Lots of movement within the top 10 as Syracuse and Kansas both struggled in losses, but one team in particular predictably did not change: Ohio State remains at #1.  Quick n’ dirty analysis of this week’s poll after the jump…

QnD Analysis.

• Steady at the Top—For the second straight week, Ohio State is the top dog at #1 in the rankings. It is not unanimous, however, as Pittsburgh received one first place vote.
• High Risers and Big Droppers—Syracuse had the toughest schedule of any team in the nation last week as they went up against Villanova and Pittsburgh. The Orange lost both games, saw their perfect record vanish, and fell seven spots in the rankings from #3 to #10. The two other teams that fell the most were Texas A&M and Michigan State as each dropped four spots. The Aggies lost by 21 points to in-state rival Texas, and the Spartans lost games to Illinois and Purdue. Despite their 12-7 overall record, Michigan State has managed to stay in the top 25. The two biggest winners on the week were Texas and Florida State. As previously mentioned, Texas knocked off then ranked #9 Texas A&M and followed that up with a huge victory over then-#2 Kansas. Florida State won both of their games on the week defeating Miami (FL) and Boston College.
• Where to rank Minnesota?—Minnesota is ranked as high as #14 in one poll, but then not even ranked at all in another. The Golden Gophers have won their last three games, with one of those wins coming against Purdue. They did get off to a rocky start in Big Ten play, however, losing three of their first four games.
• New to the Rankings—Utah State and Florida State both joined the rankings following perfect weeks. Stew Morrill’s Aggies have now won 13 straight games dating back to early December. The Seminoles have won four straight ACC games, and appear to be the second best team in the conference following Duke.
• Others Receiving Votes—The ORV category shrunk this week. Last week there were eight teams on the outside looking in, and this week there are only six. It is always good to see a smaller number in the ORV as it is a sign of pollster agreement of who the top 25 teams in the nation are.
• Conference Call—Big East (6), Big 10 (6), Big 12 (4), MWC (2), SEC (2), ACC (2), Pac-10 (1), WCC (1), WAC (1).

KDoyle (99 Posts)

This entry was posted on Monday, January 24th, 2011 at 12:03 pm by KDoyle and is filed under blogpoll, Regular Features. Tagged: florida state, kansas, michigan state, minnesota, ohio state, stew morrill, syracuse, texas, texas a&m, utah state. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.