You know, I thought we might get more consensus as we went along, but it seems to be getting worse.

My big takeaway is, the power 4 conferences are getting way more benefit of the doubt than the non-power 4 teams. Mississippi State being the prime example. Going 1-3, but being ranked higher than ever non-power 4 except for Liberty and Notre Dame.

I’m sure in a month it will be better, but we are really seeing some wild results here.

All human ranking here. This was a tough one for me. I feel like the top 11 or so is fairly set. You can re-organize them how you want, but it will be the same group. Then 12-18 are another group that I don’t know how to separate very well. The rest is a total crap shoot. I have no idea where anyone actually goes. Washington State VS Boise State will be a really good litmus test to show where those teams actually are.

1. Texas
2. Ohio State
3. Georgia
4. Alabama
5. Tennessee
6. Ole Miss
7. Utah
8. Miami
9. Oregon
10. Penn State
11. Missouri
12. Michigan
13. USC
14. Iowa State
15. Clemson
16. Oklahoma
17. LSU
18. Notre Dame
19. Washington State
20. BYU
21. Illinois
22. Louisville
23. UNLV
24. Boise State
25. Texas A&M

My poll is all human.

1. Texas
2. Ohio State
3. Georgia
4. Alabama
5. Ole Miss
6. Oregon
7. Tennessee
8. Missouri
9. Miami
10. Penn State
11. Utah
12. Kansas State
13. Southern California (USC)
14. Oklahoma
15. Michigan
16. Oklahoma State
17. LSU
18. Notre Dame
19. Clemson
20. Northern Illinois
21. Iowa State
22. Texas A&M
23. Arizona State
24. Illinois
25. Boise State

Texas is #1. I’m glad to see it. Winning on the road is more impressive than a neutral site game that George had. Feelings might change as the season goes on, but I’m glad that we aren’t a slave to preseason rankings.

We aren’t cowards!! Northern Illinois over Notre Dame!!

Kansas State winning close over Tulane, and jumping 6 spots is really big, but not as big as 8 for Tennessee for beating North Carolina State. Oregon losing 5 spots by winning is shocking by how much, not that it happened.

Spots 4-8 only have a 2 point difference. This mirrors my internal thought process. They are all good, but I don’t know how good relative to each other.

Reports are that they need at least 2 more members to stay as a conference. My guess is they want to find 2 more schools that can tide them over. Then, when the MWC is up for tv rights, and there isn’t a huge buyout to leave, then the Pac8 can grab what they want. Which ones would they want? I have no idea, I would be guessing at random.

I think it is clear that the 4 teams that left were wanted by the Pac2, even if it took a chunk of cash to break contracts and get them there.

Who could the other 2 teams be to get the conference to 8? I have no idea. Ignoring any Mountain West schools, I don’t know who you would go after. There is probably a discussion with North Dakota State and South Dakota State, but I think they would rather stay in the dominate role of FCS. Then you start looking at all the other names that get thrown around. UTEP, Memphis, Tulane, USF, Uconn. I’m sure there are others, I can’t think of any as I quickly type this. Regardless, these are all huge travel distances, and I don’t think any give a significant boost to the conference.

It is really a shame, because it feels like if Stanford/Cal were still in with these other 6, it would be a solid 5th place conference. A step behind the BigXII, but a step above the best G5. It probably wouldn’t, but if you could get to an auto-qualifying bid into the conference, that would be worth it to everyone involved.

It is still a shame. The Pac 12 dissolving was bad for everyone. The one bright spot was that I felt the MWC and Pac 12 merging would be beneficial to everyone. It just made too much sense. The problem is, these big decisions aren’t made on a conference or national level. They are made by the individual schools each trying to look out for themselves.

I see now about Florida State. I remember that poll from last year was had a few outliers early on, but I felt like it came together nicely at the end. It explains almost all of their points.

I don’t get this group. How is Florida State ranked, while Texas A&M and Clemson aren’t? Never mind that Boston College is 4 spots behind. I didn’t put them on my poll, which means that Florida State got an average of #19 from the other 3 voters. I don’t know how you look at that team and still think the Seminoles are a top 20 team.

alabama is all lowercase, please don’t fix it.

The spreadsheet of votes is locked. I can’t see where all the polls ranked everyone.

I see a few other trends, but I think they are just outliers due to the small sample size. I bet it will all get figured out in the next 2 weeks.

I think you have a fundamentally different view than I do on the characters. They are all fundamentally nice people. The difference is, they get fixated on small issues, and let it control their actions. Jerry dates a woman that only looks good in bright light? Only go on dates that have good lighting. It is something you would want to do too, but you would have the control to not let it run the relationship. Jerry doesn’t have that control, and focuses on the good lighting at the expense of everything else.

The characters aren’t mean. They didn’t wish I’ll on anyone. Many of the episodes are them trying to find a way to get out of a situation without being honest because they think the truth would hurt too. Idiots, yes, not not jerks.

For another example. There is an episode where a waiter accidentally puts a menu on a candle and it lights on fire. George points it out, puts the fire out, and casually mentions “I think the busboy put the menu too close to the candle.” The manager overhears this, and fires the busboy. George then finds the busboy to try and help him get another job, but leaves the front door open, and the busboy’s cat escapes. It is the perfect example of what the characters are. They don’t want to hurt people, and go to extreme lengths to do it, even though it always backfires.

I would do the same thing I do with rare, single use items in video games (Think the Master Ball). I would save it indefinitely in case there is a time that I really need it in the future. I would die having never used it.