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Remember the heady days of summer? Back when LSU sat atop the BlogPoll and were the Thinking Man's pick against the Conventional Wisdom of USC and Alabama? Well, the narrative has changed even in the Blogerati, and LSU begins its slow descent while Alabama's air of invincibility grows stronger.
You can't fight it. It's the narrative.
I'm not immune either. I voted LSU #5, and am right there with the lemmings voting Alabama #1 because clearly they are the best team in football, as evidenced by their maulings of no teams with a winning record (Hey, it's just like 2011!).
I ranted against resume voters before, but now that we have a near month's worth of data, we can't find more resume voters to fight off the Alabama homogeny? I can understand power poll guys, but is every resume voter so overawed by Alabama? I include myself in those of us who are just genuflecting before the Saban juggernaut right now. I'm not able to bring myself to vote for anyone else either. I'm just as guilty.
Here's the poll, preview after the jump.
Results for Week 4
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-2SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Rankings 2011
Stanford at Washington
The Cardinal is living off their big upset of USC, but now we can measure their quality against LSU’s best win. The Huskies surely can’t be as bad as they looked in Baton Rouge, and now is their chance to make their case for the top 25, and by extension, pretty up LSU’s resume. Come on, Huskies!
Tennessee at Georgia
My pick of Tennessee looks a little silly right now, but they did give Florida a good game until the fourth quarter and the wheels came flying off. This is a big statement game for Georgia to establish that the East really is a three-team race. The Vols can be effectively eliminated by the end of this weekend.
Baylor at West Virginia
One of the games I’m most looking forward to mainly because I have no earthly idea how good either of these teams are. WVU struggled with Maryland for godsakes, how good can they be? Baylor might have the best win, having taking down the mighty Monroe Warhawks. We probably won’t get all the answers, but the picture on both of these teams should be a little clearer.
Texas at Oklahoma St
Before the season, this looked like a top 25 tilt and if anything, a game with the ranked Cowboys playing a "plucky" Longhorns squad. Reality got in the way of that narrative, and now OSU needs to win this game to keep this season from getting away from them. I’m not sold on Texas, but they’ve at least crushed the patsies they’ve played.
Ohio St at Michigan St
Sparty’s loss to Notre Dame looks a little better, but they can re-establish themselves with a home win over the Buckeyes. The Big Ten office has to be rooting for them because right now it looks like Ohio St is miles ahead of everyone in the conference, and they are ineligible for the postseason. The Big Ten is having a rough season, but they can still have the best team in the conference actually win the title. But they need MSU to win this game.
Oregon St at Arizona
Fresh off their big win against UCLA, the Beavers now travel to Tucson. Arizona just got slapped silly by Oregon, but they are not out of the race just yet. The Pac-12 suddenly looks like a real gauntlet, with great games every weekend.
Wisconsin at Nebraska
Can you believe Wisconsin is 3-1? It feels like they are a 1-3, but a win here and suddenly they are one of the conference front runners again. I just need to get used to these guys being in the same conference.