House of Sparky: FanPosts

ASU Baseball: On Ryan Kellogg's No-Hitter

2013-03-24T14:25:09Z

One of the beautiful things about sports, baseball especially, is that the possibility to see the unknown is great in every game. Anytime you attend or tune in could be the time you experience something special. At the same time, most games progress in the same manner. It's this balance of the known and the unknown, the mundane and profane, that makes sports so interesting to follow.

It with this in mind that I tuned into the online stream of yesterday's game between our Sun Devils and the Oregon State Beavers. The first game in the series didn't go very well for ASU, being one-hit on the way to a 5-0 loss. I'll admit I was hoping for just a close game, and maybe a win for the away team if everything went right.

Both teams featured great pitching to start the game, and although the Sun Devil batters were really working Andrew Moore, they couldn't quite break through. Until Peavyhouse's home run in the top of the 5th, the two pitchers were working no-hitters (and Kellogg's was still perfect).

But once ASU was on the board, the offensive pieces started falling into place. The difference between before T5, and after is remarkable. The Sun Devils managed 1 walk and no hits before, and then exploded for 10 hits, 4 runs, and 2 walks over the remaining 5 innings.

Meanwhile, Ryan Kellogg was perfect.

He didn't garner many strikeouts, only notching 2, but his pitching was a grand performance. He worked largely fastballs and curveballs the first time through the order, then mixed in his change-up the second time through. He worked both sides of the plate beautifully, and forced the Beaver batters to submit to his plan.

Even a couple attempts at bunts for hits were not enough for OSU, and the defense did a good job getting the balls put into the field, 15 of the outs in the outfield. Yes, there were two chances that Sun Devil defenders ruined Kellogg's chance at the perfecto, but errors aren't necessarily a sign of bad defense. The second error was harder to accept, being a dropped can of corn by Trever Allen.

I've never had a chance to catch a no-hitter, I always seem to be just missing them. Edwin Jackson's no-hitter for the D-backs? I went to go see a movie, and was told it about by all my elated friends as I sat in the lobby. I don't even remember what I went to see. Mark Buerhle's perfect game, just getting out of class. Phil Humber's? Driving back to Phoenix. That's the problem with being baseball obsessed: you hear immediately about these amazing things, but in my case I always seem to be connected but away.

That the no-hitter I finally experienced is from an Arizona State pitcher is even better.

Meanwhile, Ryan Kellogg was perfect.

That the no-hitter I finally experienced is from an Arizona State pitcher is even better.

Mizzou vs Arizona State football series

2013-02-02T02:26:25Z

Those were some fun games I had witnessed over the years, man one of the most underrated games ever. Two teams with the same football history and have path that cross each other with Dan Devine and Frank Kush. I am just sad we cant play each other, the schedule is out and we took Indiana instead of Arizona State? Are they high? I would play Arizona State instead of a Division two team like Indiana. But it was an admiral fight from two good and solid football programs. I just wish if we can show your rival something like we did too you in football. Okay thanks!
Sincerely
John Barkley

Bowl Tickets for Sale

2012-12-28T01:51:17Z

Unfortunately I didn't look at the schedule for my other alma mater, Louisville, or I would've noticed that the tip off for the UofL-UK gameis scheduled for the same time as kickoff Saturday. Therefore, I am planning on watching both at a bar in SF instead. I have two tickets available for ASU-Navy in sec119, row19, seats 9-10. Just looking for face value: $50 each. I'll be in SF tomorrow and can hand deliver them. Respond here if interested. Go Devils, go Cards!

Pre-Bowl Polls and Adjusted Polls with Bowl Predictions

2012-12-07T20:54:59Z

The season is almost over, Teams are either preparing for a bowl game or are attempting to reload for another shot at post-season play for next year. This also means that there is only one more poll going to be released from myself this season (the last few were missed because of technical difficulties with my computer).

Notre Dame and Alabama are one and two respectively (pretty much everywhere) and are going to be playing in the BCS Championship. And regardless of how you feel about either team, it is hard to argue that it won't be an entertaining game.

The standard polls will be placed below (minus the old combined polls seeing as how they are tedious and take up space), PHXhero's poll and the SAP, or Statistics Adjusted Poll. Plus, there is a special treat for everybody with some bowl predictions afterwards considering the bowl season is upon us.

Please enjoy, and comment below.

PHXhero's Top 25
Rank	Team	Record	Points
1	Notre Dame	12-0	1500
2	Alabama	12-1	1410
3	Oregon	11-1	1345
4	Florida	11-1	1330
5	Kansas State	11-1	1275
6	Stanford	11-2	1240
7	Georgia	11-2	1105
8	Texas A&M	10-2	1025
9	LSU	10-2	1000
10	Oklahoma	10-2	990
11	South Carolina	10-2	915
12	Florida State	11-2	860
13	Clemson	10-2	855
14	Northern Illinois	12-1	785
15	Boise State	10-2	710
16	Oregon State	9-3	670
17	Utah State	10-2	615
18	Northwestern	9-3	565
19	Louisville	10-2	540
20	UCLA	9-4	430
21	San Jose State	10-2	370
22	Michigan	8-4	315
23	Kent State	11-2	205
24	Nebraska	10-3	105
25	Vanderbilt	8-4	95
Droped Out: 21 Texas, 24 Rutgers

Notre Dame has been number one here since both Oregon and Kansas State were felled on the same night. The Fighting Irish have the best defense in the country right now, yes better than Alabama, and they have the best player in the country on their side; Manti Te'o. Meanwhile, Alabama is the number two team in the country since beating Georgia in the SEC Championship game (last week Georgia had been ranked two in these rankings).
Oregon claims the third spot over Florida because they have a more well-rounded team then the Gators. Florida has an elite defense and Oregon matches that with an elite offense, however, Florida's offense isn't as good as Oregon's defense.

If the playoff system started this season, Kansas State would be the team on the fringe looking in at the BCS Championship playoffs with Notre Dame facing Florida and Alabama taking Oregon with moving on to the Championship on the line.

How about Northern Illinois? The BCS "busters" this season, all thanks to the MAC conference's championship game. Northern Illinois is much better than giving credit for, sure they lost to a poor Iowa team, but a poor Iowa team is still a good football team to go up against (no matter what Kirk Herbstreit says). Plus the Huskies won a total of 12 games and lost a total of one, that's hard to do for any team, look at Clemson, Florida State, Stanford, Georgia, LSU, even the popular pick for BCS champions before the season started; Oklahoma.

Statistic Adjusted Poll
Rank	Team	Record	Points
1	Alabama	12-1	0.879
2	Oregon	11-1	0.745
3	Georgia	11-2	0.709
4	Florida	11-1	0.699
5	Notre Dame	12-0	0.698
6	Texas A&M	10-2	0.667
7	Florida State	11-2	0.649
8	Kansas State	11-1	0.628
9	LSU	10-2	0.625
10	Stanford	11-2	0.603
11	Oklahoma	10-2	0.578
12	South Carolina	10-2	0.567
13	Oregon State	9-3	0.506
14	Clemson	10-2	0.475
15	Northern Illinois	12-1	0.463
16	Utah State	10-2	0.433
17	Boise State	10-2	0.384
18	UCLA	9-4	0.378
19	Nebraska	10-3	0.361
20	Michigan	8-4	0.313
21	San Jose State	10-2	0.292
22	Louisville	10-2	0.272
23	Northwestern	9-3	0.261
24	Wisconsin	8-5	0.246
25	Vanderbilt	8-4	0.232
26	Texas	8-4	0.231
27	Kent State	11-2	0.131

The Statistics Adjusted Poll (or SAP), is a combination of each poll (from AP to BCS to PHXhero's), SoS ranking, and statistical ranking (specifically total offense, PPG, total defense, and PPG against). And yes, it was a lot of computations for myself.

This is the more interesting poll of the two, by far. And it is very obvious, Notre Dame is sitting at five here. Notre Dame is number one in almost all polls and rankings, yet there offensive faults are slowing them down significantly (along with their widely considered "weak" schedule - it isn't weak). If the BCS playoff system were in place with this ranking; Alabama would square off with Florida and Oregon would go toe-to-toe with Georgia. Meanwhile, in this scenario, Notre Dame would be the one looking in on the BCS playoffs wondering what it had to do to get there (keep in mind they are undefeated).

What is also shocking here is the fact that Pac-12 champion, Stanford, is also sitting lower than they should at 10. While Stanford is an incredibly well coached team, their statistics don't back them up because they are a control the football kind of team. It is slow-paced and features a power-run type of offense causing less chances for big plays or high scores, which ultimately hinder their chances at moving up in this ranking.

Bowl Game Predictions

Gildan New Mexico Bowl: Arizona over Nevada

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: #17Utah State over Toledo

S.D. County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl: BYU over San Diego State

Beef ‘O' Brady's St. Petersburg Bowl: UCF over Ball State

R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl: East Carolina over UL Lafayette

MAACO Las Vegas Bowl: Washington over #15Boise State

Sheraton Hawaii Bowl: Fresno State over SMU

Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl: Central Michigan over Western Kentucky

Military Bowl Presented by Northrop Grumman: #21San Jose State over Bowling Green

Belk Bowl: Cincinnati over Duke

Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl: #20UCLA over Baylor

AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl: UL Monroe over Ohio

Russell Athletic Bowl: Rutgers over Virginia Tech

Meineke Car Care of Texas Bowl: Texas Tech over Minnesota

Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl: Rice over Air Force

New Era Pinstripe Bowl: West Virginia over Syracuse

Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl: Arizona State over Navy

Valero Alamo Bowl: #16Oregon State over Texas

Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl: Michigan State over TCU

Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl: #25Vanderbilt over N.C. State

Hyundai Sun Bowl: USC over Georgia Tech

AutoZone Liberty Bowl: Iowa State over Tulsa

Chick-fil-A Bowl: #13Clemson over #9LSU

TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl: Mississippi State over #18Northwestern

Heart of Dallas Bowl: Oklahoma State over Purdue

Outback Bowl: #11South Carolina over #22Michigan

Capital One Bowl: #7Georgia over #24Nebraska

AT&T Cotton Bowl: #8Texas A&M over #10Oklahoma

BBVA Compass Bowl: Pittsburgh over Ole Miss

GoDaddy.com Bowl: #25Kent State over Arkansas State

BCS Bowl Predictions

Rose Bowl Game Presented by Vizio: #6 Stanford over Wisconsin, 34-17.

Most people are going to pick the Cardinal to win this game, and they should. Stanford is better coached, better offensively, and just plain better than Wisconsin. The run game (led by Taylor) is just going to waste away Wisconsin, even if they have a very good runner themselves in Ball. The score will look closer than the game actually will be.

Discover Orange Bowl: #14Northern Illinois over #12Florida State, 23-21.

Yes it is an upset, however, it isn't all that far-fetched. FSU already blew a game earlier in the year to an unranked N.C. State (who is worse than NIU). Florida State has been struggling lately, they aren't the same team as they were in the first half of the season, meanwhile NIU is coming off a big emotional win over MAC competitor Kent State. Plus, just about everyone is picking the Huskies to get beat which should give them a nice chip on their shoulder to play with.

Allstate Sugar Bowl: #4Florida over #19Louisville, 37-10.

Florida should win this game, stress on the "should." It is very possible that Louisville could pull off the upset but even Vegas doesn't think they will get within 17 points of the Gators. If Louisville wants to win, they need to hope Florida's offense doesn't show up (it actually happens frequently), if that happens Louisville might escape with a narrow low-scoring win in New Orleans.

Tostitos Fiesta Bowl: #3Oregon over #5Kansas State, 51-45.

A shoot-out in the desert. Kansas State is capable of scoring a lot in games, in order to do this though they need to be calm (pretty much the opposite of the Baylor game), but Oregon breaks scoreboards (they put up 43 on ASU before five minutes had passed in the second quarter!). This is going to be a really good game, perhaps one of the best in BCS bowl history (the Fiesta Bowl holds a lot of these).

Discover BCS National Championship: #1Notre Dame over #2Alabama, 13-10.

From a shoot-out, to a defensive battle, that's the beauty of college football. An overwhelming number of people seem to think that Alabama is going to run away with this game, which is eerily similar to how people thought Stanford, USC, and Oklahoma would all crush Notre Dame (yet it never happened). Fans want to say that the Irish are favored by the media, but that doesn't make them overrated, they are as good as advertised and they have every chance to beat down Alabama at their own game.

Please enjoy, and comment below.

PHXhero's Top 25
Rank	Team	Record	Points
1	Notre Dame	12-0	1500
2	Alabama	12-1	1410
3	Oregon	11-1	1345
4	Florida	11-1	1330
5	Kansas State	11-1	1275
6	Stanford	11-2	1240
7	Georgia	11-2	1105
8	Texas A&M	10-2	1025
9	LSU	10-2	1000
10	Oklahoma	10-2	990
11	South Carolina	10-2	915
12	Florida State	11-2	860
13	Clemson	10-2	855
14	Northern Illinois	12-1	785
15	Boise State	10-2	710
16	Oregon State	9-3	670
17	Utah State	10-2	615
18	Northwestern	9-3	565
19	Louisville	10-2	540
20	UCLA	9-4	430
21	San Jose State	10-2	370
22	Michigan	8-4	315
23	Kent State	11-2	205
24	Nebraska	10-3	105
25	Vanderbilt	8-4	95
Droped Out: 21 Texas, 24 Rutgers

Statistic Adjusted Poll
Rank	Team	Record	Points
1	Alabama	12-1	0.879
2	Oregon	11-1	0.745
3	Georgia	11-2	0.709
4	Florida	11-1	0.699
5	Notre Dame	12-0	0.698
6	Texas A&M	10-2	0.667
7	Florida State	11-2	0.649
8	Kansas State	11-1	0.628
9	LSU	10-2	0.625
10	Stanford	11-2	0.603
11	Oklahoma	10-2	0.578
12	South Carolina	10-2	0.567
13	Oregon State	9-3	0.506
14	Clemson	10-2	0.475
15	Northern Illinois	12-1	0.463
16	Utah State	10-2	0.433
17	Boise State	10-2	0.384
18	UCLA	9-4	0.378
19	Nebraska	10-3	0.361
20	Michigan	8-4	0.313
21	San Jose State	10-2	0.292
22	Louisville	10-2	0.272
23	Northwestern	9-3	0.261
24	Wisconsin	8-5	0.246
25	Vanderbilt	8-4	0.232
26	Texas	8-4	0.231
27	Kent State	11-2	0.131

Bowl Game Predictions

Gildan New Mexico Bowl: Arizona over Nevada

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: #17Utah State over Toledo

S.D. County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl: BYU over San Diego State

Beef ‘O' Brady's St. Petersburg Bowl: UCF over Ball State

R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl: East Carolina over UL Lafayette

MAACO Las Vegas Bowl: Washington over #15Boise State

Sheraton Hawaii Bowl: Fresno State over SMU

Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl: Central Michigan over Western Kentucky

Military Bowl Presented by Northrop Grumman: #21San Jose State over Bowling Green

Belk Bowl: Cincinnati over Duke

Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl: #20UCLA over Baylor

AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl: UL Monroe over Ohio

Russell Athletic Bowl: Rutgers over Virginia Tech

Meineke Car Care of Texas Bowl: Texas Tech over Minnesota

Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl: Rice over Air Force

New Era Pinstripe Bowl: West Virginia over Syracuse

Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl: Arizona State over Navy

Valero Alamo Bowl: #16Oregon State over Texas

Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl: Michigan State over TCU

Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl: #25Vanderbilt over N.C. State

Hyundai Sun Bowl: USC over Georgia Tech

AutoZone Liberty Bowl: Iowa State over Tulsa

Chick-fil-A Bowl: #13Clemson over #9LSU

TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl: Mississippi State over #18Northwestern

Heart of Dallas Bowl: Oklahoma State over Purdue

Outback Bowl: #11South Carolina over #22Michigan

Capital One Bowl: #7Georgia over #24Nebraska

AT&T Cotton Bowl: #8Texas A&M over #10Oklahoma

BBVA Compass Bowl: Pittsburgh over Ole Miss

GoDaddy.com Bowl: #25Kent State over Arkansas State

BCS Bowl Predictions

Rose Bowl Game Presented by Vizio: #6 Stanford over Wisconsin, 34-17.

Discover Orange Bowl: #14Northern Illinois over #12Florida State, 23-21.

Allstate Sugar Bowl: #4Florida over #19Louisville, 37-10.

Tostitos Fiesta Bowl: #3Oregon over #5Kansas State, 51-45.

Discover BCS National Championship: #1Notre Dame over #2Alabama, 13-10.

Poll

What is your BCS National Championship prediction?

Alabama blowing out Notre Dame

1 votes

Alabama narrowly beating out Notre Dame

5 votes

Notre Dame blowing out Alabama

0 votes

Notre Dame narrowly beating out Alabama

5 votes

Don't have one yet

0 votes

11 votes | Poll has closed

Todd Graham

2012-11-26T15:39:18Z

Todd Graham has done wonders for the ASU football program. He brought in high talent players and reformed the once discipline-less team into a calm, cool and collected unit.

He took the reigns in December of 2011 and immediately started recriuting athletes from across the nation. CTG wasn't going after just fresh out of high school players, he managed to get top recruits from junior colleges as well. Along with a stellar recruiting class Graham took the Sun Devils from ranked last in all of college football for penalty yards per game to the fifth nationally. That's a change of 79.77 yards under Dennis Erickson to 31.18 with Graham.

Besides the discipline and recruiting heroics from the one time- Pitt coach, Graham was also a media darling. He did so many interviews once he arrived on campus, I'm sure his head was spinning. Not only that, he made appearances around the university and even at a ASU basketball game where he jumped around with the student section and went nuts.

Here's the kicker in this whole dream situation where ASU went from a group of do-what-you-want-players to a solid group: this is Graham's fourth head coaching job. Two of his previous jobs, he was at the school for a year before he bolted for better programs. Graham said at his first ASU press conference that this was his 'dream job.' (Fun fact: when introduced at his previous job, University of Pittsburgh, he said the same thing then left the university and sent a text to his players saying goodbye.)

While everyone is singing CTG's praises after putting a 7-5 season together, including a huge comeback win vs. U of A, I'm weary. As of November 26th, 2012 there are four open coaching positions in the SEC. Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas and Auburn are open spots right now and there are rumors that Missouri’s Gary Pinkel may be out soon.

Graham's first coaching position was in Conference USA followed by the Big East and then the PAC-12. He spent a single year at Rice( C-USA) before leaving for Tulsa (C-USA) where he spent four seasons. After Tulsa he went to Pitt (Big East) for a year before coming to ASU (PAC-12). Let's face what we all know is the truth: the SEC is greater football conference than the PAC-12. It is the closest thing to the NFL in college football.

With four, possibly five open coaching positions in the SEC, Todd Graham is under a microscope for me. I would not be surprised if Graham left to go play in a conference that has seven national titles since 2003 and has won the last six.

Todd Graham you broke the hearts of everyone at Pitt after a year, please don't do it again.

Todd Graham has done wonders for the ASU football program. He brought in high talent players and reformed the once discipline-less team into a calm, cool and collected unit.

Todd Graham you broke the hearts of everyone at Pitt after a year, please don't do it again.

Week 9 Polls and Adjusted Polls

2012-10-26T03:05:31Z

Amazingly this week, no team in my top 10 lost which means there was no reason to start moving them around (in my poll). However, outside of the top seven normally, a lot of turnover occurred and it can be blamed on teams like WVU and South Carolina (both losing for the second straight week).

The SAP returns this week and some pretty interesting things happened, so make sure to take a look at it.

Enjoy and comment below.

PHXhero's Top 25
Rank	Team	Record	Points	Change
1	Alabama	7-0	1500	-
2	Oregon	7-0	1410	-
3	Kansas State	7-0	1385	-
4	Florida	7-0	1365	-
5	Notre Dame	7-0	1205	-
6	Oregon State	6-0	1115	-
7	Clemson	6-1	1020	-
8	Oklahoma	5-1	1000	-
9	LSU	7-1	945	-
10	USC	6-1	915	-
11	Florida State	7-1	870	+2
12	Georgia	6-1	845	+2
13	Louisville	7-0	755	+2
14	Mississippi State	7-0	670	+2
15	Rutgers	7-0	645	+2
16	Stanford	5-2	560	+6
17	Texas Tech	6-1	525	+7
18	South Carolina	6-2	445	-7
19	Ohio	7-0	405	+4
20	Boise State	6-1	375	+6
21	Texas A&M	5-2	310	-3
22	Michigan	5-2	245	+4
23	Texas	5-2	185	+3
24	Louisiana Tech	6-1	140	+2
25	Arizona State	5-2	95	-5
Droped Out: 19 Cincinnati, 21 West Virginia, 25 TCU

The top 10 managed to have no turnover this week. Alabama remained number one, meanwhile, Oregon, Kansas State and Florida are all becoming hard to place from number two to four because of how good each team is (although, ‘Bama can probably handle all of them very well).

New members in the top 25 include; Michigan, Texas, and Louisiana Tech (two of these teams have been here before). Michigan has two losses this year and they both have been against top 10 opponents in Alabama and Notre Dame. Texas also has two losses to Oklahoma and West Virginia. Louisiana Tech is a dominant force offensively but their defense isn't superb and their schedule hasn't been the strongest.

Cincinnati, West Virginia, and TCU all dropped out this week. Cincinnati lost to an unranked (but very good) Toledo team. West Virginia got destroyed yet again, this time to Kansas State which causes them to fall out of the rankings (blame their defense). TCU lost a nail-bitter to Texas Tech but losing at home is never good for your rankings.

ASU remains in my top 25 because they lost to a very good Oregon team (number two in the nation) and still managed to shut them out in the second half while adding 14 points to the board (it was much better that what U of A was able to do against the Ducks). Plus, ASU had a five spot cushion to fall this week.

Combined Top 25
Rank	Team	Record	Points	Change
1	Alabama	7-0	0.986	-
2	Oregon	7-0	O.930	-
3	Florida	7-0	0.912	-
4	Kansas State	7-0	0.902	-
5	Notre Dame	7-0	0.824	-
6	LSU	7-1	0.743	-
7	Oregon State	6-0	0.718	+1
8	Oklahoma	5-1	0.703	-1
9	USC	6-1	0.623	+1
10	Florida State	7-1	0.572	+1
11	Georgia	6-1	0.541	+1
12	Clemson	6-1	0.513	+1
13	Mississippi State	7-0	O.500	+1
14	Louisville	7-0	0.454	+1
15	Rutgers	7-0	0.421	+2
16	Texas Tech	6-1	O.410	+5
17	South Carolina	6-2	0.392	-8
18	Stanford	5-2	0.327	+4
19	Boise State	6-1	0.225	+4
20	Texas A&M	5-2	0.185	-1
21	Michigan	5-2	0.182	+6
22	Ohio	7-0	0.149	+3
23	West Virginia	5-2	0.096	-7
24	Texas	5-2	0.085	+5
25	Lousiana Tech	6-1	0.058	+5
26	Wisconsin	6-2	0.037	+4
27	Arizona State	5-2	O.020	-2

Here we have a combination of the AP Poll, USA Today Poll, the BCS Poll and my own personal poll that averages out the rankings. Each poll is weighted evenly and the highest point total a team can receive is 4500 (each poll has their own point value for each team which is added together then divided by 4500).

Alabama remains the top spot in this poll by just .056 points. The top 5 had no movement at all this week (even the sixth spot for LSU didn't change).

Biggest Winners (previously unranked teams are - normally - not eligible):

1. Michigan (+6) moves back into the top 25 after beating rival Michigan State.

2. Texas Tech (+5) won a close game against a ranked opponent on the road, no easy feat.

3. Two teams tied (+4) here are Stanford and Boise State, both won this week and got a jump in the rankings.

Biggest Losers:

1. South Carolina (-8) lost yet again (to a highly ranked opponent) and dropped again.

2. West Virginia (-7) got obliterated for the second straight week and doesn't look like the team that people thought they were.

3. Arizona State (-2) lost to a superior team this week, they might not be ready to play with the "big boys" just yet.

Adjusted Combined Top 25
Rank	Team	Record	Points	Change
1	Kansas State	7-0	0.915	+1
2	Alabama	7-0	0.882	-1
3	Florida	7-0	0.876	-
4	Oregon	7-0	0.858	-
5	LSU	7-1	0.775	-
6	Oklahoma	5-1	0.762	-
7	Notre Dame	7-0	0.746	-
8	Oregon State	6-0	0.694	+1
9	USC	6-1	0.565	+1
10	Texas Tech	6-1	0.515	+7
11	Georgia	6-1	0.506	-
12	Florida State	7-1	0.504	+1
13	South Carolina	6-2	0.487	-5
14	Clemson	6-1	O.450	-
15	Mississippi State	7-0	0.427	+1
16	Stanford	5-2	0.401	+4
17	Louisville	7-0	O.370	+1
17	Rutgers	7-0	O.370	+2
19	Texas A&M	5-2	0.315	-4
20	West Virginia	5-2	0.237	-8
21	Texas	5-2	0.221	+3
22	Michigan	5-2	0.206	+6
23	Boise State	6-1	O.200	+3
24	Ohio	7-0	0.125	+5
25	Arizona State	5-2	0.123	+2
26	Wisconsin	6-2	0.083	+4
27	Louisiana Tech	6-1	O.060	+3

First thing first, this is a new ranking like the Combined Top 25 except that this poll is also weighted by strength of schedule.

Kansas State jumped the previous number one (Alabama) for the top spot in this week's rankings, outside of that the top 7 teams didn't move.

Biggest Winners (previously unranked teams are not eligible):

1. Texas Tech (+7) is the team that moved the most in this poll for the second straight week.

2. Michigan (+6) beat a rival in Michigan State, who they haven't beaten in a long time.

3. Stanford (+4) gets a boost this week after beating rival Cal this week (handedly).

Biggest Losers:

1. West Virginia (-8) was lit up again this week by another Big 12 opponent.

2. South Carolina (-5) was shown again why they aren't ready to take on the next step in the SEC (courtesy of Florida).

3. Texas A&M (-4) barely lost to a highly ranked LSU team this week and probably didn't deserve to fall all that much.

Statistic Adjusted Poll
Rank	Team	Record	Points	Change
1	Alabama	7-0	O.850	-
2	Kansas State	7-0	0.779	+2
3	Oklahoma	5-1	0.761	-1
4	Oregon	7-0	0.751	-1
5	Florida	7-0	0.708	-
6	Florida State	7-1	O.680	+1
7	LSU	7-1	0.671	-1
8	Notre Dame	7-0	0.651	-
9	Texas Tech	6-1	0.597	+1
10	Oregon State	6-0	0.523	+2
11	USC	6-1	0.495	+4
12	South Carolina	6-2	0.467	-3
13	Georgia	6-1	0.463	-2
13	Mississippi State	7-0	0.463	+5
15	Clemson	6-1	0.428	+1
16	Texas A&M	5-2	0.412	-2
17	Rutgers	7-0	0.402	+3
18	Louisville	7-0	0.339	+3
19	Arizona State	5-2	0.327	-2
20	Stanford	5-2	0.323	+6
21	Michigan	5-2	0.318	+4
22	West Virginia	5-2	0.312	-9
23	Texas	5-2	0.304	+1
24	Boise State	6-1	0.278	+4
25	Louisiana Tech	6-1	0.262	+5
26	Ohio	7-0	0.214	+3
27	Wisconsin	6-2	0.194	+3

Alabama is able to remain the number one in the SAP, but Kansas State is getting dangerously close. Also, notice how Florida State has managed to claw their way up to number six in the SAP.

Biggest Winners (previously unranked teams are not eligible):

4. Stanford (+6) pretty much handled rival Cal this week and got some love here.

5. Mississippi State (+5) is getting a little bit more attention just before they play ‘Bama.

6. Three teams tied (+4) include; USC, Michigan and Boise State.

Biggest Losers:

4. West Virginia (-9), I don't think I need to explain why they fell again.

5. South Carolina (-3) gets the same as above.

6. Three teams tied (-2) include; Georgia, Texas A&M and Arizona State.

The SAP returns this week and some pretty interesting things happened, so make sure to take a look at it.

Enjoy and comment below.

PHXhero's Top 25
Rank	Team	Record	Points	Change
1	Alabama	7-0	1500	-
2	Oregon	7-0	1410	-
3	Kansas State	7-0	1385	-
4	Florida	7-0	1365	-
5	Notre Dame	7-0	1205	-
6	Oregon State	6-0	1115	-
7	Clemson	6-1	1020	-
8	Oklahoma	5-1	1000	-
9	LSU	7-1	945	-
10	USC	6-1	915	-
11	Florida State	7-1	870	+2
12	Georgia	6-1	845	+2
13	Louisville	7-0	755	+2
14	Mississippi State	7-0	670	+2
15	Rutgers	7-0	645	+2
16	Stanford	5-2	560	+6
17	Texas Tech	6-1	525	+7
18	South Carolina	6-2	445	-7
19	Ohio	7-0	405	+4
20	Boise State	6-1	375	+6
21	Texas A&M	5-2	310	-3
22	Michigan	5-2	245	+4
23	Texas	5-2	185	+3
24	Louisiana Tech	6-1	140	+2
25	Arizona State	5-2	95	-5
Droped Out: 19 Cincinnati, 21 West Virginia, 25 TCU

Combined Top 25
Rank	Team	Record	Points	Change
1	Alabama	7-0	0.986	-
2	Oregon	7-0	O.930	-
3	Florida	7-0	0.912	-
4	Kansas State	7-0	0.902	-
5	Notre Dame	7-0	0.824	-
6	LSU	7-1	0.743	-
7	Oregon State	6-0	0.718	+1
8	Oklahoma	5-1	0.703	-1
9	USC	6-1	0.623	+1
10	Florida State	7-1	0.572	+1
11	Georgia	6-1	0.541	+1
12	Clemson	6-1	0.513	+1
13	Mississippi State	7-0	O.500	+1
14	Louisville	7-0	0.454	+1
15	Rutgers	7-0	0.421	+2
16	Texas Tech	6-1	O.410	+5
17	South Carolina	6-2	0.392	-8
18	Stanford	5-2	0.327	+4
19	Boise State	6-1	0.225	+4
20	Texas A&M	5-2	0.185	-1
21	Michigan	5-2	0.182	+6
22	Ohio	7-0	0.149	+3
23	West Virginia	5-2	0.096	-7
24	Texas	5-2	0.085	+5
25	Lousiana Tech	6-1	0.058	+5
26	Wisconsin	6-2	0.037	+4
27	Arizona State	5-2	O.020	-2

Alabama remains the top spot in this poll by just .056 points. The top 5 had no movement at all this week (even the sixth spot for LSU didn't change).

Biggest Winners (previously unranked teams are - normally - not eligible):

1. Michigan (+6) moves back into the top 25 after beating rival Michigan State.

2. Texas Tech (+5) won a close game against a ranked opponent on the road, no easy feat.

3. Two teams tied (+4) here are Stanford and Boise State, both won this week and got a jump in the rankings.

Biggest Losers:

1. South Carolina (-8) lost yet again (to a highly ranked opponent) and dropped again.

2. West Virginia (-7) got obliterated for the second straight week and doesn't look like the team that people thought they were.

3. Arizona State (-2) lost to a superior team this week, they might not be ready to play with the "big boys" just yet.

Adjusted Combined Top 25
Rank	Team	Record	Points	Change
1	Kansas State	7-0	0.915	+1
2	Alabama	7-0	0.882	-1
3	Florida	7-0	0.876	-
4	Oregon	7-0	0.858	-
5	LSU	7-1	0.775	-
6	Oklahoma	5-1	0.762	-
7	Notre Dame	7-0	0.746	-
8	Oregon State	6-0	0.694	+1
9	USC	6-1	0.565	+1
10	Texas Tech	6-1	0.515	+7
11	Georgia	6-1	0.506	-
12	Florida State	7-1	0.504	+1
13	South Carolina	6-2	0.487	-5
14	Clemson	6-1	O.450	-
15	Mississippi State	7-0	0.427	+1
16	Stanford	5-2	0.401	+4
17	Louisville	7-0	O.370	+1
17	Rutgers	7-0	O.370	+2
19	Texas A&M	5-2	0.315	-4
20	West Virginia	5-2	0.237	-8
21	Texas	5-2	0.221	+3
22	Michigan	5-2	0.206	+6
23	Boise State	6-1	O.200	+3
24	Ohio	7-0	0.125	+5
25	Arizona State	5-2	0.123	+2
26	Wisconsin	6-2	0.083	+4
27	Louisiana Tech	6-1	O.060	+3

First thing first, this is a new ranking like the Combined Top 25 except that this poll is also weighted by strength of schedule.

Kansas State jumped the previous number one (Alabama) for the top spot in this week's rankings, outside of that the top 7 teams didn't move.

Biggest Winners (previously unranked teams are not eligible):

1. Texas Tech (+7) is the team that moved the most in this poll for the second straight week.

2. Michigan (+6) beat a rival in Michigan State, who they haven't beaten in a long time.

3. Stanford (+4) gets a boost this week after beating rival Cal this week (handedly).

Biggest Losers:

1. West Virginia (-8) was lit up again this week by another Big 12 opponent.

2. South Carolina (-5) was shown again why they aren't ready to take on the next step in the SEC (courtesy of Florida).

3. Texas A&M (-4) barely lost to a highly ranked LSU team this week and probably didn't deserve to fall all that much.

Statistic Adjusted Poll
Rank	Team	Record	Points	Change
1	Alabama	7-0	O.850	-
2	Kansas State	7-0	0.779	+2
3	Oklahoma	5-1	0.761	-1
4	Oregon	7-0	0.751	-1
5	Florida	7-0	0.708	-
6	Florida State	7-1	O.680	+1
7	LSU	7-1	0.671	-1
8	Notre Dame	7-0	0.651	-
9	Texas Tech	6-1	0.597	+1
10	Oregon State	6-0	0.523	+2
11	USC	6-1	0.495	+4
12	South Carolina	6-2	0.467	-3
13	Georgia	6-1	0.463	-2
13	Mississippi State	7-0	0.463	+5
15	Clemson	6-1	0.428	+1
16	Texas A&M	5-2	0.412	-2
17	Rutgers	7-0	0.402	+3
18	Louisville	7-0	0.339	+3
19	Arizona State	5-2	0.327	-2
20	Stanford	5-2	0.323	+6
21	Michigan	5-2	0.318	+4
22	West Virginia	5-2	0.312	-9
23	Texas	5-2	0.304	+1
24	Boise State	6-1	0.278	+4
25	Louisiana Tech	6-1	0.262	+5
26	Ohio	7-0	0.214	+3
27	Wisconsin	6-2	0.194	+3

Alabama is able to remain the number one in the SAP, but Kansas State is getting dangerously close. Also, notice how Florida State has managed to claw their way up to number six in the SAP.

Biggest Winners (previously unranked teams are not eligible):

4. Stanford (+6) pretty much handled rival Cal this week and got some love here.

5. Mississippi State (+5) is getting a little bit more attention just before they play ‘Bama.

6. Three teams tied (+4) include; USC, Michigan and Boise State.

Biggest Losers:

4. West Virginia (-9), I don't think I need to explain why they fell again.

5. South Carolina (-3) gets the same as above.

6. Three teams tied (-2) include; Georgia, Texas A&M and Arizona State.

Poll

Who is YOUR number two?

Oregon

3 votes

Florida

0 votes

Kansas State

0 votes

Alabama (if so, who is YOUR number one?)

1 votes

4 votes | Poll has closed

Week 8 Polls and Adjusted Polls

2012-10-18T07:56:47Z

Well, a lot went down this last weekend. South Carolina lost to LSU, West Virginia got blown apart by Texas Tech, and Oklahoma absolutely destroyed Texas. Which means, long story short, that there was a lot of turnover in this weeks rankings.

Also, I would like to acknowledge the fact that it took me longer than normal to get these rankings out because I had a "Fall Break" this week (ASU was kind enough to give us Monday and Tuesday off). Plus, on Sunday night I was up late beating my friends in ping-pong and FIFA 13 and not working on my rankings.

In news actually relating to the rankings; with the BCS finally out, I decided to make the rankings more in-depth. While the BCS rankings primarily just alter the Combined Top 25, I also went out and added a new Statistical Adjusted Poll (SAP) that incorporates the Top 25's rankings in Total Offense, Total Defense, points per game, and points per game against. This sheds more light on teams that deserve to get ranked higher for statistical prowess.

Please enjoy, and leave comments below.

PHXhero's Top 25
Rank	Team	Record	Points	Change
1	Alabama	6-0	1500	-
2	Oregon	6-0	1440	-
3	Kansas State	6-0	1320	+1
4	Florida	6-0	1275	+1
5	Notre Dame	6-0	1240	+2
6	Oregon State	5-0	1205	+2
7	Clemson	5-1	1110	+2
8	Oklahoma	4-1	1105	+4
9	LSU	6-1	1000	+2
10	USC	5-1	915	-
11	South Carolina	6-1	900	-8
12	Ohio State	7-0	810	+1
13	Florida State	6-1	805	+1
14	Georgia	5-1	745	+3
15	Louisville	6-0	730	+3
16	Mississippi State	6-0	670	+3
17	Rutgers	6-0	645	+3
18	Texas A&M	5-1	520	+4
19	Cincinnati	5-0	415	+4
20	Arizona State	5-1	345	+5
21	West Virginia	5-1	275	-15
22	Stanford	4-2	200	-6
23	Ohio	7-0	180	+3
24	Texas Tech	5-1	145	+2
25	TCU	5-1	75	+1
Droped Out: 15 Texas, 21 Baylor, 24 Louisiana Tech

Another shake-up week in the top five occurred when South Carolina lost to LSU (who lost to Florida last week), and remember that South Carolina plays Florida this week and maybe the continuing circle of losses will occur.

Oklahoma jumped back into the top ten with a dominating win over Texas. And conversely, West Virginia dropped 15 spots because of their blowout loss to Texas Tech.

Arizona State got a boost this week because of their absolute mauling of Colorado in the second half (showing some resilience in that game). The Sun Devils look better than they did last year, it appears that Brock Osweiler leaving was the best thing to happen for the team because it gave way for Taylor Kelly to prove his worth.

Stanford lost their second game of the year, a hard fought one to Notre Dame, but they still are a very good team. Teams heading off to play Stanford shouldn't take the game lightly.

Texas Tech and TCU move back into the top 25 after some convincing wins this weekend.

Teams dropping out include; Texas, Baylor, and Louisiana Tech (although LA Tech lost to a very good Texas A&M team).

Combined Top 25
Rank	Team	Record	Points	Change
1	Alabama	6-0	O.990	-
2	Oregon	6-0	O.940	-
3	Florida	6-0	0.883	+3
4	Kansas State	6-0	0.878	+1
5	Notre Dame	6-0	0.848	+2
6	LSU	6-1	0.743	+2
7	Oklahoma	4-1	0.687	+4
8	Oregon State	5-0	0.686	+1
9	South Carolina	6-1	0.666	-6
10	USC	5-1	0.613	-
11	Florida State	6-1	0.534	+1
12	Georgia	5-1	0.509	+2
13	Clemson	5-1	0.504	-
14	Mississippi State	6-0	0.443	+5
15	Louisville	6-0	0.435	+3
16	West Virginia	5-1	0.371	-12
17	Rutgers	6-0	O.360	+3
18	Ohio State	7-0	0.314	-1
19	Texas A&M	5-1	0.301	+3
20	Cincinnati	5-0	0.256	+1
21	Texas Tech	5-1	0.233	+9
22	Stanford	4-2	0.176	-6
23	Boise State	5-1	0.117	+2
24	TCU	5-1	0.107	+2
25	Ohio	7-0	0.095	+5
25	Arizona State	5-1	0.095	+2
27	Michigan	4-2	0.046	+2
28	Iowa State	4-2	0.029	-
29	Texas	4-2	0.016	-14

Here we have a combination of the AP Poll, USA Today Poll, the BCS Poll (now) and my own personal poll that averages out the rankings. Each poll is weighted evenly and the highest point total a team can receive is 4500 (each poll has their own point value for each team which is added together then divided by 4500).

Alabama remains the top spot in this poll by just .050 points. Meanwhile, South Carolina lost their hold on the third spot and is now number nine in the poll.

Biggest Winners (previously unranked teams are - normally - not eligible):

1. Texas Tech (+9) destroyed WVU this weekend and got themselves back in the top 25.

2. Mississippi State (+5) is finally getting some love in the rankings, something they haven't been able to get even though they are in the SEC.

3. Oklahoma (+4) lit up the scoreboard against Texas and re-solidified their spot in the top 10.

Biggest Losers:

1. Texas (-14) got the reverse of Oklahoma's move because of their humiliating defeat.

2. Stanford (-6) took another stumble with a loss to Notre Dame (a close game).

3. South Carolina (-6) got tagged with a loss against LSU who lost to Florida, and Florida might lose to South Carolina this weekend (just like the Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech problem a few years ago).

Adjusted Combined Top 25
Rank	Team	Record	Points	Change
1	Alabama	6-0	0.899	-
2	Kansas State	6-0	0.896	-
3	Florida	6-0	0.846	+1
4	Oregon	6-0	0.805	+1
5	LSU	6-1	0.761	+4
6	Oklahoma	4-1	0.749	+2
7	Notre Dame	6-0	0.739	-
8	South Carolina	6-1	0.653	-2
9	Oregon State	5-0	0.642	+3
10	USC	5-1	0.564	+1
11	Georgia	5-1	O.520	+2
12	West Virginia	5-1	0.456	-9
13	Florida State	6-1	0.434	+1
14	Clemson	5-1	0.423	+2
15	Texas A&M	5-1	0.394	+4
16	Mississippi State	6-0	0.381	+4
17	Texas Tech	5-1	0.367	+13
18	Louisville	6-0	0.353	+3
19	Rutgers	6-0	0.301	+3
20	Stanford	4-2	0.287	-5
21	Ohio State	7-0	0.284	-4
22	Iowa State	4-2	O.210	+2
23	Cincinnati	5-0	0.209	+2
24	Texas	4-2	0.197	-14
25	TCU	5-1	0.172	+4
26	Boise State	5-1	0.133	+2
27	Arizona State	5-1	0.123	-1
28	Michigan	4-2	0.079	-5
29	Ohio	7-0	0.046	+1

First thing first, this is a new ranking like the Combined Top 25 except that this poll is also weighted by strength of schedule.

Alabama and Kansas State remained the number one and two respectively in this week's poll. Notre Dame is the only other team not to move this week in the rankings (just for a fun fact).

Biggest Winners (previously unranked teams are not eligible):

1. Texas Tech (+13) not only beat WVU, they have the fourth hardest schedule of the top 25 teams.

2. Four teams tied (+4) here include; LSU, Texas A&M, Mississippi State, and TCU.

3. Three teams tied (+3) here include; Oregon State, Louisville, and Rutgers.

Biggest Losers:

1. Texas (-14) got whopped by Oklahoma and fell hard, but not hard enough to move out of the top 25.

2. West Virginia (-9) learned why the Big 12 isn't the Big East this week with their loss to Texas Tech.

3. Stanford (-5) lost a close one to Notre Dame which is why they fall but don't fall too far.

Statistic Adjusted Poll
Rank	Team	Record	Points
1	Alabama	6-0	0.825
2	Oklahoma	4-1	0.727
3	Oregon	6-0	0.714
4	Kansas State	6-0	0.709
5	Florida	6-0	0.666
6	LSU	6-1	0.656
7	Florida State	6-1	0.645
8	Notre Dame	6-0	0.629
9	South Carolina	6-1	0.588
10	Texas Tech	5-1	0.544
11	Georgia	5-1	0.485
12	Oregon State	5-0	0.483
13	West Virginia	5-1	0.466
14	Texas A&M	5-1	0.456
15	USC	5-1	0.447
16	Clemson	5-1	0.423
17	Arizona State	5-1	0.398
18	Mississippi State	6-0	0.393
19	Cincinnati	5-0	0.357
20	Rutgers	6-0	0.337
21	Louisville	6-0	O.330
22	TCU	5-1	0.314
23	Ohio State	7-0	0.291
24	Texas	4-2	0.258
25	Michigan	4-2	0.257
26	Stanford	4-2	0.214
27	Iowa State	4-2	0.191
28	Boise State	5-1	0.187
29	Ohio	7-0	0.155

Alabama is the number one yet again in a new ranking. However, you can tell that Alabama does not have a hold on all the statistical elements because of their low .825 point total here.

Oklahoma is the number two on this poll which is shocking considering they have a loss on their record (but that loss was to Kansas State).

Another shocker is Florida State being present in the top 10, along with Texas
Tech who makes an unbelievable presence in the top 10 (at number 10).

Texas A&M (14) ends up ahead of USC (15) while Arizona State manages to snatch up the 17th spot thanks to their high statistical rankings.

Poll

Does the SAP provide an accurate representation of how the Top 25 should look?

Yes

0 votes

No

0 votes

Who cares, it is cool.

1 votes

No polls are ever truly accurate.

0 votes

1 votes | Poll has closed

Week 7 Polls and Adjusted Polls

2012-10-07T23:10:11Z

Week six is officially in the books, and a lot of movement occurred with Florida State, LSU, and Georgia all losing thus causing a lot of turnover in the top 10. Also, don't forget that TCU also lost to Iowa State and Nebraska was obliterated late by Ohio State.

First my own Top 25 will be listed with a few reasons left below.

Then it will be followed by a Combined Top 25 which averages out rankings between my poll, the AP Poll, and the USA Today Poll (those two were chosen because of how often they are referred to by people, the BCS will be added when that poll is released later in the season).

Following that you will see a ranking of every team in each poll by Strength of Schedule (SoS). The SoS will then be promptly used to create the Adjusted Combined Top 25 which takes into account the Sos (obviously) to get a final ranking of the top 25 teams in the nation.

Please enjoy and leave your comments below.

First my own Top 25 will be listed with a few reasons left below.

Please enjoy and leave your comments below.

PHXhero's Top 25
Rank	Team	Record	Points	Change
1	Alabama	5-0	1500	-
2	Oregon	6-0	1440	-
3	South Carolina	6-0	1335	+5
4	Kansas State	5-0	1280	-
5	Florida	5-0	1225	+5
6	West Virginia	5-0	1200	+1
7	Notre Dame	5-0	1150	+2
8	Oregon State	4-0	1090	+10
9	Clemson	5-1	900	+4
10	USC	4-1	875	+2
11	LSU	5-1	805	-5
12	Oklahoma	3-1	770	+2
13	Ohio State	6-0	750	+2
14	Florida State	5-1	705	-11
15	Texas	4-1	680	-4
16	Stanford	4-1	645	-
17	Georgia	5-1	590	-12
18	Louisville	5-0	520	+1
19	Mississippi State	5-0	485	+1
20	Rutgers	5-0	345	+1
21	Baylor	4-1	270	+4
22	Texas A&M	4-1	190	+4
23	Cincinnati	4-0	165	+3
24	Louisiana Tech	5-0	110	+2
25	Arizona State	4-1	95	+1
Dropped Out: 17 TCU, 22 UCLA, 23 Nebraska, 24 Texas Tech

This week, the top 25 got really shaken up thanks to a plethora of upsets. Alabama still retains the top spot (they didn't play this week). Oregon also doesn't move from the second spot after their beat down of Washington.

South Carolina moves all the way up to three because of how well they handled and destroyed previous number five Georgia (who falls down to 17 in the rankings).

Florida went out and took care of business (defensively) against former number six, LSU. The Tigers then proceeded to fall all the way to 11 in the rankings (hey, they lost to a team that was in the top 10 already).

Oregon State breaks into the top 10 this week because of previous top 10 teams getting upset, and the simple fact that the Beavers are playing some great football in the Pac-12 right now (they beat ranked opponents in Nebraska and UCLA, plus defeated a formidable team in U of A).

Arizona State manages to break into the top 25 this week (at 25) because of four teams dropping out and a lack of respectable teams making a bid for the rankings this week (specifically Michigan and Boise State).

Combined Top 25
Rank	Team	Record	Points	Change
1	Alabama	5-0	0.994	-
2	Oregon	6-0	0.952	-
3	South Carolina	6-0	0.898	+4
4	West Virginia	5-0	0.835	+4
5	Kansas State	5-0	0.825	+1
6	Florida	5-0	0.812	+5
7	Notre Dame	5-0	0.773	+2
8	LSU	5-1	0.601	-4
9	Oregon State	4-0	O.590	+7
10	USC	4-1	0.584	+2
11	Oklahoma	3-1	0.533	+4
12	Florida State	5-1	0.516	-9
13	Clemson	5-1	0.515	-
14	Georgia	5-1	0.463	-9
15	Texas	4-1	0.456	-5
16	Stanford	4-1	0.402	+1
17	Ohio State	6-0	0.401	+1
18	Louisville	5-0	0.365	+1
19	Mississippi State	5-0	0.332	+1
20	Rutgers	5-0	0.241	+2
21	Cincinnati	4-0	0.163	+4
22	Texas A&M	4-1	0.122	+8
23	Baylor	4-1	0.085	+5
24	Louisiana Tech	5-0	0.082	+6
25	Boise State	4-1	0.069	+4
26	TCU	4-1	0.054	-12
27	Arizona State	4-1	0.043	+3
28	Iowa State	4-1	0.028	+2
29	Michigan	3-2	0.026	+1

Here we have a combination of the AP Poll, USA Today Poll, and my own personal poll that averages out the rankings. Each poll is weighted evenly and the highest point total a team can receive is 4500 (each poll has their own point value for each team which is added together then divided by 4500).

Alabama remains the top spot in this poll by just 0.042 points this week (down from 0.044 last week). South Carolina and West Virginia move into the three and four spots, respectfully.

Biggest Winners (previously unranked teams are not eligible):

1. Oregon State (+7) moves up the most out of any team again this week, they are looking better after every game.

2. Florida (+5) stuffed LSU (former number four) this week which enables them to move up five places.

3. Five Teams (+4), South Carolina, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Cincinnati, and Boise State all got bumped this week for their victories.

Biggest Losers:

1. TCU (-12) lost to Iowa State this week pretty convincingly. They fall out of the top 25.

2. Florida State (-9) also lost to an unranked team in N.C. State. Their BCS hopes are darkened considerably.

3. Georgia (-9) did lose to the number seven team, but they got embarrassed 35 to 7 which is why they fall this far.

Strength of Schedule Top 25
Rank	Team	Record	Points
1	Oklahoma	3-1	1500
2	Baylor	4-1	1450
3	Kansas State	5-0	1400
4	West Virginia	5-0	1350
5	Texas	4-1	1300
6	Florida	5-0	1250
7	Texas A&M	4-1	1200
8	Michigan	3-2	1150
9	LSU	5-1	1100
10	Georgia	5-1	1050
11	Iowa State	4-1	900
12	Stanford	4-1	850
13	Alabama	5-0	800
14	Notre Dame	5-0	700
15	South Carolina	6-0	650
16	USC	4-1	550
17	Oregon State	4-0	500
18	Oregon	6-0	450
19	Florida State	5-1	400
20	Arizona State	4-1	350
21	Clemson	5-1	300
22	Rutgers	5-0	250
23	Mississippi State	5-0	200
24	Ohio State	6-0	150
25	TCU	4-1	100
26	Boise State	4-1	50
27	Louisville	5-0	40
28	Cincinnati	4-0	30
29	Louisiana Tech	5-0	10

One should notice that only three teams in the top 10 are undefeated, what does that mean about these undefeated teams? Most interesting part about the SoS this week is Baylor having the second hardest schedule in the nation (not just in the top 25). Florida State and Oregon's Sos fell hard this week which will ultimately cost them in the Adjusted Poll.

Adjusted Combined Top 25
Rank	Team	Record	Points	Change
1	Alabama	5-0	0.879	+1
2	Kansas State	5-0	0.852	+2
3	West Virginia	5-0	0.851	+7
4	Florida	5-0	0.818	+3
5	Oregon	6-0	0.789	-2
6	South Carolina	6-0	0.782	+3
7	Notre Dame	5-0	0.696	+6
8	Oklahoma	3-1	O.650	+4
9	LSU	5-1	0.634	-4
10	Texas	4-1	0.559	-2
11	USC	4-1	O.530	+5
12	Oregon State	4-0	0.526	+2
13	Georgia	5-1	0.522	-7
14	Florida State	5-1	0.454	-13
15	Stanford	4-1	0.443	-
16	Clemson	5-1	0.436	-5
17	Ohio State	6-0	0.326	+2
18	Baylor	4-1	0.306	+4
19	Texas A&M	4-1	0.292	+11
20	Mississippi State	5-0	0.282	-2
21	Louisville	5-0	O.280	+2
22	Rutgers	5-0	0.223	+4
23	Michigan	3-2	0.211	+7
24	Iowa State	4-1	0.171	+6
25	Cincinnati	4-0	0.128	-1
26	Arizona State	4-1	0.091	+4
27	Louisana Tech	5-0	0.063	+3
28	Boise State	4-1	O.060	+1
29	TCU	4-1	0.057	-12

First thing first, this is a new ranking like the Combined Top 25 except that this poll is also weighted by strength of schedule.

Alabama finally becomes the number one on the Adjusted Poll with Florida State losing to N.C. State. Also, notice how Oregon falls from number three to number five this week.

Biggest Winners (previously unranked teams are not eligible):

1. West Virginia (+7) proved they can play with the top teams in the Big 12, their defense is concerning though.

2. Notre Dame (+6) obliterated Miami offensively and defensively, they are looking like a very difficult team to beat.

3. USC (+5) almost lost to Utah, but they showed some resilience and played well down the stretch.

Biggest Losers:

1. Florida State (-13) drops a "Baker's Dozen" this week following their loss to N.C. State.

2. TCU (-12) fell all the way to the bottom in this poll, and honestly if it wasn't for the USA Today Poll they wouldn't even be on this poll anymore.

3. Georgia (-7) was embarrassed on national television by SEC opponent South Carolina.

CFB Week 6 Polls and Adjusted Polls

2012-10-01T05:39:03Z

Week five is in the books and we are getting ready for week six. After last week's debacle with Stanford losing and my post coming out after they had already lost, I made it a point to have this one in before Monday morning. Where does Stanford fall to? Does West Virginia move up with their impressive win? What teams are moving into the top 25? All that will be found out down below the jump!

First my own Top 25 will be listed with a few reasons left below.

Please enjoy and leave your comments below.

First my own Top 25 will be listed with a few reasons left below.

Please enjoy and leave your comments below.

PHXhero's Top 25
Rank	Team	Record	Points	Change
1	Alabama	5-0	1500	-
2	Oregon	5-0	1440	-
3	Florida State	5-0	1310	-
4	Kansas State	4-0	1240	+2
5	Georgia	5-0	1210	-
6	LSU	5-0	1100	-2
7	West Virginia	4-0	1085	+2
8	South Carolina	5-0	1050	-
9	Notre Dame	4-0	1010	+1
10	Florida	4-0	930	+1
11	Texas	4-0	880	+1
12	USC	3-1	815	+1
13	Clemson	4-1	810	+1
14	Oklahoma	2-1	640	+1
15	Ohio State	5-0	620	+1
16	Stanford	3-1	610	-10
17	TCU	4-0	550	-
18	Oregon State	3-0	505	-
19	Louisville	5-0	400	-
20	Mississippi State	4-0	340	-
21	Rutgers	4-0	280	+1
22	UCLA	4-1	230	+2
23	Nebraska	4-1	145	+2
24	Texas Tech	4-0	100	+2
25	Baylor	4-1	90	-2
Dropped Out: 21 Michigan St.

The top 25 here is pretty much self-explanatory again because a lot of top 25 teams didn't play this weekend. Alabama remains my consensus number one, and I don't feel like I need to justify that.

Yes, LSU drops to 6 for me. Why? Barely edging out Auburn and then turning around and letting Towson stay in the game against you for 4 quarters is unacceptable for a top 5 team.

I am cautious about moving up West Virginia because even though they are great offensively, their defense is appalling and I am not sure how it will hold up as their conference play continues.

Stanford only drops to 16 for me and that's because I feel like their loss to Washington was a fluke. They got caught off-guard by a program that they expected to beat but forgot that Washington is a better program then the LSU loss suggests.

Baylor stays ranked because they lost to a better team, and in that loss they put up 63 points in a very inspired effort on the road.

Lastly, I didn't rank ASU (even though I want to), because I didn't like their win at Cal. If they can handedly beat Colorado in two weeks or depending on the quality of teams making a bid for the last spots in the top 25 next week, then we can talk.

Combined Top 25
Rank	Team	Record	Points	Change
1	Alabama	5-0	0.994	-
2	Oregon	5-0	O.950	-
3	Florida State	5-0	O.880	+1
4	LSU	5-0	O.830	-1
5	Georgia	5-0	O.820	-
6	Kansas State	4-0	0.758	+1
7	South Carolina	5-0	0.747	-1
8	West Virginia	4-0	0.731	+1
9	Notre Dame	4-0	O.660	+1
10	Texas	4-0	0.621	+1
11	Florida	4-0	0.611	+1
12	USC	3-1	0.512	+1
13	Clemson	4-1	0.454	+1
14	TCU	4-0	0.424	+2
15	Oklahoma	2-1	0.423	-
16	Oregon State	3-0	0.357	+3
17	Stanford	3-1	0.349	-9
18	Ohio State	5-0	0.314	-
19	Louisville	5-0	0.295	-2
20	Mississippi State	4-0	0.237	+1
21	Nebraska	4-1	0.178	+1
22	Rutgers	4-0	0.144	+1
23	UCLA	4-1	0.091	+2
24	Northwestern	5-0	0.077	+6
25	Texas Tech	4-0	0.055	+5
25	Cincinnati	3-0	0.055	+5
27	Washington	3-1	O.050	+3
28	Baylor	4-1	0.036	-3
29	Boise State	3-1	O.030	-3

Alabama remains the top spot in this poll by just .044 points. Meanwhile, LSU lost their hold on the third spot and is not too far ahead of Georgia (just a .010 lead).

Biggest Winners (previously unranked teams are not eligible):

1. Oregon State (+3) jumped three spots with their win over former top 25 team Arizona.

2. TCU (+2) moves up the rankings after edging out SMU and remaining undefeated.

3. UCLA (+2) is starting to earn their respect back, UCLA should be a scary team for us ASU boys to play in four weeks.

Biggest Losers:

1. Stanford (-9) big surprise here. Losing to an unranked team is never good especially if you are in the top 10.

2. Baylor (-3) falls out of the top 25 in this list, however they really shouldn't.

3. Boise State (-3) the fact that Boise is still ranked in any poll is still amazing to me. Years ago they weren't getting enough respect and now they are getting too much.

Strength of Schedule Top 25
Rank	Team	Record	Points
1	Florida	4-0	1500
2	Oregon State	3-0	1450
3	Oklahoma	2-1	1400
4	Clemson	4-1	1350
5	Texas	4-0	1300
6	Baylor	4-1	1250
7	Washington	3-1	1200
8	Kansas State	4-0	1150
9	Stanford	3-1	1100
10	Florida State	5-0	1050
11	Cincinnati	3-0	900
12	Texas Tech	4-0	850
13	LSU	5-0	800
14	Georgia	5-0	700
15	Nebraska	4-1	650
16	Mississippi State	4-0	550
17	Oregon	5-0	500
18	Alabama	5-0	450
19	Rutgers	4-0	400
20	UCLA	4-1	350
21	South Carolina	5-0	300
22	Notre Dame	4-0	250
23	West Virginia	4-0	200
24	USC	3-1	150
25	Boise State	3-1	100
26	Ohio State	5-0	50
27	Louisville	5-0	40
28	Northwestern	5-0	30
29	TCU	4-0	10

Florida jumped to the top of this ranking (attribute that to the SEC). Oregon State also moved up the second slot, they are just looking like an all-around non-fluke of a team. TCU rounds out the bottom of this list and in fact almost rounds out the bottom of the entire NCAA Strength of Schedule rankings involving all 124 teams (why are they ranked with that schedule? They should be winning games with that favorable joke of a schedule, but it will move up when they start playing Big 12 teams again).

Adjusted Combined Top 25
Rank	Team	Record	Points	Change
1	Florida State	5-0	0.835	+1
2	Alabama	5-0	O.820	-
3	Oregon	5-0	0.796	-2
4	Kansas State	4-0	0.761	-
5	LSU	5-0	0.756	-
6	Georgia	5-0	0.732	+1
7	Florida	4-0	0.708	+2
8	Texas	4-0	0.682	+4
9	South Carolina	5-0	0.611	+1
10	West Virginia	4-0	0.581	+3
11	Clemson	4-1	0.566	-
12	Oklahoma	2-1	0.551	+2
13	Notre Dame	4-0	0.536	-5
14	Oregon State	3-0	0.509	+2
15	Stanford	3-1	0.445	-9
16	USC	3-1	0.409	-1
17	TCU	4-0	O.320	-
18	Mississippi State	4-0	O.270	+5
19	Ohio State	5-0	0.244	+2
20	Nebraska	4-1	0.242	+7
21	Washington	3-1	0.237	+9
22	Baylor	4-1	0.235	-
23	Louisville	5-0	0.228	-3
24	Cincinnati	3-0	0.191	+6
25	Texas Tech	4-0	0.183	+5
26	Rutgers	4-0	0.174	-
27	UCLA	4-1	0.127	+1
28	Northwestern	5-0	0.063	+2
29	Boise State	3-1	0.039	-

First thing first, this is a new ranking like the Combined Top 25 except that this poll is also weighted by strength of schedule.

Florida State becomes the new number one this week as Oregon drops down to three and ‘Bama stays at two (but they are only .015 behind FSU).

Biggest Winners (previously unranked teams are not eligible):

1. Nebraska (+7) jumps a lot after barely beating rival Wisconsin.

2. Mississippi State (+5) didn't play this week but shuffling in the top 25 helps this SEC team.

3. Texas (+4) came out and beat Oklahoma St. (previously #18) pretty decisively.

Biggest Losers:

1. Stanford (-9), I don't know if I have to repeat myself here but they lost to an unranked team.

2. Notre Dame (-5) lost ground in this ranking even though they didn't play this week.

3. Louisville (-3) didn't look all that great in their win this weekend which is why they drop here.

CFB Week 5 Polls and Adjusted Polls

2012-09-28T06:03:44Z

I normally don't start officially ranking teams in college football until around week five of the season. I find it is very difficult to judge teams without really seeing how they play together on the field, normally be week five most teams have played some decent teams and faced some adversity. This makes it easier to start ranking teams as Conference play starts coming into full swing.

First my own Top 25 will be listed with a few reasons left below (*disclaimer* I made this before Stanford lost tonight and I have no interest in re-adjusting all these rankings and re-doing my calculations).

Please enjoy and leave your comments below.

PHXhero's Top 25
Rank	Team	Record	Points
1	Alabama	4-0	1500
2	Oregon	4-0	1440
3	Florida State	4-0	1310
4	LSU	4-0	1285
5	Georgia	4-0	1210
6	Stanford	3-0	1190
7	Kansas State	4-0	1155
8	South Carolina	4-0	1050
9	West Virginia	3-0	1005
10	Notre Dame	4-0	1000
11	Florida	4-0	865
12	Texas	3-0	840
13	USC	3-1	780
14	Clemson	3-1	735
15	Oklahoma	2-1	510
16	Ohio State	4-0	495
17	TCU	3-0	460
18	Oregon State	2-0	450
19	Louisville	4-0	370
20	Mississippi State	4-0	325
21	Michigan State	3-1	280
22	Rutgers	4-0	200
23	Baylor	4-0	145
24	UCLA	3-1	105
25	Nebraska	3-1	80

The top 25 here is pretty much self-explanatory. Alabama is my consensus number one, both Oregon and FSU leapfrogged LSU in the polls thanks to their showing against Auburn.

Stanford is a well-coached team that deserves its spot at number six despite how good Kansas State is looking.

Notre Dame is looking more legitimate after every game (although don't expect them to win the National Championship).

Clemson lost to a top 10 team in FSU, and they competed for a full 4 quarters (except for that big comeback by the Seminoles), so dropping them far in the rankings is a bit uncalled for which is why I left them at 14.

And finally we have UCLA still in the top 25. Why? Because Oregon State has beat two top 25 teams now and losing to them just doesn't look as bad anymore which is why UCLA, with how good they are, should still be in the top 25.

Combined Top 25
Rank	Team	Record	Points
1	Alabama	4-0	0.994
2	Oregon	4-0	0.939
3	LSU	4-0	0.887
4	Florida State	4-0	0.879
5	Georgia	4-0	0.818
6	South Carolina	4-0	0.744
7	Kansas State	4-0	0.716
8	Stanford	3-0	O.710
9	West Virginia	3-0	0.708
10	Notre Dame	4-0	0.631
11	Texas	3-0	0.582
12	Florida	4-0	0.566
13	USC	3-1	0.532
14	Clemson	3-1	0.418
15	Oklahoma	2-1	0.404
16	TCU	3-0	0.396
17	Louisville	4-0	0.284
18	Ohio State	4-0	0.251
19	Oregon State	2-0	0.249
20	Michigan State	3-1	0.229
21	Mississippi State	4-0	0.204
22	Nebraska	3-1	O.130
23	Rutgers	4-0	0.095
24	Baylor	4-0	0.075
25	UCLA	3-1	0.048
26	Boise State	2-1	0.041
27	Oklahoma State	2-1	0.037
28	Virginia Tech	3-1	0.028
29	Wisconsin	3-1	0.026

Alabama retains the top spot in this poll by just .055 points. Meanwhile, LSU manages to hold onto the third spot, barely.

The biggest surprise here is that UCLA remains in the top 25 despite only being ranked in my poll. I guess the "Others Receiving Votes" list is a little more important than I thought.

Strength of Schedule Top 25
Rank	Team	Record	Points
1	Clemson	3-1	1500
2	Oklahoma State	2-1	1450
3	Oklahoma	2-1	1400
4	Oregon State	2-0	1350
5	Kansas State	4-0	1300
6	Oregon	4-0	1250
7	Florida State	4-0	1200
8	Florida	4-0	1150
9	Stanford	3-0	1100
10	Notre Dame	4-0	1050
11	Virginia Tech	3-1	900
12	Wisconsin	3-1	850
13	Baylor	4-0	800
14	Texas	3-0	700
15	USC	3-1	650
16	Georgia	4-0	550
17	LSU	4-0	500
18	Alabama	4-0	450
19	UCLA	3-1	400
20	Rutgers	4-0	350
21	Michigan State	3-1	300
22	South Carolina	4-0	250
23	Boise State	2-1	200
24	Mississippi State	4-0	150
25	Nebraska	3-1	100
26	Louisville	4-0	50
27	West Virginia	3-0	40
28	Ohio State	4-0	30
29	TCU	3-0	10

The most interesting part of this ranking to me (which was retrieved from teamrankings.com, the points total was added by me for statistical purposes) was Oregon State and Kansas State's high ranking which means that those teams may just be for real. Other than that it isn't much of a shock for the rest of the schedule considering most high level teams are currently still playing through the weak parts of their schedule, the rankings should start shuffling fast now that Conference play is starting up.

Adjusted Combined Top 25
Rank	Team	Record	Points
1	Oregon	4-0	0.913
2	Florida State	4-0	0.859
3	Alabama	4-0	O.820
4	Kansas State	4-0	0.754
5	LSU	4-0	0.749
6	Stanford	3-0	0.716
7	Georgia	4-0	0.705
8	Notre Dame	4-0	0.648
9	Florida	4-0	0.616
10	South Carolina	4-0	0.599
11	Clemson	3-1	0.564
12	Texas	3-0	0.553
13	West Virginia	3-0	0.538
14	Oklahoma	2-1	0.537
15	USC	3-1	0.507
16	Oregon State	2-0	0.412
17	TCU	3-0	0.299
18	Oklahoma State	2-1	0.269
19	Michigan State	3-1	0.222
20	Louisville	4-0	0.221
21	Ohio State	4-0	0.193
22	Baylor	4-0	O.190
23	Mississippi State	4-0	0.178
24	Virginia Tech	3-1	0.171
25	Wisconsin	3-1	0.161
26	Rutgers	4-0	0.129
27	Nebraska	3-1	0.114
28	UCLA	3-1	0.103
29	Boise State	2-1	0.064

First thing first, this is a new ranking like the Combined Top 25 except that this poll is also weighted by strength of schedule. This is most apparent in Alabama who drops from one to three, FSU manages to move comfortably in the second slot while Oregon becomes the clear cut number one.

Other moves include Kansas State moving up to four, LSU falling to five, Notre Dame advancing to eight, South Carolina and West Virginia falling out of the top 10, and Clemson getting to stay at 11. USC also manages to move backwards, meanwhile Oklahoma State stays ranked at 18 with both Virginia Tech and Wisconsin keeping Rutgers and Nebraska out of the top 25.

ASU Men's Basketball Announce Scrimmage Date

2012-09-27T02:07:02Z

Just wanted to drop in that the ASU Men's Basketball team will be holding a scrimmage on October 20th at 10 am. It is free and open to the public and will be held at Wells Fargo Arena. It'll be the first opportunity that fans have to catch a glimpse of highly touted first year starting guard Jahii Carson.

In addition to Carson the Devils also have two new potential starters: Evan Gordon, the younger brother of New Orleans Hornets shooting guard Eric Gordon, and former Hawaii Warrior and deep threat Bo Barnes. Should be an interesting season for the Devils as Herb Sendek's job may very well be in the balance. I believe that this team will be the cinderella of the Pac-12 and that Jahii Carson has the potential to earn First Team Pac-12 honors.

Graham Driving ASU

2012-09-13T20:13:16Z

I can't believe the job that Todd Graham is doing. It really is amazing that last season Arizona State ranked dead last in the nation for penalty yards per game at 79.77 and this season the Devils are averaging 17.5 per game. Last season Head Coach Dennis Erickson had a coaching philosophy of allowing the players to be loose and confident, ready to put some hurt into an opponent.

The problem with that is that when things start going bad during a game there is no base for a player to rely on. They start to get upset and lose some confidence that what they are doing isn't good enough and they over do it and play with too much emotion. The culture change that Graham has instilled is one of trust and accountability. The players are disciplined and they trust that a teammate will get the job done. No need to fly off the handle and effect change solo.

As you can tell I am now a big Todd Graham fan. I believe in this guy, even if we finish 6-6 the kind of ball these Devils are playing is inspiring. The fact that an undisciplined, mistake making, out of shape playing, suspension ridden, underachieving mess that was the Sun Devil football program is now efficient, dynamic, electric and worth putting your faith into. I really believe that this program is on the express lane to relevance and Graham is behind the wheel. Let's hope he stays in Tempe for more than 10 months.

Sendek is Going Down Swinging

2012-09-05T21:21:21Z

There is no denying that the Sun Devil men's basketball program has been less then exciting recently. However, with his job hanging in the balance head coach Herb Sendek isn't going down without a fight. The recent additions of Eric Musselman and Larry Greer prove that Sendek still has clout within the annals of basketball.

Musselman has NBA experience, as he was a head coach at Golden State and Sacramento and last season he was the NBADL Coach of the Year. Jeremy Lin, who for about 3 weeks in the middle of the NBA season set the world on fire, credits Musselman for a lot of his success as he was coached my him in the Developmental Legue. Greer was an assistant on former Sun Devil Jamelle Mcmillan's father Nate's Portland Trailblazers staff.

Bringing in two NBA seasoned assistants really shows that Sendek is still invested in turning the program around and that he is still regarded as a good basketball man. I really hope that he gets the opportunity to have some recruiting classes with these two assistants on board.

House of Sparky Roll Call, 2012: Tell Us About Your Sun Devil History

2012-08-29T03:55:00Z

With the Arizona State football season two short days away, it's time to take the first official House of Sparky Roll Call.

At its core, the roll call is simply a way for everyone here on HoS to introduce themselves and establish some sense of who they are, where they're from, and their affiliation to ASU.

Whether you joined House of Sparky back in 2008 or you found us on Facebook, join us in the comments and give us a little insight about who you are when it comes to Sun Devils fandom.

This should be a lot of fun!

Whether you're a longtime visitor or just here for the first time, please take the time to respond! Even if you never comment and just lurk, we want to get to know you. Always cool to hear about people's history with our amazing alma mater.

Ready? HERE WE GO!

What is your connection to the Arizona State University? Alum? Student? Raised as a fan? Randomly adopted ASU?
Where were you born and raised and where do you currently reside?
How did you find and begin to read House of Sparky?
If you attended ASU, what years were you there and what was your Revenue Sports Record as a student? (Click here for football records and click here for basketball records, add together for RSR).
What was the very first Sun Devils sporting event you attended? Tell us something specific about that particular event (leading scorer for basketball, first scoring play for football, starting pitcher's WHIP for triple play, most vivid memory, etc.).

With the Arizona State football season two short days away, it's time to take the first official House of Sparky Roll Call.

At its core, the roll call is simply a way for everyone here on HoS to introduce themselves and establish some sense of who they are, where they're from, and their affiliation to ASU.

Whether you joined House of Sparky back in 2008 or you found us on Facebook, join us in the comments and give us a little insight about who you are when it comes to Sun Devils fandom.

This should be a lot of fun!

Ready? HERE WE GO!

Pac 12 Networks & Arizona State

2012-07-18T20:06:07Z

Hey Sun Devils, make 'em Fear the Fork! Watch this video for a preview of what will be on Pac-12 Networks: on.pac-12.org/Ol0eMc
— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) July 18, 2012