After Whipping Toledo, Ohio State Drops Two Spots
September 21st, 2009 at 10:58 pm by Displaced Cleveland Fan
OK. Figure this one out…
Ohio State was ranked #11 in the polls last week.
They beat Toledo 38-0.
Two teams ahead of them lose to unranked teams.
The result: The Buckeyes fall to #13.
So what happened?
First, the two losses by higher ranked teams. USC (previously #3) lost to unranked Washington. Since the Trojans beat the Buckeyes last week, voters chose to keep them one spot ahead of the Buckeyes. The other team was BYU (previously #7) who lost badly at home to Florida State. They dropped past Ohio State to #19.
That makes one open spot ahead of the Buckeyes. But instead of moving up to #10, they fall to #13. What three schools jumped past them?
Miami (previously #20) beat #14 Georgia Tech 33-17. An impressive win, sure. But impressive enough to jump 11 spots to #9?! Apparently the voters thought so. I believe it’s a little too much.
Oklahoma moved from #12 to #10 after beating up on Tulsa 45-0. Kind of like Ohio State beating up on Toledo 38-0. Except the Buckeyes won and dropped two spots. The Sooners won and rose two spots. Does that make sense? Consider this - Oklahoma’s one loss came to BYU who are now sitting at #19. If it’s so important to put teams in order based on head to head matchups, the Sooners should be behind the Cougars, not ahead of the Buckeyes.
Then there’s Virginia Tech. They jumped from #13 to #11 after beating #19 Nebraska 16-15 on a touchdown in the final minute. That, somehow, was impressive enough to move the Hokies past the Buckeyes.
Why did the voters put these three schools ahead of Ohio State? What’s the problem?
USC.
The problem is that the Trojans were terrible on Saturday. They lost to a Washington team they should have clobbered. Take Miami, Oklahoma, and Virginia Tech, and all of them were much more impressive than USC. They deserved to move ahead of the Trojans. But that does not mean they should have moved ahead of the Ohio State team that just won 38-0.
“But Ohio State lost to USC last week so they have to be behind them in the polls.”
No. Ohio State did not lose to USC last week. Not this USC team anyway. The USC team that beat the Buckeyes last week had the freshman rising star Matt Barkley leading the Trojans to a game winning touchdown in the 4th quarter. But Barkley’s injured now. Backup QB Aaron Corp, now leading the Trojans offense, could not beat Washington. This USC team is not better than the Buckeyes. They would not have beaten Ohio State last week, or likely even kept the game close. Until Barkley is back and demonstrates that he has no lingering ill-effects from his injury, USC does not belong ahead of the Buckeyes.
Ohio State lost a close game to a tough USC team last week. Now they are stuck ranked behind an inferior USC team this week. It’s a shame the voters can’t see past that.
-dcf
Tags: Ohio State Buckeyes, polls, USC
