Naturally, there is a big shake up with Oklahoma and Wisconsin both going down in dramatic fashion. most of the top 25 was in action yesterday, so we got a good idea of what's going on. Here is this week's ballot, with my rationale at the bottom:
Hammer & Rails Ballot - Week 9
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | LSU Tigers | -- |
| 2 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -- |
| 3 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys |
 2 |
| 4 | Stanford Cardinal |
3 |
| 5 | Boise St. Broncos |
 -1 |
| 6 | Clemson Tigers |
2 |
| 7 | Kansas St. Wildcats |
2 |
| 8 | Houston Cougars |
2 |
| 9 | Oregon Ducks |
2 |
| 10 | Arkansas Razorbacks |
2 |
| 11 | Michigan St. Spartans |
2 |
| 12 | Wisconsin Badgers |
-9 |
| 13 | Virginia Tech Hokies |
7 |
| 14 | Nebraska Cornhuskers |
1 |
| 15 | Oklahoma Sooners |
-9 |
| 16 | Texas Tech Red Raiders | -- |
| 17 | Michigan Wolverines |
-3 |
| 18 | South Carolina Gamecocks |
7 |
| 19 | Texas A&M Aggies |
-2 |
| 20 | Penn St. Nittany Lions |
3 |
| 21 | Cincinnati Bearcats | -- |
| 22 | Arizona St. Sun Devils | -- |
| 23 | TCU Horned Frogs | -- |
| 24 | Southern Miss. Golden Eagles | -- |
| 25 | Iowa Hawkeyes | -- |
| Dropouts: Auburn Tigers, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Illinois Fighting Illini, West Virginia Mountaineers, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Washington Huskies | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "
And now, your analysis:
- The rule of undefeateds, as I call it, is working. Oklahoma and Wisconsin showed no interest in wanting to win the title, especially Oklahoma.
- The bottom of the poll felt like throwing crap at the wall. It was a joy to remove Notre Dame, but with Illinois, West Virginia, Georgia Tech, and Washington all suffering bad losses it meant a lot of new teams.
- I toyed with the idea of throwing us in at #25, and if we had beaten Penn St. I likely would because we'd be leading our division at the moment. It's odd, but we're probably a handful of play from being 6-1 right now. It's like 2009.
- Miami is back on my radar. They are another team just a handful of plays from a much better record. They needed one defensive stop each at Maryland and Virginia Tech, and the loss, by a foot, to Kansas State is not a bad one.
And now, we also have the administration of the H&R pick 'em, and our first two-time winner.
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| FTC disclosure: This contest is sponsored by Gameday Depot and SB Nation. |
Congratulations to Russell Schneider for winning this week's Hammer & Rails Pick 'Em and the $10 gift certificate from Gameday Depot. Be on the lookout for a confirmation email with instructions on how to claim your prize.
There's another $10 gift certificate up for grabs this week and a $50 gift certificate for the entire season, so keep playing.
This week's top ten and the season top ten are below the jump. You can view the full standings at the Yahoo! group page.