EPIC CARNIVAL'S NCAA FOOTBALL TOP 20+1 POLL

by WCT, The Ship of Fools

The final installment of this poll, and this week, the pollsters were none too pleased. Never before have I been forced to sift through an angrier bunch of ballots from a more ornery group of voters. Every submission came with a nasty snarl directed at at least a handful of teams, and a shot at the BCS just for good measure. Do you think the dude who puts together the AP Poll had to deal with this kind of backlash this week?

In any event, coming up 21 suitable and quasi-intelligent comments to go along with the rankings was a challenge this week, but we did our best.

Once again, the #1 team on our poll lost (and you thought I was kidding about that curse?) and our #2 choked away a home game against a four touchdown underdog. Suffice it to say, there was a shake-up in the polls.

The beneficiaries of this shake-up were the Rainbow Warriors of Hawaii who, after being clowned and dismissed all season by the pollsters (myself included), are finally being taken seriously (they even got a first-place vote!) and have moved up to #11. As for Wisconsin and Virginia, who both moved into the poll after not playing last Saturday, your guess is as good as mine.

Rank - Team - Points - Previous Rank - Commentary

1-Ohio State (3) - 120 - 4 - Talk about the cards falling right for them. (Mike)
2-LSU (2) - 117 - 5 - Personal feelings aside, I think this is the best team in the nation. (WCT)
3-Oklahoma - 112 - 6 - I think they should be playing for title against OSU. considering they won the Big 12 against the #1 team in the country by 21. (Mike)
4-Georgia - 108 - 3 - They shouldn't have gotten crushed by Tennessee. They have no one to blame but themselves. (WCT)
5-Virginia Tech - 96 - 7 - That 48-7 drubbing in Baton Rouge came back to haunt them. (WCT)
6-Missouri - 95 - 1 - Well, it was their turn to lose I guess. (DCScrap)
7-USC - 84 - 10 - Also has no one to blame but themselves. Don't lose at home to Stanford next time. (WCT)
8-Florida - 82 - 9 - Tim Tebow will conclude his season with 7 tds against the Wolverines. (WCT)
9-Kansas - 73 - 8 - Shouldn't have made a BCS game, but somehow they swiped Mizzou's spot. (BD)
10t-West Virginia - 71 - 2 - Finally ranked where they deserve to be ranked. (DCScrap)
10t-Hawaii (1) - 71 - 14 - Just put them in the title game and be done with it. (DCScrap)
12-Illinois - 65 - 11 - I'll take them over Kansas. (BD)
13-Clemson - 44 - 15 - I never thought I would live to see the day when there were two teams fighting for Tommy Bowden's services. (WCT)
14t-Arizona State - 43 - 16 - Even their own state didn't want them in the BCS. Way to go Fiesta Bowl. (Simon)
14t-Tennessee - 43 - 13 - That was about what I expected. (WCT)
16- B.C. - 28 - 12 - If this team had a decent fan following (or even a just-below-average fan following) they would be in a much better bowl. (WCT)
17-Auburn - 21 - 19 - Tommy Tuberville is staying? Who knew? (WCT)
18-Cincinnati - 20 - 17 - Coach Brian Kelly will be a hot name for coaching vacancies. (WCT)
19-Wisconsin - 17- NR - Does anybody play more on New Years without being involved in a BCS game than the Badgers. (Simon)
20-Texas - 15 - 18 - What a disappointing season. (DCScrap)
Plus 1-Virginia - 9 - NR - Is there a bowl that, year in and year out, consistently gives you a more boring match up than the Gator Bowl? UVA-Uconn is utterly unwatchable. (WCT)

Others Receiving Votes:
BYU 7, Boise State 2, Oregon 1.

Dropped From the Rankings:
Oregon, South Florida.