Written by Ell
| 19 October 2008
As we told you earlier, the Tide is still sitting at #2 in both the AP and ESPN/USA Today polls. It is worth noting that the difference between Bama and the Texas Longhorns is considerably greater than last week, though.
After the beat down that Texas put on Missouri (who appears to have been massively over rated) they now have all 65 first place votes in the AP poll, and 58 of the 59 in the ESPN/USA Today poll. The Tide does have the one remaining first place vote in that poll.
Bama is now 82 points behind Texas and just 37 points ahead of Penn State. Winning close games against back to back unranked teams, regardless of whether they are in the SEC, tends to do that to you in the beauty contest that is the AP poll.
Of the 26 voters who had Bama at #1 last week, 23 have Bama at #2 this week. In all Bama has 48 second place votes.
Bob Hammond - Laramie (WY) Boomerang,
Fred Lewis - Honolulu (HI) Advertiser,
Jake Schaller - Colorado Springs (CO) Gazette,
Jeff McLane - Philadelphia (PA) Inquirer,
Jim Lamar - Tallahassee (FL) Democrat,
John Heuser - The Ann Arbor (MI) News,
Jon Johnson - Dothan (
AL) Eagle,
Kent Taylor - WAVE-3 (KY),
Mark Tupper - Decatur (IL) Herald,
Mike Strain - Tulsa (OK) World,
Myron Patton - KOKH-TV Oklahoma City,
Taylor Zarzour - WPTF-AM Raleigh (NC),
Tom Hart - CBS College Sports Net,
Tom Murphy - Arkansas Democrat Gazette,
Adam Van Brimmer - Savannah Morning News (GA),
Anthony Gimino - Tucson Citizen (AZ),
Doug Lesmerises - Cleveland Plain Dealer (OH),
Jason Frankchuk - Provo Daily Herald (UT),
Joe Giglio - Raleigh News & Observer (NC),
John Silver - Journal Inquirer (CT),
Jon WIlner - San Jose Mercury News (CA),
Scott Wolf - Los Angeles Daily News (CA),
Steve Conroy - Boston Herald (MA),
Chris Fowler - ESPN,
Doug Segrest - Birmingham News (AL),
Eric Hanson - South Bend Tribune (IN),
Jimmy Burch - Fort Worth Star (TX),
Kevin Pearson - Riverside Press-Enterprise (CA),
Kirk Herbstreit - WBNS-AM (OH),
Marcus Fuller - St. Paul Pioneer (MN),
Matt McCoy - WTVN-AM (OH),
Maurice Patton - The Tennesseean,
Stewart Mandel - SI.com,
Tom Mulhern - Wisconsin State Journal,
Jeff White - Richmond Times (VA),
Joe Person - The State (SC),
Joe Rexrode - Lansing State Journal (MI),
Robbie Andreu - Gainesville Sun (FL),
Aditi Kinkhabwala - Bergen (NJ) Record,
Brett McMurphy - Tampa (FL) Tribune,
Glenn Guilbeau - Gannett (LA) News Service,
Jim Mashek - Biloxi (MS) Sun Herald,
Joseph Duarte - Houston (TX) Chronicle,
Mike Cedie - WREG TV Memphis (TN),
Mike Prater - Idaho Statesman,
Molly Yanity - Searrle (WA) Post-Intelligence,
Randy Harrison - Albuquerque (NM) Journal,
Ray Fittipaldo - Pittsburgh (PA) Post,
Ray Ratto - San Francisco (CA) Chronicle
Ten voters who had Bama at #2 last week have dropped the Tide to #3. Add that to three voters who dropped the Tide from #1 to #3 and the four voter who already had Bama at #3, and you get 17 voters at #3.
Craig James - ABC,
Eric Page - Quad City (IA) Times,
Mark Anderson - Las Vegas (NV) Review-Journal,
Randy Rosetta - Baton Rouge Advocate,
Bill Cole - Winston-Salem (NC) Journal,
Jeff White - Richmond (VA) Times,
Pete DiPrimio - Ft. Wayne (IN) News,
Barker Davis - Washington (DC) Times,
Brett McMurphy - Tampa (FL) Times,
John Hunt - The Oregonian,
Kirk Bohls - Austin (TX) American Statesman,
Mike DeArmond - Kansas City (MO) Star,
Mitch Vingle - Charleston (WV) Gazzette,
Sal Interdonato - Middletown (NY) Record,
Steve Sipple - Lincoln (NE) Star Journal,
Tom Keegan - Lawrence (KS) Journal,
Tom Mulhern - Wisconsin State Journal
It is interesting to note that only two of the 17 guys who have voted Alabama at #3 come from SEC states. The other 12 voters from SEC states likely have a greater understanding of the fact that beating an SEC team by three or four points is not a sign of weakness by the team, but rather a sign of strength by the conference.
Regardless, this is where Bama sits, and likely where the Tide will sit unless Texas loses. The Longhorns have dominated everyone that they have played with exception of Oklahoma, and they still won that game by ten points.
