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Home » Recreation And Sports Articles » College Football How To Ferret Out Which Teams Are Rising And Falling In The Polls

College Football - How to Ferret Out Which Teams Are Rising and Falling in the Polls

Many sports fans who anxiously await the release of the weekly football polls really miss one of the best parts of the poll when searching only to see where their favorite is ranked.

Many newspapers and online services do not give the total results of the polling, they only list the Top 25 picks for the week.

You have to dig a little deeper to discover which teams received votes but not enough votes to make it into the Top 25. Look at the bottom of the poll results for this entry in small print: Others Receiving Votes.

In Tuesday's AP Poll (9-11-07) it showed these entries: South Florida 220, Missouri 144, Alabama 116, Washington 95, Arizona State 28, Appalachian State 19, Cincinnati 12, and Kansas 1. All of these teams started their season by winning their first two games, many times impressively.

I am ignoring five other teams which garnered votes in the AP Poll to make a point. These five were TCU 66, Auburn 23, Florida State 2, Iowa 1 and Purdue 1. Iowa and Purdue are 2-0 but have not won as impressively and the others are 1-1.

USC (Southern California) is No. 1 in the AP Poll with a 1-0 record and 1594 total points. Texas A&M is No. 25 with 243 points. Sportswriters cast ballots giving their 1st place pick 25 points and their 25th pick 1 point.

Notice that Texas A&M had 243 points, and South Florida which did not make it into the Top 25, had 220 points, only 23 points behind. Had South Florida gotten 24 more points, the Bulls (their nickname) would have been No. 25.

If the Top 25 this week had instead been the Top 36, then South Florida would have been No. 26, Missouri No. 27, Alabama No. 28, Washington No. 29, Arizona State No. 31, Appalachian State No. 33, Cincinnati No. 34, and Kansas No. 36.

This information is significant to fans like me because of my interest level. One game I play every week is to discern which teams are rising and which teams are falling in the polls.

While many of our wives, sweethearts and significant others may find this activity to be terribly boring, it is a habit that is far superior to other habits such as drinking, drugging, sleeping around, lying, cheating and stealing. This is why I feel no need to justify, apologize or defend myself in this practice.

Those following my College Football 2007 weekly reports during the first two weeks of the season know that I have already been spot on in identifying teams rising and falling.

Before the polls were even out, I correctly identified South Florida, Alabama, Washington, Arizona State, Cincinnati and Kansas as teams on the rise.

I correctly identified these teams as falling in the polls: Michigan (No. 5 to out of the Top 25), Florida State (No. 19 to out of the Top 25), Boise State (No. 22 to out of the Top 25), Auburn (No. 17 to out of the Top 25), Georgia (No. 11 to No. 23), Wisconsin (No. 5 to No. 7), Hawaii (No. 20 to No. 24) and Texas A&M (No. 23 to No. 25).

The two most overrated teams among those slipping are Wisconsin and Hawaii. Why Hawaii and Texas A&M are still in the polls is beyond me.

One or more of the Top 25 teams will lose this weekend, just as Michigan, Florida State, Boise State, Georgia and Auburn have already been ranked in the Top 25 and lost during the first two weeks of the season.

Let me predict that Alabama, Washington, Michigan State, South Florida and Arizona State will all be ranked among the Top 25 in the AP Poll before the season is over.

I would also note that in the Coaches Poll, South Florida, Washington, Alabama, Arizona State and Cincinnati did not make the Top 25 but did receive points.

Heck, in the Coaches Poll, even the Wyoming Cowboyswho I love because they are tough to beat at homereceived points.

Receiving points in the Coaches Poll with 2-0 records were Missouri, Texas Tech, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland and Purdue. I have not identified any of these teams as on the rise because they have not played good teams or won impressively.

Keep your eye on Alabama, Michigan State and Arizona State because they all have first-year coaches in Nick Saban (the Crimson Tide), Mark Dantonio (the Spartans) and Dennis Erickson (the Sun Devils). These three coaches are excellent and all come from great teams with winning traditions.

Erickson's offensive savvy is so good he could probably make a winning player out of a blind mole in the Arizona desert.

Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley

And here is another random article you might be interested in...

Product Review of Carelton Sheets' No Money Down Course

Real estate continues to be a very important part of any financial wealth building strategy. Most wealthy individuals have real estate investments as a portion of their overall net worth. Carleton Sheets has been in real estate since the 1970s and has taken his experience to build a complete real estate course.

After purchasing the CD version of the No Down Payment course by Carleton Sheets, I was impressed by 5 main points.

Carleton Sheets understands the different learning styles of individuals and has designed this program for 3 different learning styles.

• He's includes a DVD for viewing and listening
• He also includes a 12 CD set for listening/auditory â€" very helpful for listening in the car or at home
• And the No Down Payment course includes 3 large binders of the course material, real estate forms, examples, etc

Carleton Sheets goes into details about this course from beginning to end, describing all the elements of his program. He teaches his No Down Payment course with the beginner and advanced real estate investor in mind. The examples he uses in the audio version, the DVD version and in the 3-ring binder (written version) provides the beginner with the information they need to get started. Although not necessarily a high-energy speaker, you get the sense of his sincerity and honesty. Carleton provides enough motivation to make you take action.

Carleton Sheets provides his No Down Payment course on a 30 day, money-back guarantee with a $9.95 trial offer. You may want to check his site to see if this offer is still available. Through his program, he emphasizes the need to constantly think creatively. I've been able to apply creative thinking in both my real estate investments and in other areas of my personal and business life.

He reminds you of the importance of looking for four important characteristics of a good investment â€" Income, Growth, Tax Advantages & Leverage

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By using the techniques in his course, you can purchase properties with no down payment, but some of the most important factors that I personally learned from his course are you need:

• To find motivated & flexible sellers
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• To be successful, remember that it's a 'numbers' game. You may need to review 15-25 properties, research 3-7 in depth, make offers on 2-4 and eventually purchase 1.
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I have purchased 4 investment properties and will be purchasing more in the near future. His course not only provides the details and techniques to make you successful, but his No Down Payment course provides the motivation to get going, take Action and move towards a more financially secure future for both you and your family.

Normally, I am a skeptic of these types of success programs, but I can sincerely state that I've applied many of the techniques in his program. The one that I will probably not personally use (but may work for you) is the section on purchasing mobile homes. Since mobile home depreciate (vs. the normal real estate appreciation), you will need to be very knowledgeable in this area to be successful.

Carleton Sheets' No Down Payment course is fairly expensive, but with all the information he provides, it is worth the price. Similar to other expensive courses, it becomes easy to justify by putting it in terms of an annual cost that you would divide down to a daily cost. After the trial period, the cost works out to be less than $1.00 a day (small bag of french fries, can of pop, etc) and you can have a complete course that will get you motivated to become a real estate investor by providing techniques that can easily be implemented by most anyone.

This product review is the opinion of one of the staff members of Your-Key-to-Success.com and does not represent the opinion of Your-Key-to-Success.com.