Mumme Poll Ballot: Week 9

If you haven't submitted your Mumme Poll ballot yet, go do it.

If you have, feel free to let me know where I'm wrong.

Here's my list...

Top Five

Alabama -- The Tide better hope Greg McElroy remembered how to play QB during their off week. This week's game vs. LSU remains the last really big game on the SEC slate.

Florida -- I'm far from convinced they are the best team in the country, but the Gators definitely have a ton of talent. They made some plays, and Georgia helped them out quite a bit. Regardless, they're the SEC champs now, and only Alabama stands in their way.

Texas -- Dominated an overrated Oklahoma State team and, like Florida, is essentially on cruise control until the conference title game. Unlike Florida, however, they don't have anyone the caliber of Alabama waiting at the end.

Oregon -- Just a very impressive win from what has probably been the most dominant team in the country during the past six weeks. In a head-to-head match right now, you'd have to like the Ducks vs. almost anyone.

Boise State -- At this point, I think TCU, Boise and Cincinnati are all about the same. But if I have Oregon up this high, I felt obligated to do the same for Boise State.

The Next Seven

TCU -- The Horned Frogs will probably finish the year with more impressive wins than that other undefeated team from Texas. Not that it will matter.

Cincinnati -- You get no credit from beating Syracuse, but the rest of their slate should be a good test. Connecticut isn't a pushover, and West Virginia and Pittsburgh await.

LSU -- Not much credit for beating Tulane either, but win this coming week and things get very, very interesting in the SEC West.

Georgia Tech -- Hey, Georgia's defense looked better against Vandy than Tech's did. So that's something, right? Eventually, that awful GT defense is going to come back to haunt them. Of course, eventually may not be until the bowl game.

Penn State -- Below, I will list all of Penn State's impressive wins:

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Got that? Yikes. The Nittany Lions scheduled no one out of conference and play in the awful Big Ten. Thankfully they'll get Ohio State in the Overrated Bowl this week and, ideally, we can stop talking about at least one of them for the rest of the season.

Southern Cal -- The Trojans probably don't belong here either. I really want to put Houston here. Next week. For sure.

ADDENDUM: I'm dumb and simply forgot to add Iowa here. I did vote for them, but typed up this post between player interviews yesterday and somehow skipped the Hawkeyes. My bad.

Yes, Iowa definitely deserves to be on here, and I'd probably have them close to the top five if they could just put one impressive performance together. It says a lot about the heart of a team that continues to come back and win, but it says a lot about the talent of a team that continues to fall behind early to significantly inferior opponents.

Last Teams Out

Houston -- Could they beat USC? I dunno. Do they deserve to be ahead of USC? Probably. Do I like to ask questions I plan to immediately answer myself? You betcha.

Pittsburgh -- They have beaten no one. They get Syracuse this week. Next Monday, they'll still have beaten no one. They get Notre Dame the week after that. The following Monday, they'll still have beaten no one. (And yes, I do think they'll beat Notre Dame.)

Ohio State/Miami -- Pretty sure neither team is any good. Then again, who is?