Posted: 12/6/2009 by Denny O'Brien
I knew the day would come when East Carolina debuted on my Harris Top 25 ballot. I just didn’t think that it would take this long.
After beating Houston (ranked 24th on my ballot last week) in the Conference USA championship, the Pirates were certainly worthy of consideration. And when you consider that they won six of their last seven -- with the only loss a fairly close one to No. 12 Virginia Tech -- I’m justified with my ranking.
But if you need more evidence, here goes: The Pirates had only one bad loss this season -- at SMU -- and that was semi-fluky if you recall how that occurred. And their two early season losses at West Virginia and UNC were underscored by the fact that two starters in the secondary and 1,000-yard rusher Dominique Lindsay were on the shelf with injuries.
I’m not sure about West Virginia, but I’d like the Pirates’ chances if they had a Mulligan against UNC.
The rest of my poll has some interesting twists. It’s obvious my evaluations brought me to a last-second change of heart:
- Alabama
- Texas Christian
- Texas
- Florida
- Cincinnati
- Boise State
- Oregon
- Ohio State
- Georgia Tech
- Iowa
- Penn State
- Virginia Tech
- Louisiana State
- West Virginia
- Pittsburgh
- Brigham Young
- Nebraska
- Wisconsin
- Arizona
- Oregon State
- Stanford
- Miami
- Oklahoma State
- East Carolina
- Central Michigan
- The way Alabama pummeled Florida, how could I not rank the Tide No. 1? ‘Bama finally put together the complete game that we’ve all been seeking, and it couldn’t have picked a better time.
- Yes, I really did push Texas Christian ahead of Texas. I dropped the Longhorns from 1st to 3rd partially because they looked nothing like a national championship contender against Nebraska. But more factors went into it...
- ...The Big XII was down this year, and I’m not sure that it was heads and above better than the Mountain West Conference. The only truly impressive win that Texas notched this season was a blowout victory at Oklahoma State. But didn’t a mediocre Oklahoma team do that?...
- ...Meanwhile TCU throttled almost everyone in its path. The Frogs spanked Brigham Young on the road, pounded Utah, and won at Clemson and Virginia. Texas’ best non-conference victory -- the only portion of the schedule it can control -- came at home against UCF. Keep in mind the Knights were without their starting quarterback and running back in that game.
- Does margin of victory matter? Should it matter? Yes and yes when it comes to opinion polls. Because opinion polls are completely subjective, you have to factor in how much one team beats another by. I certainly do, and that is largely why TCU jumped over Texas.
- The PAC-10 is the most underrated conference this season. Where the SEC was top heavy with Alabama and Florida, the PAC-10 was rich in parity. The only crime it had this season is that it didn’t have a national champion contender, which is likely why it didn’t get the national focus of some other leagues.
Denny O'Brien is a columnist for Bonesville.net and Pirates' Chest Magazine. You can read more of his work at http://www.bonesville.net. If you have a question or comment, you can e-mail him at denny.obrien@bonesville.net. You can also follow him on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/thedob.