Blogpoll Vox Pops

You ranked the Irish #1, why?

• Eagle in Atlanta (Boston College)

  Regarding my ballot: I really do think Notre Dame will win it all. I think they've got the right coach and the right schedule and are peaking at the right time. I cannot wait to knock them off next year.

  Pesky little rodents, aren't they?
  
  
• Pitch Right (Navy)

  The top 5 teams could of all been ranked at #1, but I happen to like Notre Dame the most out of those choices so went ahead and plugged the Irish in first. But trust me, I won't be the only one. This vote is more a testament to the faith I have in Coach Weis at improving that defense then anything else. I could sit here all day and talk about ND, Texas, USC, tOSU, and Miami, but then again you've probably read the arguments for and against each team a dozen times already.

• Boi From Troy (USC)

  1. Notre Dame: Fighting Irish return the hottest trio in the sport to South Bend.

  Uh, like, we totally already know, BFT. But can they play football?
  
  
• Frank McGrath (Tulane)
  

  Anyway, my opening salvo- can't stop the Irish!

  Testify, brother!
  
  
• The DJL Zone (Bowling Green)
  

  Perhaps the best offense in the country, nine returning starters on defense. I know the defense wasn’t exactly great last year, but there’s no reason to think they won’t improve.

  I wish I had this kind of blind faith in the improvement of Notre Dame's D. It would help me sleep at night.
  
  

The Drizzle, The Bemusement Park, and The Sunday Morning Quarterback have, to this date, offered their picks without commentary. It looks like SMQ has a big post coming up soon that will explain his top ten, so I'm eagerly awaiting to see what comes out of that.

Update: Sunday Morning Quarterback has come clean with why he picked the Irish:

Basically, SMQ just thinks [Notre Dame's deficiencies] are more easily-overcome problems than Ohio State's emerging-from-the-crib defense, Auburn's size against the run and inexperienced O-line, Texas' pack of freshman quarterbacks, Florida's whimpering babes on the offensive line and in the secondary, SC's unavoidable succumbing to the Inviolable Laws of an Indifferent Universe and the lingering Jeff Bowden/Lloyd Carr problems at Florida State and Michigan. Notre Dame is flawed, but in SMQ's mind, the least flawed. Or the least fatally flawed. And that is the ringing endorsement.