Top 25 and Heisman ballots

Now that we have had time to digest the first third of the season, it's time to release our top 25 ballots and Heisman ballots.  Of course, this is based on our current beliefs/resumes and these will change often as we near bowl season.

Draper Top 25
1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Oregon
4. Ohio State
5. Florida State
6. Georgia
7. Stanford
8. Louisiana State
9. Louisville
10. Texas A&M
11. UCLA
12. Oklahoma
13. Miami
14. Washington
15. South Carolina
16. Baylor
17. Northwestern
18. Virginia Tech
19. Florida
20. Missouri
21. Michigan (generous)
22. Fresno State
23. Texas Tech
24. Northern Illinois
25. Wisconsin

Draper Heisman Ballot
1. Tajh Boyd (QB--Clemson)
2. Marcus Mariota (QB--Oregon)3. Jameis Winston (QB--FSU)
(Next: Johnny Manziel--QB TAMU)

Hoying Top 25
A few notes about my top "25."

First, I didn't rank 25 teams.  I only ranked the 17 undefeated teams remaining.  Why?  It's far too early in the season to sort out the scads and oodles of 1-loss teams out there.  At this still premature ranking stage, I'm giving credit only to the teams that have escaped with no losses so far (sorry, Georgia).  As the season progresses and the ranks of the undefeated and 1-loss teams shrink, my rankings will expand to a full 25 and Georgia will probably be #1 somehow.

Second, you'll notice my ranking looks really weird and very different from any other ranking out there.  For example, I have Fresno State ranked ahead of Oregon.  Why?  As nice as scoring margin is this early in the season, I'm more interested in quality wins.  Who's beaten someone who's beaten someone else?  The best quality win BY FAR this season was Clemson's opener over Georgia, so they get the nod at #1.  Scoring margin and overall opponent W-L record factor in as well, but I'm all about the quality W's.  (Playing like garbage will also knock you down the list, *cough* *cough* *Michigan* *cough*.)

Check back in each week, and my rankings will start to resemble something you would associate with a reasonable fan of sane mind (even though I'll still be making them).

With that, here's Hoying Top 17:

1. Clemson
2. Alabama
3. Stanford
4. Florida State
5. Ohio State
6. UCLA
7. Miami (FL)
8. Oklahoma
9. Fresno State
10. Oregon
11. Missouri
12. Baylor
13. Michigan
14. Northern Illinois
15. Louisville
16. Texas Tech
17. Houston
18.
19. Georgia
20. probably
21. should
22. be
23. ranked
24. really
25. high

Hoying Heisman Ballot
1. Tajh Boyd (QB--Clemson)
2. Jameis Winston (QB--Florida State)
3. Johnny Manziel (QB--Texas A&M)

Schweinfurth Top 25
1. Clemson
2. Alabama
3. Oregon
4. Ohio State
5. Florida State
6. Georgia
7. Stanford
8. Baylor
9. UCLA
10. LSU
11. Texas A&M
12. Oklahoma
13. Miami (FL)
14. Washington
15. South Carolina
16. Northwestern
17. Florida
18. Fresno State
19. Michigan
20. Texas Tech
21. Northern Illinois
22. Wisconsin
23. Virginia Tech
24. Missouri
25. Oklahoma State

Schweinfurth Heisman Ballot
1. Jameis Winston (QB--FSU)
2. Marcus Mariota (QB--Oregon)
3. Tajh Boyd (QB--Clem)