College Football Rankings: Welcome The New BlogPoll, Same As The Old BlogPoll

By Andy Hutchins - Editor

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Aug 24, 2011 - Do you think the USA Today coaches poll is too dependent on graduate assistants who just want to go home and sleep on Saturday nights? Think the AP Poll is irredeemably flawed because it forces beat writers and journalists to pay attention to every college football game every weekend after taking care of their own work? Want the consensus college football rankings of people who are passionate about the sport, capable of consuming an entire weekend of action, and dedicated to getting these "meaningless" rankings right?

Then the BlogPoll is for you.

SB Nation is happy to announce that we will be assuming the operation of the BlogPoll from MGoBlog founder and BlogPoll originator Brian Cook for the 2011 season, and I'm happy to announce that I'll be your point man on all of the BlogPoll odds and ends.

The changes you'll see in the BlogPoll from the 2010 edition, when SB Nation began hosting it, won't be seismic. You will still get weekly editions of the BlogPoll, but on Mondays; you will find the same BlogPoll rankings in the same spot as last year; you will notice that the BlogPoll philosophy — rank the nation's best teams, in order, and have fun doing it — won't change.

And the mission won't change, either. I know how established and important the BlogPoll is, and I'm committed to doing my best to live up to Brian's substantial work. I'll also be using the unique advantages of the SB Nation network to help expand our coverage to better illuminate the rankings and explain the trends in college football from week to week. And there will be jokes.

If you were one of the BlogPoll voters last year, you will be contacted about your participation this season; if you're staying on, preseason ballots are due by 8 a.m. on Monday, August 29. If you weren't part of the BlogPoll last year and want to commit to being part of it in 2011, feel free to email me (andrew.b.hutchins [at] gmail), subject line "BlogPoll 2011", and we'll discuss getting you involved.

As the college football blogosphere develops, the BlogPoll is going to become an even bigger part of why the grassroots community on the Internet is valuable: as an outlet for passionate college football fans, the blogosphere is wonderful, but as a source of sometimes brilliant analysis of college football, it could bring a deeper understanding of the sport, one that goes beyond revealing true natures through PhotoShop.

Hopefully, we will laugh and learn with the BlogPoll. And I cannot wait to mock you lovingly for overrating my Florida Gators after their all-but-inevitable 3-0 start.

Welcome to the 2011 BlogPoll, ladies and gentlemen.

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