Cal #10 in both polls
(Written by kencraw)
Cal is ranked 10th in both the AP and Coaches poll. They leapfrogged Ohio State and Michigan (take THAT Big-10!). I was hoping they’d leapfrog Virginia Tech after their lack-luster performance on Saturday and although they came close (8 points or less in both polls), I think VT got some sympathy points for their plight… not that I can blame anyone for sympathizing with their University after last year’s tragedy.
Also worth noting is that Cal is #2 in the Sagarin computer ranking that is used as a part of the BCS formula. Sagarin uses that along with some other computer numbers, including margin of victory which is not allowed for the BCS ranking, to come up with an overall ranking of #4.
September 4th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
Tennessee dropped to 23. Let me get this straight: They lose to a higher-ranked opponent on the road and they drop eight spots? That’s totally unfair.
September 4th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
Yeah, polls are so odd at the beginning of the year in how widely they swing. Somehow with every big victory both the victor is awesome and the loser is terrible. Somehow if the loser was terrible, that should take some of the bite out of suggesting that the victor is awesome… but that doesn’t seem to matter in the funky world of polls. The opposite happened last year in that both Tennessee was catapulted in the top 10 and Cal went spiraling down.
Personally, I think Michigan was overly penalized. I’ve done a fair amount statistical analysis on the polls and more or less, when you lose, you lose between 8-12 spots with only a handful of exceptions for an entire year. (Which suggests the pollsters took it easy on Tennessee.) Dropping 27 spots is completely unheard of and without precedent… although I guess the loss was unprecedented as well.
September 4th, 2007 at 4:15 pm
I blame em for sympathizing with Virginia Tech. It’d be one thing if the Hokies lost any players in the tradegy.
I mean I didn’t see Marshall get any sympathy votes in 1971…