The Most Accurate Poll?

Every week Las Vegas Sports Consultants, the world's largest oddsmaking company, releases their top polls/rankings for the major sports. They describe their polls as ones in which "teams are ranked purely by the numbers, without media, regional, league, conference or any other biases – just the facts as determined by LVSC’s team of experts." Because they use the same information that is used to make the betting lines, it is perhaps the most complete and accurate poll. We will post the updated college football poll here every Tuesday and the updated NFL rankings on Wednesdays.

WEEK 10 RANKINGS


The two most interesting teams on the list would have to be Oklahoma and USC. Oklahoma is in the fourth spot despite being twenty spots lower in the BCS. USC drops only one spot from last week after being destroyed by Oregon, who is one spot below. The oddsmakers, like many around the country, do not have much confidence in the undefeated Iowa Hawkeyes putting them outside the top 10. I am not sure you would get much argument with that thought outside of Big Ten country.

Way to Lay Down the Law Urban

University of Florida Head Coach Urban Meyer announced today that star linebacker Brandon Spikes will be suspended for the first half of this weekends game against Vanderbilt. Spikes was caught on camera intentionally gouging the eyes of Georgia running back Waushaun Ealey. It was a completely classless and uncalled for action by Spikes. Meyer, who was made aware of the incident on Sunday night by his wife, reviewed the tape and met with Spikes before reaching his decision. He was quoted as saying "I don't condone that, I understand what goes on on the football [field], but there's no place for that." Such a stiff penalty will surely drive his point home. He went on to make excuses for his star player by saying that it was retaliation for an earlier play in which Spikes had his helmet ripped off and was poked in the eye. Tim Tebow also stuck up for his teammate saying "I don't think that we did anything in that game that they didn't do." Well then, by all means Mr. Spikes go ahead and gouge the eyes of your opponent, we didn't know that they started it. Your total lack of class is completely excused. I hope you can find a way to make it all the way through the first half on Saturday.

BCS Standings are Out

1. Florida
2. Texas
3. Alabama
4. Iowa
5. Cincinnati
6. TCU
7. Boise State
8. Oregon
9. LSU
10. Georgia Tech

No real surprises here. Texas makes the jump past Alabama to number 2. It really does not matter too much as far as the title game is concerned. As long as Texas stays in the top 3, either Florida or Alabama will eventually move out with a loss in the SEC Championship Game. USC drops down to the 12th spot with their loss and Oregon moves up to number eight. It looks like we are heading for a title game featuring Texas against the winner of Alabama and Florida. The SEC teams have not wowed me as much as teams like Texas, Oregon and Cincinnati but they will likely stay up at the top of the BCS standings. It definitely would not be a shocker to see one of them lose a game before they get to the SEC title game. If you are looking at who is playing the best football right now, you would probably have to go with Texas and Oregon. Iowa could easily lose to Ohio State in a couple of weeks and take themselves out of contention. It would be a shame to see another Big 10 team ride a weak schedule into the title game again, only to get beat by superior athletes. Fair or not, I do not think the human polls will let Iowa into a top two spot regardless of their finish.

My Top 10

For what it's worth, which is nothing, here is how I would put the top 10.
1. Texas
2. Florida
3. Alabama
4. TCU
5. Boise State
6. Oregon
7. Cincinnati
8. Iowa
9. LSU
10. USC

There is a significant drop in my opinion after the top 8, and I am not very convinced that Iowa would beat any of the teams on this list. Hard to put a 2 loss USC team in there, but who would you put ahead of them. They beat Ohio State in Columbus and I do not see Penn State or Georgia Tech at the level of these 10.

In the NFL, You Just Never Know

Until 3 weeks ago, the New York Giants looked like arguably the best team in football. Then came a loss at New Orleans, followed by a home loss to the Cardinals and another at Philadelphia. Losing in New Orleans is nothing to be ashamed of as the Saints are among the top teams in the league. The troubling part is the performance of Eli Manning over the last couple of weeks. For the second consecutive week, he has thrown multiple interceptions and looked completely out of sorts. This week, the defense chipped in as well giving up multiple big plays to an Eagle offense that had been struggling coming in and was without Brian Westbrook. The Giants' injuries may finally be catching up with them. The Eagles now move ahead of New York for first place in the NFC East and the Giants better figure it out in a hurry. They have a very tough schedule through the end of the season. Their bye after next week's matchup against the Chargers can't come soon enough.

The Rams Are on the Board

The St. Louis Rams finally put one in the win column with a 17-10 victory over the Detroit Lions. In a battle of two bad teams, the Rams came out on top thanks to a Stephen Jackson touchdown run in the last two minutes. It may have come against the lowly Lions, but a win is a win and it has to make the Rams feel better going forward.

Quick Hits From Yesterday's College Football Action

For the first time in a few weeks Florida looked convincing in their win over Georgia. They could be hitting their stride at the right time. Georgia is not a great all around team, but neither are some of the teams they have struggled against. I would still like to see them against a top tier team that can play on both sides of the ball. Offenses in the SEC are way down this year which has let the top teams struggle and still come away with wins.

Colt McCoy and the Texas offense are finally coming together. They had struggled to find any consistency all season, but the last two weeks have been a different story. To perform the way they did on the road last night shows me they are hitting on all cylinders again. I would take them over either SEC team right now. Let's see if they jump ahead of Alabama for the number 2 spot in the BCS who was idle yesterday.

Oregon made a huge statement. While many experts said USC would have a down year this season by their standards, a win over the Trojans is still a big deal. They completely dominated USC on both sides of the ball. There is not a team in the country who wants to play them right now. It will be interesting to see how far they move up in the BCS standings.

If only the computers had eyes. The computers will likely still have Iowa at the top of their rankings. Does anyone really think they could beat the other top teams? I am not sure they would be favored to beat anyone else in the top 10. If they do run the table and get beat out for a spot in the title game by a one loss SEC team, they will not have much of an argument. They have struggled to get through a very weak conference.