The first Associated Press Top 25 Poll was released over the weekend and at first glance it is what you would expect. The SEC and Big 12 have 5 ranked teams, the ACC has 4, the Big Ten, Mountain West and PAC 10 each have 3 and the WAC and Notre Dame each account for 1. Falling in line with the Coaches’ Poll, there are no ranked Big East teams. Here are the top five.

1. Florida (58) 0-0 1,498

2. Texas (2) 0-0 1,424

3. Oklahoma 0-0 1,370

4. USC 0-0 1,313

5. Alabama 0-0 1,156

Florida received a record 96.67% of first place votes besting 2007 USC (95.4%). You can view the full poll here.

The interesting/perplexing/alarming/insane part of the poll are the individual ballots of some voters (via pollspeak.com).

Adam Van Brimmer–Savannah Morning News

2. Utah
8. TCU
9. Texas Tech
21. Oregon State
23. Mizzou
24. LSU
25. Tulsa
Unranked. California

edit F4H: He just resubmitted his final ballot from last season which is even more preposterous than the preposterousness of preseason polls to begin with.

Check out the rest after DAS JUMP. Continue Reading “In-depth Breakdown of the AP Poll” »

mgoblog appropriately labeled this game Cripple Fight 2008 because thus far this year neither Michigan or Notre Dame has done anything to distinguish themselves from pop warner teams.  However I am actually interested in this game and I know these guys are too.

What are the implications for the Irish…

Notre Dame has everything to lose.  The Irish are coming off what can positively described as a shaky performance against San Diego St a team most expected them to hang 40+ on.  The Domers not only need a win but an easy looking win.  The offense needs to look crisp and play mistake free.  Vigo Clausen needs to step up (cut his hair) and play like the all world player the Irish have been expecting him to become. New assistant head \ linebackers coach Jon Tenuta needs to leave his mark on the defensive side of the ball.  If the Irish want to even have a chance at finally beating USC the defense is going to have to get exponentially better and stopping the Rich Rod spread is a good first test.

What about Michigan?

As bad as Notre Dame has been if Michigan can pull off the upset it will be the first marquee win for the Rich Rodriguez Wolverines.  Last year everyone thought replacing Lloyd Carr was the right move, but it can be hard for a program to just change the way they’ve been doing things for 10+ years, just ask Bill Callahan and Nebraska.  If Rodriguez can get this win it will go a long way in saying I was the right guy for this job.

I hate the Big Ten and Notre Dame why do I care?

I actually think this will turn out to be a very good football game.  I think Notre Dame will play much better than last week on both sides of the ball.  But there is something about this Michigan team that makes me think they will hit their stride this week.  I don’t know why, but a Weis sized gut call is making pick Michigan 31-24.

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

That joke never gets old.  The Ball Coach has named Chris Smelley his starter for this Thursday’s game against Vanderbilt.  Spurrier made Smelley his number one man after Tommy Beecher couldn’t strap it up for Monday’s practice sucked ass against North Carolina State.  Continue Reading “Spurrier Chooses Smelley Cock” »