WHERE'S MICHIGAN?

Sept. 4, 2007
Rank	Team (first-place votes)	Record	Points	Preseason rank
1.	Southern California (49)	1-0	1,486	1
2.	LSU (4)	1-0	1,417	2
3.	Florida (7)	1-0	1,341	3
4.	West Virginia	1-0	1,275	6
5.	Wisconsin	1-0	1,183	7
6.	Oklahoma	1-0	1,146	8
7.	Texas	1-0	1,136	4
8.	Louisville	1-0	995	11
9.	Virginia Tech	1-0	988	9
10.	California	1-0	985	12
11.	Ohio State	1-0	977	10
12.	Georgia	1-0	796	13
13.	Auburn	1-0	644	14
14.	UCLA	1-0	607	17
15.	Penn State	1-0	585	18
16.	Rutgers	1-0	576	16
17.	Nebraska	1-0	512	19
18.	Arkansas	1-0	455	20
19.	TCU	1-0	351	22
20.	Boise State	1-0	315	23
21.	Georgia Tech	1-0	311	NR
22.	Hawaii	1-0	269	24
23.	Texas A&M	1-0	214	25
24.	Tennessee	0-1	162	15
25.	Boston College	1-0	153	NR
Dropped out: No. 5 Michigan (0-1, lost to Applachian State 34-32), No. 21 Florida State (0-1, lost to Clemson 24-18).
Others receiving votes
Others receiving votes: Clemson 145; Michigan 132; Miami (Fla.) 61; Brigham Young 49; Oregon 41; South Carolina 34; Missouri 29; Texas Tech 25; Oregon State 24; Alabama 21; South Florida 20; Southern Mississippi 16; Florida State 14; Kentucky 4; Arizona State 3; Iowa 1; Wake Forest 1; Washington 1.

This is amazing. In our ancedotal esperience, a top 25 team can expect to drop 8-10 positions, on average, depending on the opponent, when they suffer a loss. That is why it's so important to be ranked high in the preseason (starting) polls.

I predicted Michigan would fall 12 spots. Boy, was I wrong . They dropped out completely, falling an astounding 22 points down to #27. To me, this shows the uselessness of the Pre-season Polls. The polls should probably start after the first or second game is played--at least the ones that count toward the BCS...

All these coaches thought Michigan was so great-- not they think their not worth shit. Which is it? The truth probably lies somewhere inbetween.

FSU also fell out of the top 25, falling 11 positions to #38 after their horrendous first half against Clemson. Tennessee fell 9 places from 15 to 24 for their loss at Cal--Is that fair? Not!

USF Bulls stayed about where they were...

Well, anyway, we DO need some subjective input to balance out the formulated computer polls, but sometimes things seem to get out of wack. Michigan went from a Championship contendor to an also ran in just one game. Well, it WAS the first time a ranked team lost to a D1-A opponent after all....

--TRADER RICK