Ghost accosted me for not yet posting this. It's been sitting in his inbox for 18 hours. Blame him. It's not like you care, anyway. Football season is over. Post-season polls that come out five days after the National Championship Game are just salt in the wounds. Bring on Recrootin' Dale.
Commensurate with our reputation as college drop-out slackers, who couldn't run this college football thing if it actually were a video game, the blogosphere has waited a full week to release the final CBS Sports Blogpoll Presented by Brian Cook and MGoBlog. It's not as if said poll - or any poll, for that matter - really has much of any ex post facto impact on any team's season. Perhaps we are dithering, but we prefer to call it "being deliberative." The Cup's blogpoll ballot is after the jump.
1. ALABAMA 14-0
2. BOISE STATE 14-0
3, FLORIDA 13-1
4. TEXAS 13-1
5. TCU 12-1
6. CINCINNATI 12-1
7. OHIO STATE 11-2
8. IOWA 11-2
9. PENN STATE 11-2
10. V. TECH 10-3
The Bearcats demonstrated in falling to #6 that whatever thing ails the Big 10 extends, also, to the entire State of Ohio. Meanwhile, Virginia Tech is ranked above the team that won the ACC on account of its more difficult schedule and thorough beating of its bowl opponent.
11. OREGON 10-3
12. PITT 10-3
13. GA TECH 11-3
14. BYU 11-2
15. NEBRASKA 10-4
Losing the Rose Bowl for the Pac-10 for the first time in years took some sweetness off of Oregon's season, but their losses were Japanese automobile of 2009. Meanwhile, the lowest-ranking of the major conference champions, the Ramblin' Wreck, looked unimpressive down the stretch. Nebraska, meanwhile, has the dubious distinction of being the red-hot four-loss team ranked just inside the Top 15 and carrying all the 2010 expectations that go along with such a distinction. Hope that works out for you guys.
16. UTAH 10-3
17. LSU 9-4
18. WISCONSIN 9-4
19. USC 9-4
20. OLE MISS 9-4
Ten wins are about all the Utes achieved in 2009, but it's hard to discount the ten wins of consistently good program. For all its faults and foibles, USC is still a nine-win team with a win over a Top 10 team. And can you believe we won the Cotton Bowl? I mean, seriously, this has just been a down-year for college football, in general (at least, so far as most Top 25 teams have achieved consistent success).
21. NAVY 10-4
22. MIAMI 9-4
23. OKIE STATE 9-4
24. CMU 12-2
25. TX TECH 9-4
Yeah, I said, Navy at #21. You gonna argue with that? America's team beat half-way decent teams from Mizzou, Notre Dame, and Air Force. Sure, they stumbled against a pretty said Hawaii team, but don't forget about that quality loss to Ohio State. I've got your back, Naval Academy. And for any Chippewah (fairly certain the singular and plural are the same when referring to this mascot that is derived from an Indian tribe) out there feeling like #24 is a slight, I say, "Get over it, Central Michigan; you're still directional Michigan. And you're conference is the worst conference since Versailles."
Well, there it is. That's four teams from the SEC, four from the Big XII, three from the Mountain West, two from the Big East, four from the Big Televen, four from the ACC, and two from the Pac-10. Also receiving consideration, in no particular order, were Clemson, West Virginia, Rutgers, Oklahoma, Oregon State, Arizona, Georgia, and Air Force. So, practically every 8-win team with half an argument.