And now my worst fear has been realized.  Alabama was upset because they decided not to play the first half of a football game and now we have an absolute cluster at the top of the standings.  I still believe, that regardless of their loss, that Alabama is the best team in the country.

I really hope that Oregon doesn’t get left out, and I am absolutely dreading a Kansas State and Notre Dame championship game.  I honestly probably wouldn’t even watch.  Notre Dame hasn’t even beat anyone that good other than Oklahoma.  People say, well what are elite wins that Alabama has or Oregon, etc, etc.  Oregon beat an underachieving USC team on the road and Alabama beat LSU on the road, both of whom would absolutely torch any of Notre Dame’s opponents.

Hopefully Notre Dame and Kansas State lose, so we can get the Oregon and Alabama matchup I’ve been dying to watch.  I will say this, if Notre Dame goes undefeated with a win at USC, I won’t like it, but I will understand them being in the National Championship game.  At least if Oregon and Kansas State aren’t undefeated.

On a separate note, I hate Nebraska.  Getting two absolutely crucial calls in their favor in back-to-back weeks is trash.  I’m starting to believe there could be a conspiracy theory that the Big Ten wants them to get into the Rose Bowl.

Bronze Medal: Josh Kendall, The State, Columbia SC

Meh.  I don’t understand how you justify ranking Florida so low.  And you give Notre Dame the #3 spot.  Both of them had scares against garbage teams, Florida should easily be in the Top 10.  Stanford at #9 is pretty irrational, especially when they’ve only beaten one good team on the year.  And what UCLA is doing up at #14 is pretty much beyond me as well.  At least he does a good job of leaving the trash out of his poll.

Silver Medal: Pete DiPrimio, Fort Wayne News-Sentinel

He’s on here solely because he has Notre Dame #1.  Sure it may be bias on my part a bit, but I’m not wrong.  Notre Dame is not the best team in the country, they just flat out are not.  People try to give me statistics about their schedule and their “wins” but they play overrated teams, and their strength of schedule is complete trash.  Who schedules Boston College and Wake Forest after they’ve already played a bunch of cupcakes?

That’s another thing that kills me about the computer polls, four of them have Notre Dame ranked #1, give me a break.  I wish we had a playoff so that I could watch Notre Dame get trashed in the semifinals.

Also, Lousiana Tech at #16.  Does anyone really think a one-loss Lousiana Tech team is a top 20 team in the country?  I want to hear this guy justify this selection to me.  Sure their only loss is to Texas A&M, but christ look at their schedule.  It’s embarrassing.  One of their “marquee” wins is against an abysmal Illinois team.  Sweet dude.

His ranking of #21-#25 is equally atrocious.  Seriously, you know what Matt Barkley, Robert Woods, and Marqise Lee would do to those teams secondaries?  Lee would probably break the record for receiving yards in a game, en route to a 4+ touchdown victory, at minimum.  I’m saying this and I don’t even like USC; I think Lane Kiffin is a complete ass hole.

Gold Medal: Ray Ratto, Comcast Sports Bay Area

This guy, I mean, where do we even start with this guy.

His top #11 is pretty good, with the exception of Ohio State at #4, further showing that this guy does NOTHING except give the undefeated teams the top spots in his top 10.  This shows that he is putting ZERO existential thought into his ballot and should have his privileges removed immediately.  Any jackass who isn’t watching football games can put teams with 0 losses first, at least put some thought into your poll.  Well, put some good thoughts, because this guy is clearly a moron.

Then we drop down and see LSU #12, which is a peculiar sight, because even though they have some questions on offense, they are still a top 10 team that consistently competes with the top talent of the SEC.  Meanwhile the Louisville Cardinals get housed by 19 points by a worthless Syracuse team and still remain in the top 14?  Ya okay, buddy.

Then we continue on this worthless top 25 and see Kent State at #17, Northern Illinois #20, Louisiana Tech #22, Cincinnati #24 and Toledo #25.  I wonder if the MAC and the other mid-majors are sponsoring this guy to support their teams.  It’s like he’s giving his votes away as handouts in an attempt to make teams relevant and it is ridiculous.  This guy has taken over for Jon Wilner as the token moron of these Olympics.

Here’s my poll.  To answer a question I know will arise, yes, I put Alabama #3, but if the season ended with Kansas State, Oregon and Notre Dame undefeated, I would put Alabama at #2, so that they could play Oregon in that National Championship game.  I’ve watched all of these teams play this year, full games for each of them, and Oregon and Alabama are the only two that made me say “wow.”