week of college football? My, my time drags when you’re not having any fun at all. I feel like the season should be over by now. After their second Little Rock meltdown of the season, it appears the 2012 Arkansas Razorbacks feel about the same way. Sitting at 3-5 with four games left on the schedule, Arkansas needs to win at least three games against Tulsa, South Carolina, Mississippi State, and LSU in order to even qualify for a bowl game this year. The Hogs will certainly be sizable underdogs at Columbia and Starkville, and again at home against LSU the day after Thanksgiving. Arkansas is actually laying 7 points at home this week to Tulsa (any takers?), but winning any of the other games would be considered an upset by anyone. The point: Arkansas will very likely miss a bowl game for the first time since 2008. The Hogs also missed post-season play in 2004, got to the Las Vegas Bowl in 2000 (losing it to finish with a 6-7 record), and missed bowl games in 1996 and 1992. Presidential election years have not been kind to the Razorbacks.

Other teams – like Alabama, Oregon, Kansas State, and Notre Dame – have no such problems. All four remain unbeaten this year, and all four could definitely end the season undefeated. The Crimson Tide and Ducks both face big challenges this weekend, though. Alabama must travel to Baton Rouge to take on LSU, while the Ducks fly south to take on Southern Cal. The Fighting Irish is on let-down alert when they host Pitt on Saturday afternoon, while Kansas State has revenge on its mind Saturday night when Oklahoma State comes to the Little Apple.

Kansas State has the easiest path to perfection. If they can get past Okie State this weekend, they have road games left against TCU and Baylor, and Texas in Manhattan to end the season. After this weekend Notre Dame has a similarly weak field ahead of it with only a road trip to Southern Cal the real danger along with dates against Boston College and Wake Forest on its schedule.

The current #1 and #2 in the Select 17 poll have the most difficult schedules remaining. If Bama passes a huge test this weekend, they get a dangerous Texas A&M squad before slowing down with Western Carolina and Auburn before the SEC Championship Game – against either Georgia or Florida. Oregon plays three times on the road in the final four weeks. They’re at USC this weekend, then at Cal, home for Stanford, and at Oregon State for the annual Civil War. If they survive that schedule, they plan the Pac-12 Championship Game, likely against Southern Cal (again) or UCLA.

As you have probably realized at this point, the two teams with the clearest paths to Miami both avoid a conference championship game. If both Notre Dame and Kansas State finish undefeated, you can bet a one-loss SEC or Pac-12 champion will not make the BCS Championship Game – to the delight of many and murderous rage of many more. The good news, at least for people like me, is that this nonsense all comes to an end in the 2014 season when the 4-team playoff format finally helps college football settle its business on the field.

To the rankings…

Rank Team Votes LW
1 Alabama (9) 153 1
2 Oregon 138 2
3 Kansas St. 137 3
4 Notre Dame 121 6
5 LSU 108 5
6 Georgia 106 13
7 Florida 93 4
8 Floirda St. 84 10
9 Louisville 81 14
10 Ohio St. 68 12
11 Clemson 61 15
12 South Carolina 48 NR
13 Oregon St. 38 7
14 Stanford 29 NR
15 Mississippi St. 28 11
16 Texas A&M 26 NR
17 Oklahoma 17 8

Others Receiving Votes: Boise St. 10, Louisiana Tech 9, Southern Cal 4, Texas Tech 4, Rutgers 1

 

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Select 17, Week 8

Posted by Brett Kincaid on October 15, 2012

The more things change, the more things stay the same. While the S17 looks quite different in most spots this week, #1 Alabama and #2 Oregon continue to reign supreme. Once again the Crimson Tide swept up all 9 first place votes, extending their streak to 7 consecutive weeks as the consensus Number One team in all of college football. With an off week the Ducks held steady as a unanimous #2 selection. With losses by South Carolina and West Virginia - and boy howdy, what a loss – the rest of the Top Ten saw significant changes. Kansas State‘s road win at Norman looks more and more impressive after the Sooners gashed Texas in the Red River Rivalry Rout on Saturday. Meanwhile traditional powers Florida and Notre Dame moved into discussion as legitimate national title contenders. Out west, Oregon State remains unbeaten and Southern Cal continues its march back to BCS discussion.

While we’re still several wins away from it happening, Arkansas finally looked like a preseason Top Ten team this weekend. If this offense – and more importantly, defense – continue to show up each week, the Hogs may end the season back in the rankings. The teams that have beaten Arkansas have a combined record of 21-3, and those three losses came by a combined total of 11 points. While the Hogs have no claim of being an elite team, we can take some solace in knowing all the losses have come to accomplished football teams.

Without further ado, your Week 8 Select 17 college football poll:

Rank Team Votes LW
1 Alabama (9) 153 1
2 Oregon 144 2
3 Kansas St 129 5
4 Florida 124 6
5 Notre Dame 107 7
6 LSU 98 10
7 Oregon St 91 8
8 South Carolina 72 3
9 Oklahoma 70 17
10 Southern Cal 59 11
11 Ohio St 58 9
12 Florida St 52 13
13 Louisville 46 14
14 Mississippi St 45 15
15 Georgia 44 12
16 Clemson 30 16
17 Rutgers 20 NR

 

Other Receiving Votes: West Virginia 19, Cincinnati 8, Texas A&M 6, Texas Tech 3, Pete Kozma 1

 

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Select 17 – Week 7

Posted by Brett Kincaid on October 9, 2012

Huge changes in this week’s Select 17 poll here at BlogHawgs.com. Alabama and Oregon continue to control their own destinies, but now we can add South Carolina and Florida to that list – along with Kansas State and West Virginia – while removing LSU and Florida State. This was the first big weekend of major upsets, although Florida over LSU is just a marginal one on paper. The big winner, though, was clearly West Virginia. The Mountaineers went into Austin, Texas, and took out the bluest of the blue bloods in their first Big XII road game. Geno Smith, fresh off his video game-like performance against Baylor, cemented his status as Heisman Trophy front runner while Mount Pleasant (IA) High School graduate Dana Holgorson has emerged as the “next big thing” coach in America. Jeff Long, please take note.

And let’s keep an eye on Oregon State. The Beavers have ripped off two conference road wins in addition to knocking out Wisconsin in an early preseason game. After a punchy Wazzou visits this weekend, they go to Provo to take on an injured BYU squad before hosting Utah the following week. If Oregon State can navigate those three and avoid a let down, they would travel to Washington at the end of October as an unbeaten Top Five team. Could it be that Pac-12 football is alive and well? With the Ducks, Oregon State, and Southern Cal all occupying spots in the Select 17 this week and Stanford knocking on the door, even us Southern boys appear to be impressed with West Coast football this season.

To the poll…

Rank Team Votes LW
1 Alabama (9) 153 1
2 Oregon 144 2
3 South Carolina 132 7
4 West Virginia 128 6
5 Kansas St. 111 8
6 Florida 108 11
7 Notre Dame 89 10
8 Oregon St. 65 16
9 Ohio St. 62 13
10 LSU 59 3
11 Southern Cal 56 12
12 Georgia 41 4
13 Florida St. 40 5
14 Louisville 37 NR
15 Mississippi St. 36 NR
16 Clemson 32 15
17 Oklahoma 31 17

Others Receiving Votes: Stanford 17, Rutgers 14, Texas 11, Cincinnati 6, Texas A&M 4, Louisiana Tech 1

 

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Select 17 – Week 5

Posted by Brett Kincaid on September 24, 2012

We are licking our wounds around the BlogHawgs.com world headquarters. It’s difficult to think of anything positive to say about the Razorbacks at this point. With 10 more weeks of college football before the bowls begin, it’s our responsibility to rally. Easier said than done…

The rest of the college football world outside of Arkansas looks strikingly similar to the Old Days. Small underdogs like Boise State have given way to college football bluebloods thus far. Florida State and Notre Dame look like legit football powers again, while Alabama and LSU continue to flex their muscles. One change of note, though, in this week’s Select 17: Oregon has jumped the Tigers after the Ducks’ very strong performance against Arizona and LSU’s lethargic win at Auburn. With only one point separating the two, don’t be surprised if LSU jumps back to the #2 slot soon.  

Rank Team Votes LW
1 Alabama (9) 153 1
2 Oregon 138 3
3 LSU 137 2
4 Georgia 123 4
5 Florida St. 121 5
6 South Carolina 100 8
7 West Virginia 95 6
8 Kansas St. 85 11
9 Stanford 81 9
10 Notre Dame 59 15
11 Florida   58 14
12 Texas 53 13
13 Southern Cal 47 12
14 TCU 28 17
15 Ohio St. 23 16
16 Louisville 19 NR
17 Mississippi St. 18 NR

Others Receiving Votes: Clemson 15, Oklahoma 15, Oregon St. 5, Rutgers 3, Baylor 2, Michigan St. 1

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Select 17 – Week 4

Posted by Brett Kincaid on September 17, 2012

After three weeks of play in the 2012 season, it once again looks like the SEC’s national title to lose. With Southern Cal’s loss at Stanford this week, the Alabama Crimson Tide and LSU Tigers have solidified their respective #1 and #2 spots in all the major polls. Of course, we had that right at the BlogHawgs.com Select 17 for a while now. For the third week in a row, Alabama is the unanimous #1 team in the Select 17 and LSU the unanimous Number Two. Oregon, currently #3, and Florida State – now #5 – look to be the two biggest threats to an all-SEC BCS final again this year. With #4 Georgia looking strong early and #14 Florida emerging as a real threat, the SEC Champion could face the runner up from either SEC division this year if no one else emerges as a legit title threat.

The Ducks do look strong, though, and they deserve their #3 status. West Virginia and Oklahoma appear to be the cream of the Big XII crop, although Kansas State may have something to say about that this weekend when the Wildcats travel to Norman. Stanford looks to once again play the role of dark horse contender, and Notre Dame is lurking after its quality win at East Lansing on Saturday.

Absent from the poll? Our Arkansas Razorbacks. If this was a Most Disappointing Teams of 2012 poll, I think we’d finally have a consensus #1 team in Fayetteville.

To the numbers…

Rank Team Votes LW
1 Alabama (9) 153 1
2 LSU 144 2
3 Oregon 132 4
4 Georgia 121 5
5 Florida St. 110 6
6 West Virginia 105 8
7 Oklahoma 94 7
8 South Carolina 88 9
9 Stanford 87 17
10 Clemson 80 11
11 Kansas St. 46 13
12 Southern Cal 42 3
13 Texas 35 14
14 Florida 31 NR
15 Notre Dame 29 NR
16 Ohio St 23 16
17 TCU 20 NR

Others Receiving Votes: Michigan 15, Louisville 8, Mississippi State 5, UCLA 4, Arizona 1, Virginia Tech 1, Alabama JV 1

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Select 17 – Week 9

Posted by Brett Kincaid on October 25, 2010

Another week, another team tops the national polls and/or the BCS rankings.  Here at BlogHawgs.com we are a bit more stable.  Oregon retains the #1 ranking thanks to its dominant performance against UCLA on Thursday night.  Boise St. – who had the weekend off – drops one spot in favor of Auburn, a group that looks to be making a serious run at perfection this year.  And despite the majority of voters having a lot of love for the BCS schools, there are 2 non-AQ teams in the top four and 3 in the top 9 of our poll.  The biggest takeaway from that:  Winning matters most.

Auburn and Oregon both have big tests this week, and Missouri has to get it together before heading to Lincoln to take on a Nebraska team that rarely looses to the Show Me Tigers.

Rank Team Points LW
1 Oregon (5) 133 1
2 Auburn (2) 128 5
3 Boise St. (1) 118 2
4 TCU 107 4
5 Michigan St. 101 7
6 Alabama 99 6
7 Missouri 87 NR
8 Wisconsin 81 9
9 Utah 70 10
10 Ohio St. 66 11
11 Stanford 49 13
12 Oklahoma 43 3
13 Nebraska 42 14
14 LSU 31 8
15 Arizona 28 17
16 Florida St. 17 16
17 Iowa 12 12

 

Others receiving votes:  Arkansas 9, Oklahoma St. 3

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