I Voted for Utah

 

I wrestled with my AP ballot from the moment Utah drilled Alabama 31-17 in the Sugar Bowl on the night of Jan. 2 until the end of Florida’s 24-14 BCS title-game win over Oklahoma Thursday night.

What tipped me to Utah was when I entered Carver-Hawkeye Arena late Thursday afternoon, and a Per Mar security person said “Mike, you’ve got to vote for Utah.”

“OK, I will,” I said, and proceeded to watch bad basketball and then file a column on it. I had ample time to listen and then watch to the second half of the Gators-Sooners game.

It’s a good thing that Per Mar guy didn’t tell me to throw eggs on the court or drop a thousand thumbtacks on the steps leading to the arena floor, huh?

All right, before this goes any further – I made up my own mind. And I admit a Florida blowout of Oklahoma would have made it harder to hit the “send” button when I e-mailed my Utah-No. 1 pick to New York late Thursday night.

If Florida were to play Utah next week, would I bet on the Utes? No.

So what? I wouldn’t bet on Florida were it to play USC next week, but I ranked the Gators second and the Trojans third. We’re voting on a season of work, and I like what UF did slightly more than what USC accomplished.

Utah’s season was perfect. I don’t think you can do better than perfect, especially when the perfect run ended with an utterly fabulous performance against an Alabama team that was ranked No. 1 in the nation for five weeks.

Did the Utes play Florida’s schedule. They did not.

Did they get upset at home by anyone the way Florida fell to Ole Miss? They did not.

Would they be able find any SEC teams who would schedule home-and-away series with them? They would not.

The only reason Utah isn’t the national champion, as far as we’ll ever know from now until nothing remains in Salt Lake City but, uh, salt, is that it never got the chance to play for the title.

This isn’t a Mid-American Conference or Sun Belt Conference team that ran the table and finished with a win in a Motor City or GMAC Bowl, both of which are seeking government bailouts.

No, this is a team from the Mountain West Conference, which won six of eight games against the Pac-10 this season. It’s a legit league, one that deserves a place at the BCS trough. Not that the six greedy-pig BCS conferences will ever start sharing with others. 

By the way, Iowans, I had the Hawkeyes 16th. That may actually have sold them a little short. Had they won one more game, I think you could have made a loud argument to have them at 10th or 11th in the final rankings.

Ifs and buts. Like what if Utah had played Florida …

My top 25 ballot:

1.       Utah

2.       Florida

3.       USC

4.       Texas

5.       Oklahoma

6.       Alabama

7.       TCU

8.       Penn State

9.       Ohio State

10.   Boise State

11.   Oregon

12.   Mississippi

13.   Texas Tech

14.   Georgia

15.   Oklahoma State    

16.   Iowa

17.   Virginia Tech

18.   Cincinnati

19.   Oregon State

20.   Missouri

21.   Pittsburgh

22.   Northwestern

23.   California

24.   Michigan State

25.   Rice

 

Hlas’ AP Top 25 Ballot and More

The Hlog is bragging about telling you right here repeatedly that it would be Iowa-South Carolina in the Outback Bowl.

OK, it’s not bragging. It was going with the consensus favorites.

I’m not totally happy I was right. South Carolina is not worthy of a Jan. 1 game. Not at 7-5, not with no wins over ranked teams, not with a freshman quarterback who has proven nothing, not with a 56-6 loss to Florida three weeks ago, not with a 31-14 loss to Clemson last week.

But who is Iowa to complain? If you’re 8-4 and playing on New Year’s, don’t worry and be happy.

Now, here’s my AP ballot. I think Florida will beat Oklahoma since it will be the first time the Sooners have seen a big-league defense, but I wouldn’t bet 10 cents on it.

Iowa climbs two  spots on my ballot from last week because Ball State and Missouri got thumped. Thanks for nothing to Cincinnati, which didn’t secure its win over Hawaii until the middle of the night, and cost me sleep.

1. Oklahoma

2. Florida

3. Texas

4. Alabama

5. Utah

6. Penn State

7. USC

8. Texas Tech

9. Ohio State

10. Boise State

11. TCU

12. Oklahoma State

13. Oregon

14. Pittsburgh

15. BYU

16. Georgia Tech

17. Iowa

18. Michigan State

19. Mississippi

20. Georgia

21. Northwestern

22. Virginia Tech

23. Cincinnati

24. Missouri

25. Oregon State

Into the Top 25 You Should Go, Iowa Football Team

Thanks to the Buffalo Bulls, Iowa ought to make its first appearance in the AP Top 25 collge football poll for the first time since, well, a while. Certainly the first time this year.

The Bulls bullied Ball State in the Mid-American Conference title game Friday night in Detroit, ruining the Fighting Cardinals’ unbeaten season. It also was sure to send 12th-ranked Ball State plummeting down the rankings.

If the rest of the AP voters are like me, Ball State won’t be in their top 25 come Sunday morning.

It was cute that the Cardinals were ranked above Oklahoma State, Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, Missouri and Michigan State, to name but a few of the teams better than Ball State but not ranked as high.

Iowa was 26th in the AP voting a week ago. Some voters will surely keep Ball State in their rankings, because people are stubborn to admit they’ve made mistakes. But you can’t play like that against a 7-5 Buffalo team and pretend you’re Top 25-caliber.

The Hawkeyes are about to get ranked, me thinks, for whatever that’s worth. It may be all the Outback Bowl has to hang its Bloomin’ Onion on this time around.