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.
My poll is all human.
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 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.
The current model has it’s problems, but I really think this is the start of a new major product line for Apple. This isn’t going to be relegated to only the rich forever. There are a few problems to over come. It needs to be lighter, it needs to be cheaper, and it needs better battery life. All of those should be somewhat resolved in the next 10 years. When it does, I think the market will explode.
The big selling point? TV. I know over the last few years I have kind of fought with my mom because she is hurting her viewing experience for the sake of aesthetics. The TV is mounted, but has a cabinet in front of it. It is loaded with tons of seasonal decorations. The reason? She can’t stand the site of a cord. So instead, she has figures tall enough to cover part of the screen blocking the view of the TV, all so the cords can be hidden behind the figures. So yes, she loses part of the viewing area, and the remote doesn’t work unless you get up and go to the side of the TV so the IR sensor isn’t blocked, but it LOOKS better!!
The thing is, she isn’t alone. I bought a TV last year. During the time researching it, I would see similar opinions to my mom’s. Peopel would post pictures of their TV setup, asking if the size was OK, or if it should be higher, and the responses would be similar, telling the person to run cables through the wall, or get smaller stands or other complaints. It made me realize that many people care about those kind of things, and it will drive their purchase decisions.
All the Apple Vision Pro has to do is show them that you can have a TV, with no bezel, make it any size and position you want, you get rid of glare from the sun, and it has no visible cables. That alone is enough for people to want to buy it. It isn’t there today, but it will get there in the somewhat near future.
The four biggest advantages for a wired headphone when compared to Bluetooth are
This doesn’t even touch the preference stuff, like some people prefer having a wire to avoid losing headphones, and others like wireless. Or quality, which is a can of worms I don’t want to even touch.
I still buy music on iTunes. I prefer having my collection available on CD, but if I only want a single track or two, I just go to iTunes and buy the songs. This year, I think I bought 4 songs. It isn’t ton, but it is still in my mind.
I blame all the chaos on myself. I didn’t have time to put together a poll this week.
I have 2 big takeaways.
First, we really don’t have the clarity I thought we would 4/5 games into the season. We have such an even balance of presumed weaker teams that are undefeated, and presumed strong teams with a loss, that I can’t make any of it out. Roughly teams 9-35 all have legitimate claims that they should be ranked in the top 15. I know that this is supposed to get clearer every week, but it hasn’t. I feel more unsure every week.
Second, Boise State is is the most devalued team in our poll. That team looks very good right now. With the rest of their schedule, UNLV is the only ranked game I see the rest of the way. It is possible they don’t move up very much. It really is a loss to a top 4 team hurting them (but I guess Ole Miss and Georgia have the same complaint right now).