Consider the following –
A Big 12 Conference Team,
Undefeated,
Nation’s 24th best Offense
Nation’s 5th best Defense
Nation’s 8th toughest Schedule
Moreover, this team just beat vaunted (and previous BCS number 1) Oklahoma by 9 points, in a game they only briefly trailed, outgaining the Sooners 486-402 in total yards, including rushing for 178 yards.
If that team were Texas they would be the consensus number one team in the nation.
As you have now guessed, that team is Missouri. With that resume, they get my number one vote, just narrowly, over the other Tigers of Auburn.
Might they lose this week to Nebraska? Of course. But that's not how I vote. And if that's how others are voting, they are getting it quite wrong (see Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma).
The rest –
UPDATE: It seems from an examination of the Week 9 BlogPoll (pre-commentary) that I am the only one placing Missouri number 1. Other number 1's include Auburn, Oregon and Boise State.
Auburn was a close call for me. But Missouri has a much better scoring defense (13.14 ppg v. 23.5 ppg). They have about the same scoring offenses (34.71 ppg for Mizzou to 38.63 ppg for AU) and virtually the same SOS. It was Mizzou's defense that gave them the edge.
As for Oregon, yes I am very impressed by that 55.14 ppg offense. But they continue to have one of the absolute worst SOS's in the nation, 112th per the NCAA, and nearly as bad in all the computer polls. If not for Stanford on their schedule they would have the nation's worst.
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