Poll Debate: Should Oregon Move Ahead of Oklahoma?
By Brian Spaen
The updated AP and coaches’ polls will be updated
tomorrow
Tuesday, but until then we’re left discussing what the movements will be. After Oklahoma’s struggle on the road against UTEP and Oregon’s domination against Arkansas State, will that be enough for both teams to swap places?
For the sake of just focusing on the BCS, we will just talk about the coaches’ poll, but especially in the top 15 both polls are very similar. It will be interesting to see how uniform they will be after the first week’s update.
In my opinion, I don’t believe there will be a swap. Unless these coaches watched the entirety of the game, or at least knows what happened in both the Oklahoma and Oregon game, the final score will not be enough to get Oregon out of the fifth spot.
Yes, the Ducks cruised to a 50-3 lead halfway through the second quarter, but should they be concerned about about giving up 34 points and over 500 total yards to the Red Wolves? It’s a debate that could lead to some questions if Oregon faced a stronger opponent.
The Sooners struggled, having some special teams snafus early on and never could really recover until late in the fourth quarter. Yet, Oklahoma had 24 unanswered points and the defense buckled down to prevent the Miners from an offensive score.
Personally, especially in the top 10, I see the top seven being the same, Michigan getting kicked out of the eighth spot, and the top 10 rounding out with South Carolina, Arkansas, and West Virginia.
But, I believe that right now, the Ducks have a better squad. Their offense played at a level that SEC defenses would struggle to stop. It was just a glimmer of how amazing this team could be if being tested for a full 60 minutes, and things will get very interesting for this team as we get toward conference play.
Brian Spaen is the lead editor for Autzen Zoo, follow the site on Facebook and Twitter. Read his other work on the Iowa State blog, Clones Confidential, and Lacrosse the Web.