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The GoldenBlogs' Top 25
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oklahoma | -- |
| 2 | Alabama | -- |
| 3 | Missouri | -- |
| 4 | Penn State |  2 |
| 5 | LSU |  1 |
| 6 | Texas | 1 |
| 7 | Southern Cal |
3 |
| 8 | Texas Tech | 1 |
| 9 | Brigham Young | 1 |
| 10 | Georgia | 1 |
| 11 | Florida | 1 |
| 12 | Boise State | 3 |
| 13 | Vanderbilt | 6 |
| 14 | Oklahoma State | 6 |
| 15 | Utah | 1 |
| 16 | Ohio State | -- |
| 17 | Virginia Tech | 5 |
| 18 | Kansas | 5 |
| 19 | South Florida | 10 |
| 20 | Wake Forest | 5 |
| 21 | North Carolina | 5 |
| 22 | California | 4 |
| 23 | TCU | 3 |
| 24 | Northwestern | 2 |
| 25 | Illinois | 1 |
Dropped Out: Wisconsin (#17), Auburn (#18), Fresno State (#21), Oregon (#23), Connecticut (#24)
GoldenBlogs Top 25 - Week 6
by ragnarok
on Oct 7, 2008 4:36 PM PDT
in Football
I just keep opening cans of worms, don't I? With last week's Top 25, I spent a good deal of time responding to questions, specifically regarding my ranking methodology. I gave an overview of the most common types of rankings, examined some of the strengths and weaknesses of each, and explained why I chose the method that I use. This, I thought, would settle the matter. I was wrong.
Reader Calfan posted a long, insightful comment attacking the traditional 'Power Poll' methodology on several fronts. First off:
“Power polls,” or even power polls hybridized with resume polls, lose meaning as the season nears its conclusion. That is, the essential question of the power poll – “which team is better, and would win the most on a neutral field, right now?” – produces more and more intuitively objectionable anomalies as we reach December and January. As a result, it’s a methodology that comes close to but fails to telling us what we really want to know: what ranking does a team deserve?
My response partially rebutted his criticism, but it didn't solve the central quandry:
First of all, you state “what we really want to know: what ranking does a team deserve?” This is a loaded question. When you ask it, you are implicitly looking for a résumé ranking, as that is the question such a ranking is designed to answer; any power poll ranking will necessarily fall short of satisfying you. That’s not what a pure power poll is for. Of course Ohio State doesn’t deserve any ranking at all so far: yes, they’re 4-1, but those wins are against 1-AA Youngstown State, Ohio, Troy, and Minnesota. Get back to me after the Wisconsin game. Still, my eyes tell me that they’re still pretty good, so for now, they are given a middling ranking.
What we have here is a pretty fundamental conflict, centered around what question we should even be answering with a Top 25 ranking. Do we ask "Which team is best?" In such a case, we want a power poll. Or do we ask "Which team has accomplished the most?" Then we want a résumé ranking. In most professional sports, the schedules are fairly balanced, so the best teams ARE the ones that accomplish the most, but that is hardly the case with college football. The differences between such polls are real, and solid arguments can be made in favor of either approach.
So which to choose?
9 comments
| 0 recs
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Cal v. ASU Photo Essay II: Warm Ups Part I
by TwistNHook
on Oct 7, 2008 8:09 AM PDT
in Football
For the OSU game last year, I went onto the field for pre-game warm ups. Snapped some good photos and potentially jinxed my beloved UC Cal (GO FIGHTING GOLDEN UC CAL!). So, I was nervous returning to the scene of the crime. What if the team lost in emotionally devastating fashion again? I even wore the same shirt that I wore for the OSU game. WHAT WAS I THINKING!?!?!?!? Besides, yknow, that for some insane reason "My off the field actions can affect on the field action."
But I did it for you, the reader. I was willing to jinx the team and potentially cause myself to cry all to bring back some photos for you guys, SO YOU BETTER LIKE THEM. Triple Los Sigh!
Honestly, you don't even have to get onto the field to get close to the team. If you stand by the North Tunnel, players are running in and out all the time.
9 comments | 0 recs
Jeff Tedford And That Boulder
The San Francisco Examiner contacted us regarding a guest post for them on California Football. So, we drafted up something on the current state of the Cal fanbase. It just went up and the link is in the title above. Please, read and enjoy it. Come back to discuss it! Go Bears!
1 day ago
TwistNHook
78 comments
0 recs
Caption Time!
What is Zack saying to Rudy?
Don't forget, entries should be in bold.
1 day ago
Berkelium97
102 comments
2 recs
Cal v. ASU Photo Essay I: March Up!
by TwistNHook
on Oct 6, 2008 7:22 AM PDT
in Football
Well, another exciting victory for our Golden Bears. Give the Arizona State Sun Devils all the credit in the world, they played hard, never gave up, and were closer than the score might appear. Cal played with passion, though, especially the D and now has a bye week to enjoy the fruits of its labor.
But here at the California Golden Blogs, the work is never done. As usual, we have a full slate of analysis and opinion. And, as usual, I'll have nothing to do with that. Instead, I'll comb through the nearly 300 photos I took (along with photos from TrisWeb) to craft a narrative of the day for those who might not have been able to be there.
It's almost as if you were there yourself! Speaking of people who finally attended a game, The Maharg came down from his Arctic Ice Castle to feast his eyes on a Cal game (in Berkeley). We even snapped a photo together!
"TwistNHook and The Maharg with random mystery arm" via img.dailymail.co.uk
25 comments | 0 recs
ASU at Cal torrent
The ASU @ Cal torrent is up.
I'm not sure if this was clarified earlier, but it is not necessary to burn the file to dvd in order to watch it. Go here to download a dvd emulator.
You can then use that program to open the file and it will begin playing automatically. The program basically works as a virtual dvd drive which decodes and plays the file as if it were a real dvd.
2 days ago
Berkelium97
17 comments
0 recs
Arizona State Post-Game Thoughts
by HydroTech
on Oct 5, 2008 12:00 PM PDT
in Football
I'm always trying to out-do CBKWit, so while he did his post-game thoughts, I'm also going to do mine. The following are my post-game thoughts prior to re-watching the game.
via imgs.sfgate.com
(1) Lots of playaction. I'm not sure how many times we did it, but it seemed like Cignetti called up playactions at least 5-6 times in the first quarter alone. I like it. Unfortunately, ASU was playing good assignment football and kept going after Longshore instead of the runningback. Longshore did a great job dumping off those balls to avoid the sacks.
(2) Lots of passing early on. If I had to estimate, I think Cal's gameplan was to pass early and often. Perhaps as much as 75% of the time. It seemed like the usual "establish the run" offense turned into the "establish the pass" offense. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why Tedford and Cignetti tapped Longshore to start - he has tons of experience, he has better knowledge of the offense and defenses.
(3) Great defensive gameplan. Gregory had a very nice gameplan today. What was that gameplan? Take away the deep ball with zones and 7 man coverages. I was by a bunch of guys who complained the entire game about "soft coverage." Little did they realize the same "soft coverage" they hated won the game. By taking away the deep balls, it forced Carpenter to take those short little 5 yard outs (which the guys next to me still complained about with loud "FUCKING SYD" groans when Carpenter would check down to short routes against Syd). By taking away the deep balls, it also forced Carpenter to hold onto the ball for a long time which resulted in some great coverage sacks. Carpenter CLEARLY was frustrated and injured by the 3rd and 4th quarter.
117 comments | 0 recs
Chris Conte practices his interceptions in the pouring rain during pre-game warm ups. SydQuan Thompson watches. October 4, 2008 against ASU.
3 days ago
TwistNHook
2 comments
0 recs
Reveling in Victory
by CBKWit
on Oct 4, 2008 6:08 PM PDT
in Football
First of all, I was wrong. About the Lipizzaner Stallions, they are from Spain, not from Portugal (ROLL TIDE). Also, about the point spread. Clearly, Cal -8 to 10 was the correct line, not Cal -5 as I would have pegged it. Avinash, to the victor go the spoils. For your reward, you may now have sex TwistNHook.
The biggest surprise to me, and the difference between a Cal victory of 7-14 points and a Cal victory of 3-6 points, was the defense. Our offense performed pretty much as I expected, but our defense dominated a major opponent like I haven't seen in a while. Here's what I saw:
Cameron Jordan, official badass
217 comments | 1 recs
Cal v. Arizona State 10.4.08 Post Game Thread
by TwistNHook
on Oct 4, 2008 7:14 AM PDT
in Football
If you are confused as to why there are like 5 empty posts all of a sudden, START WITH THE FIRST QUARTER THREAD AND WORK YOUR WAY UP!
Since many, if not all, of our Marshawnthuasiasts will be away from computers during the game, we are putting up the Open Threads early. Use this one to discuss your immediate post game reaction for the Cal v. ASU game on 10.4.08. Here is the PreGame/First Quarter thread Here is the Second Quarter thread. Here is the Third Quarter Thread. Here is the Fourth Quarter thread.
When we return to our computers, we will work on a more in depth post-game thoughts thread and craft a poll that better reflects what actually occurred in the game than those "Insta-Polls." Until then, use this thread to discuss your thoughts, win or lose.
We've been posting a lot recently. So, if you missed anything, look at our Post CSU thoughts, our CSU photos, photos, and more photos, the Fantasy Week In Review, and our debate over Top 25 rankings. Also, the Roundtable and Conspiracy Post and Eating the Enemy. Plus, the Q+A with House Of Sparky and my pathetic attempt at analysis
47 comments | 0 recs
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