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Analyzing the AP Poll - Week 7

Well thanks to the two voters who decided to give OU a first place vote, things got a little bit more interesting this week.  For those not already familiar, this info is courtesy of Poll Speak who each week publishes the AP voters ballots.  If you've been reading these posts the last couple weeks, you'll be familiar with the name of one voter who ranked OU first.  The second voter is a new name to CC Machine and he is apparently a really big fan of Oklahoma teams.  

Let's just jump right into it.

So as I said, the name you might be familiar with is that of Jon Wilner.  Wilner was the lone voter who had been giving Boise State a first place vote these past weeks.  This week, Wilner bumped OU up to #1 after having them ranked #3 the previous week.  Wilner explained his reason for moving OU ahead of Boise St. in his blog:

I moved Oklahoma into the top spot after comparing the Sooners’ results to those of Boise State, and ultimately determining that Florida State, Air Force and Texas is a better combination of wins than VaTech, Oregon State and … ? But it’s close. Very close.

It's certainly a logical argument, but what suddenly changed for Jon?  Was it FSU's convincing win over Miami or how well AFA has played since losing to OU?  I guess we'll never know, but this is a clear sign that OU will only continue to benefit from both FSU and AFA playing well.  

Aside from having OU #1, Wilner's ballot had some other interesting tidbits:

 

  • Wilner is apparently not a very big believer in the Big 12, outside of OU of course.  He has the Huskers of Corn as low as any voter placing them at #11.  Additionally, he left both Mizzou and Okie State entirely off his ballot.  He was one of only a small handful of voters to have either unranked.
  • Wilner was VERY impressed with Oregon State's win over Arizona, moving them all the way from #22 to #10.  So he has 3-2 Oregon State ahead of undefeated Nebraska.
  • He also has Utah at #20 and Michigan State at #23, both the lowest ranking each received.

 

So, the other voter who had OU #1 and the name we are unfamiliar with is that of Mark Anderson of the Las Vegas Review Journal.  Anderson moved OU up to #1 after having them at #6 the previous week.  So an OU bye week combined with a Bama loss was apparently enough for Anderson to justify jumping OU all the way up to #1.  Whereas Wilner did not appear to be a Big 12 fan, Anderson appears to be the exact opposite.

 

  • Anderson has Nebraska at #8 (a little low), Okie State at #11 (their highest ranking by any voter), Missouri at #12 (also their highest ranking), and he even snuck in K-State at #25 despite their annihilation this past Thursday at the hands of the Huskers.
  • Anderson also had Auburn at #3, higher than any other voter, and Oregon as low as any other voter checking in at #5.
  • Anderson dropped Bama from #1 to #13 (their lowest ranking), but kept the Crimson Tide five spots of the team they just lost to South Carolina who he only saw fit to rank #18.

 

So now that we know who the two first place voters for OU were, here are some OU quick hitters:

 

  • OU had a fairly wide margin in terms of where they were ranked.  OU was ranked as high as #1 (as we've established) and as low as #10.  Their average ranking checked in at #6, which according to the other polls seems about right.  
  • Joe Giglio, who we've discussed here before, is the voter who had OU at #10.  He was one of eight voters who put Boise State at #1.  He has two one loss teams, #8 Alabama & #7 South Carolina, ahead of an undefeated OU team.
  • Our old buddy Scott Wolf had OU at #2 only behind his #1 TCU.  Chris Fowler and Kirk Bohls had OU at #5.  Andy StaplesCraig JamesKirk Herbstreit all had OU at #6 (Herbie also put Texas at #25).  

 

Alright, now that we've covered OU we can move on to the poll in general.

 

  • As we discussed on Sooner Nation, there were a total of five different teams that received five first place votes.  They were: Ohio State, Oregon, Boise State, Oklahoma, and TCU.
  • Teams that OU fans will have their eyes on for the rest of the season, Air Force and Florida State continue to move up in the rankings.  Air Force was ranked as high as #14 and as low as unranked entirely.  Florida State was ranked as high as #11 and as low as #22.  
  • Boise State is ranked no lower than #5 and TCU is ranked no lower than #8.
  • Texas got all of three votes, clearly three more than they deserve.

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