BlogPoll Top 25: Ohio State Buckeyes Looking To Move Up From No. 9 in Week 11

RANK	TEAM	RECORD	PR	SOS	NEXT GAME
1	Oregon	9-0	1	36	at California
2	Auburn	10-0	2	40	v. Georgia
3	Boise State	8-0	3	72	at Idaho (Nov. 12)
4	TCU	10-0	5	62	v. San Diego State
5	Stanford	8-1	10	16	at Arizona State
6	Wisconsin	8-1	6	70	v. Indiana
7	LSU	8-1	8	15	v. La. Monroe
8	Nebraska	8-1	7	28	v. Kansas
9	Ohio State	8-1	9	87	v. Penn State
10	Iowa	7-2	14	42	at Northwestern
11	Michigan State	9-1	15	71	IDLE
12	Alabama	7-2	4	20	v. (18) Mississippi State
13	Arkansas	7-2	18	33	v. UTEP
14	Virginia Tech	7-2	19	80	at (25) North Carolina
15	Oklahoma State	8-1	20	32	at Texas
16	Arizona	7-2	12	12	v. USC
17	Texas A&M	6-3	NR	26	at Baylor
18	Mississippi State	7-2	21	60	at (12) Alabama
19	South Carolina	6-3	13	30	at (21) Florida
20	Oklahoma	7-2	11	19	v. Texas Tech
21	Florida	6-3	NR	29	v. (19) South Carolina
22	Missouri	7-2	16	18	v. Kansas State
23	Utah	8-1	17	79	at Notre Dame
24	Nevada	8-1	NR	86	at Fresno State
25	North Carolina	6-3	NR	23	v. (14) Virginia Tech

Ohio State

This is the first time the Buckeyes will face a team with a pulse since the beat down in Cheeseville.  This is the beginning of a three-game finishing kick that could see the Buckeyes make up substantial ground in this ballot—as well as the computer rankings that actually count for something.  

The experts in the desert have initially listed OSU as an 18-point favorite, which seems both reasonable and far too high at the same time.

Trendspotting

The top eight teams in this ballot could conceivably win their remaining games.  The end result of that may yield the current pairings playing each other in respective bowl games—Oregon against Auburn, Boise versus TCU, Stanford meeting Wisconsin, and LSU facing off with Nebraska.

 

Rubber Match

Concerning the above referenced possible bowl games, it would be fitting for Boise State and TCU to play the proverbial “rubber match.” According to the Word Detective:

This tie-breaking sense of “rubber” apparently originated in the pulse-pounding English game of “bowls,” or lawn bowling. Despite its name, bowls has little in common with American bowling, and consists of rolling wooden balls (called “bowls”) across a level green, the object being to get your ball as close as possible to (but not to hit) a little white ball at the other end of the green. “Rubber” in its tie-breaking sense first appeared in the context of bowls around 1599, and was in use by the card-playing crowd (whist, bridge, etc.) by 1744. A set of three games of bridge is still generally referred to as a “rubber.”

 

Going down

Alabama’s title hopes of any kind.  I admit, I bought into the Tide hook, line, and sinker. Even after they lost to South Carolina.  I seemed convinced that the burden of the nation’s longest winning streak had finally taken its toll and without it burden Bama would methodically rise to the top on the back of a menacing ground game as others faltered.  Well, they are an Auburn loss away from finishing third or fourth in their own division.