The ESPN1080 Insiders crew have once again submitted their votes following a weekend of college football. The way the voting works is simple – you get 25 points for being #1, 24 for #2, 23 for #3, etc… The voters are Andrew Melnick, Carson Ingle, Charlie Bernstein, Eric Lopez and Mike Tuck.
1. LSU – 125
2. Oklahoma State – 118
3. Alabama – 117
4. Stanford – 107
5. Southern Cal – 101
6. Oregon – 100
7. Wisconsin – 99
8. Boise State – 92
9. Arkansas – 83
10. South Carolina – 75
11. Baylor – 65
12. Kansas State – 62
13. Michigan – 58
14. Michigan State – 57
15. Clemson – 56
16. Virginia Tech – 53
17. Oklahoma – 52
18. Georgia – 44
19. TCU – 41
20. Nebraska – 29
21. Southern Miss – 27
22. Houston – 24
23. Penn State – 17
24. West Virginia – 12
25. Florida State – 8
Also Receiving Votes: Missouri (4), Notre Dame (4) Virginia (2), Georgia Tech (1)
In: None (We had a tie at the 25th spot last week)
Out: Virginia (25)
Three of the five voters voted Oklahoma State #2 and Alabama #3 while the other two voted Alabama #2 and Oklahoma State #3, giving us the one-point difference. A couple of things have thrown me off about the poll all season. Kansas State doesn’t get enough respect. The Wildcats are 10-2 to Baylor’s 9-3 and defeated Baylor earlier this season, yet Baylor is ranked one spot ahead of Kansas State. I was also surprised to see one voter leave Houston as high as 14 after Southern Miss, the only ranked team Houston has played, destroyed them at home 49-28 in Saturday’s Conference USA Championship game.
As has been the case for a large part of the season, Florida State was the only in-state team ranked. The Noles, like Florida, Miami, Florida International and Central Florida didn’t play this weekend.
FAU finished Howard Schnellenberger’s final season with a 1-11 record after losing to Louisiana-Monroe 26-0. South Florida was defeated by West Virginia 30-27 despite holding a late, 27-20 lead. The loss left the Bulls with a 5-7 record, meaning like UCF, FAU and Miami (who banned themselves from postseason play), the Bulls will not be going to a bowl. With the victory, West Virginia won a share of the Big East and will play in the Orange Bowl because they are the highest ranked Big East in the BCS. Louisville and Cincinnati were the teams the Mountaineers shared the crown with.
We’ll preview the bowls as they get closer, so rather than break down the week’s schedule like I normally do when our poll is released, the Insiders will give out their own Heisman Trophy.
It works just like the poll, only the players were ranked on a scale of one to five.
1. Robert Griffin III, QB, Baylor – 23
2. Montee Ball, RB, Wisconsin – 12
2. Matt Barkley, QB, Southern Cal – 12
4. Trent Richardson, RB, Alabama – 9
5. Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford – 8
6. Tyrann Mathieu, CB, LSU – 4
6. Collin Klein, QB, Kansas State – 4
8. Morris Claiborne, CB, LSU – 2
9. Kellen Moore, QB, Boise State – 1
