Week 9 CIF-SS polls

Another week, another new No. 1 in the Central Division. It’s Colton’s turn now.

CENTRAL DIVISION

1. Colton
2. Rancho Cucamonga
3. Colony
4. Etiwanda
5. Upland
6. Elsinore
7. Chino Hills
8. Arroyo Valley
9. Glendora
10. Ayala
Also receiving votes: Don Lugo, Cajon, Los Osos

EASTERN DIVISION

1. Citrus Hill
2. Serrano
3. Palm Desert
4. Silverado
5. Rim of the World
6. Kaiser
7. Barstow
8. Norte Vista
9. La Quinta
10. Granite Hills
Also receiving votes: Notre Dame, San Jacinto, Victor Valley, Palm Springs

EAST VALLEY DIVISION

1. St. Margaret’s
2. Campbell Hall
3. Maranatha
4. Kern Valley
5. Sage Hill
6. Fillmore
7. Santa Paula
8. Sierra Canyon
9. Frazier Mountain
10. Twentynine Palms
Also receiving votes: Arrowhead Christian, Aquinas

INLAND DIVISION

1. Redlands East Valley
2. Corona Centennial
3. Vista Murrieta
4. Norco
5. Rancho Verde
6. Redlands
7. Chaparral
8. Arlington
9. Roosevelt
10. Murrieta Valley
Also receiving votes: Great Oak

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Week 8 CIF polls

Upland makes the leap to No. 1 with Rancho’s loss, with Colton right behind them. Serrano and Silverado were the big winners in the Eastern Division, and deservedly so. Don’t get why Palm Desert is No. 2 and Silverado, which whipped them a few weeks back, is No. 4 though.

CENTRAL DIVISION

1. Upland
2. Colton
3. Rancho Cucamonga
4. Colony
5. Chino Hills
6. Ayala
7. Etiwanda
8. Elsinore
9. Cajon
10. Arroyo Valley
Others receiving consideration: West Valley, Chaffey, Los Osos

EASTERN DIVISION

1. Citrus Hill
2. Palm Desert
3. Serrano
4. Silverado
5. San Jacinto
6. Rim of the World
7. Barstow
8. Kaiser
9. Norte Vista
10. Victor Valley
Others receiving votes: Riverside Notre Dame, Coachella Valley, Granite Hills, Palm Springs, La Quinta, Summit

EAST VALLEY DIVISION

1. St. Margaret’s
2. Campbell Hall
3. Maranatha
4. Santa Paula
5. Kern Valley
6. Sage Hill
7. Sierra Canyon
8. Arrowhead Christian
9. Fillmore
10. Frazier Mountain
Others receiving votes: Brethren Christian, Twentynine Palms, Brentwood

INLAND DIVISION

1. Redlands East Valley
2. Corona Centennial
3. Vista Murrieta
4. Norco
5. Rancho Verde
6. Redlands
7. Great Oak
8. Chaparral
9. Arlington
10. Roosevelt
Others receiving votes: La Sierra, Miller

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CIF Volleyball polls

No real changes this week, as REV stays atop D2-AA. Aquinas breaks into the D4-AA rankings after a strong start to the season.

DIVISION 1-A
1. Santa Barbara
2. Dos Pueblos
3. Marymount
4. El Dorado
5. Laguna Beach
6. Huntington Beach
7. El Toro
8. Sherman Oaks Notre Dame
9. West Ranch
10. Rancho Cucamonga
Others receiving consideration: Arroyo Grande, Saugus

DIVISION 2-AA
1. Redlands East Valley
2. Corona del Mar
3. South Torrance
4. Beckman
5. Bishop Montgomery
6. St Lucy’s
7. Lakewood St. Joseph
8. South Hills
9. Walnut
10. North Torrance
Others receiving consideration: Corona Centennial, Riverside Poly, Corona Santiago, Chino Hills

DIVISION 2-A
1. La Canada
2. La Reina
3. Troy
4. Elsinore
5. Oaks Christian
6. Oak Park
7. Oxnard
8. St. Bonaventure
9. Fullerton
10. La Habra

DIVISION 3-AA
1. Campbell Hall
2. Bonita
3. Brentwood
4. Quartz Hill
5. Warren
6. Downey
7. Santa Ynez
8. Granite Hills
9. Village Christian
10. Palm Springs
Others receiving consideration: Palm Desert, Los Altos, Cerritos Valley Christian

DIVISION 3-A
1. Mayfield
2. Santa Monica
3. Pasadena
4. Cerritos
5. La Mirada
6. Ganesha
7. San Gabriel
8. Chadwick
9. Gabrielino
10. Webb
Others receiving consideration: Beverly Hills, Bell Gardens

DIVISION 4-AA
1. Whittier Christian
2. St Margaret’s
3. Laguna Blanca
4. Calvary Murrieta
5. Arrowhead Christian
6. Sage Hill
7. Windward
8. Ontario Christian
9. Viewpoint
10. Aquinas
Others receiving consideration: Paraclete, Jurupa Valley, Gardena Serra, St. Monica

DIVISION 4-A
1. Upland Christian
2. Nordhoff
3. Riverside Notre Dame
4. Frazier Mountain
5. Gladstone
6. Xavier Prep
7. Desert Christian/BD
8. Big Bear
9. Twentynine Palms
10. Yucca Valley
Others receiving consideration: Alverno, La Sierra Academy

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CIF-SS Volleyball polls

League play is beginning to start, so we’ll be amping up our volleyball coverage a bit. Redlands East Valley, as you would expect, is ruling the roost in its division.

D1-A

1. Santa Barbara
2. Dos Pueblos
3. Marymount
4. Laguna Beach
5. Huntington Beach
6. El Dorado
7. West Ranch
8. Notre Dame Academy
9. El Toro
10. Rancho Cucamonga.
Others: Arroyo Grande.

D2-AA

1. Redlands East Valley
2. Corona del Mar
3. Bishop Montgomery
4. Beckman
5. Walnut
6. St. Lucy’s
7. South Hills
8. South Torrance
9. St. Joseph
10. Ayala.
Others: Chino Hills, Corona Centennial, Corona Santiago.

D2-A

1. La Canada
2. La Reina
3. Troy
4. Elsinore
5. Oxnard
6. Oaks Christian
7. Oak Park
8. Fullerton
9. La Habra
10. St. Bonaventure.
Others: Camarillo.

D4-AA

1. Whittier Christian
2. St. Margaret’s
3. Calvary Murrieta
4. Laguna Blanca
5. Arrowhead Christian
6. Sage Hill
7. Windward
8. Ontario Christian
9. Viewpoint
10. Gardena Serra.
Others: Jurupa Valley, Aquinas

D4-A

1. Upland Christian
2. Riverside Notre Dame
3. Nordhoff
4. Frazier Mountain
5. Desert Christian/BD
6. Alverno
7. Big Bear
8. Gladstone
9. Twentynine Palms
10. La Sierra Academy.
Others: Holy Family, Yucca Valley, Desert Hot Springs

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College Final top 25

Well, its over. That Florida-Oklahoma game, while close, wasn’t anywhere close to awesome. It was almost like two teams got picked out of a hat…oh wait, they basically were. Once again, the college football system fails miserably.

What’s the solution? Typically, one would say a plus-one playoff, but this year, that wouldn’t work at all. There are four teams (Florida, Utah, Texas, USC) with legitimate claims for the title. I’d love these four to play a pair of semifinals – the Urban Meyer Bowl between Florida and Utah followed with a Texas-USC rematch perhaps? – with the winners playing in a end-all, be-all final. Has to be a lot better than the schlock that we saw tonight.

But since that can’t happen, I guess I have to pick my own number one. Well, its also the number one LANG writer Scott Wolf came up with. So props to Scott and here we go.

1. Utah (6) – Big jump, but the Utes took out Alabama worse than Florida did. They also beat Oregon State (which USC can’t claim), a top 10 team in TCU and won all of their games. In most countries and sports, winning every time out means something.

2. Florida (1) – The Gators are good and talented to all get-out, but they didn’t do anything that Texas didn’t do in beating Oklahoma by 10. They didn’t do anything that Utah didn’t do in beating Alabama. They only did one thing that Utah didn’t do – that is lose. At home mind you. Sorry.

3. USC (5) – Yeah, yeah, the Big Ten sucks, blah, blah. That was a darn good Penn State team that USC bent over its knee and slapped the heck out of in the Rose Bowl. But that darn team from Oregon State just ruined it for SC, not only by beating the Trojans but by losing to Utah.

4. Texas (2) – I guess its unfair to drop the Longhorns, but someone had to be No. 4 and quite frankly, Texas was the least impressive of the top 4 in their bowl. Ohio State is good, but the Longhorns didn’t make the statement that USC, Utah, and Florida did. Or at least the first two.

Everything after this ranking is pretty much window dressing. But then again, so is the college football postseason.

5. Oklahoma (3) – Shouldn’t have been in the game in the first place and quite frankly, shouldn’t be in any BCS games for a while after losing five in a row. I don’t understand why Ohio State gets so much guff for its BCS struggles when Oklahoma has been clearly worse.

6. Alabama (5) – They got smoked by Utah, but they shouldn’t be ashamed by it. Their only losses this season came via the top two teams in this ranking and the Tide had their best year since Gene Stallings was around. Good work fellas.

7. TCU (11) – This has to be the highest the Horned Frogs have been ranked since World War II. If not, then I’m a moron. Anyway, TCU was a darn good team – only losses were to Oklahoma and Utah – and are one of the best under-the-radar programs in the country.

8. Penn State (7) – Not punishing the Nittany Lions too bad for losing basically a road game to USC. Playing the Trojans in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on New Year’s Day is a thankless task for anyone not named Vince Young.

9. Boise State (9) – They lost, but you can’t disrespect what the Broncos have done. If Utah wins the AP title (doubtful), it can thank Boise for its win over Oklahoma two years ago in the Fiesta Bowl.

10. Oregon (14) – Big win for the Ducks over Oklahoma State, getting them ten wins and a top 10 spot. Had to put them below Boise State because they lost to the Broncos in September though.

11. Ohio State (10) – The Buckeyes lost another BCS game, but gave Texas all it could handle. As far as OSU BCS losses go, this one wasn’t anything to be ashamed of.

12. Mississippi (20) – My big riser, the Rebels are the only team to beat Florida and were extremely impressive in dispatching of Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl. They could be a team to watch next season.

13. Texas Tech (8) – Um, well, at least they beat Texas. Kind of a letdown in the Cotton Bowl after such a great season, but the Red Raiders shouldn’t fret. What they’ll do after Harrell (graduation) and Crabtree (likely NFL early entry) will be interesting.

14. Georgia (18) – The Bulldogs finally beat a team with a pulse in the Capital One Bowl, defeating Michigan State. Kind of a disappointing season for Georgia, which now loses Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno to early NFL draft entry.

15. Virginia Tech (21) – It wasn’t pretty, but the Hokies got to 10 wins by beating Cincinnati in the Orange Bowl. Va. Tech might be the most anonymous program to win 10 or more games in five straight years.

16. Oregon State (24) – Taking after their baseball team’s back-to-back College World Series championships in 2006 and 2007, the Beavers got a three-run homer to beat Pittsburgh 3-0 in the Sun Bowl. 9 wins, one being over USC, constitutes a heck of a season in Corvallis.

17. Iowa (25) – The Hawkeyes were the only team in the Big Ten to represent at all, destroying South Carolina in the Outback Bowl for the conference’s only bowl victory. Like Ole Miss, look for Iowa to be a darkhorse in its conference next season.

18. Florida State (NR) – The Seminoles looked like the Florida State teams of old in thrashing Wisconsin in the Champs Sports Bowl. If FSU can sustain that offense in any way next season, look out ACC.

19. Cincinnati (12) – Well, the Bearcats’ first BCS bowl experience wasn’t ideal, but getting there in a season where they had to play four different quarterbacks is very impressive.

20. Oklahoma State (16) – Couldn’t quite finish off Oregon, but a good season for the Cowboys, who have built a nice little program in the shadow of Oklahoma. The “I’m a man, I’m 40” jokes have lessened a bit. Ok, no they haven’t.

21. Missouri (NR) – It wasn’t pretty, but the overtime win over Northwestern in the Alamo Bowl gave the Tigers a second straight 10-win season. Not bad at all.

22. LSU (NR) – Didn’t want to rank LSU, but you can’t overlook a 38-3 beating of a good Georgia Tech team. Can’t do it.

23. Georgia Tech (13) – Now that LSU is ranked, I can rank Georgia Tech. Oh goody.

24. BYU (14) – I guess going to the Las Vegas Bowl for the fourth straight year wasn’t appealing to BYU, as it lost to a hungry Arizona team.

25. Michigan State (19) – The Michigan part of me wants to not rank the Spartans due to them losing to most teams with a pulse. But 9-4 is a pretty good year in East Lansing.

Just missed the cut: Nebraska, West Virginia, California.

Dropped out: No. 17 Pittsburgh, No. 22 Ball State, No. 23 Boston College

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Week 14 top 25

Before I get into it, I’m going to say how it would be a sham if Oklahoma gets ranked ahead of Texas in the BCS. And no, its not because they are so bad on defense that Florida would be guaranteed to beat them by 20-plus points. And its not entirely because they lost to Texas at a neutral site – though that should be reason enough for anyone sane.

No, my reasons for Texas to get the nod over Oklahoma and Texas Tech in the Big 12 title game are as follows. Oh yeah, and boo to the Big 12 for making this a tiebreaker. Just awful.

1) Texas is the only one of the three not to get a home game over the other two.

2) Texas is the only one of the three to win away from home against the other two.

3) Texas had the toughest in-conference strength of schedule, having to play Big 12 North champion Missouri while the other two didn’t. With that said, if Oklahoma gets the nod, Texas will have beaten both participants in the Big 12 championship game by 10-plus points – participants that have equal or worse records than Texas.

4) Texas had the closest loss and Texas’ loss came in the toughest circumstances. Texas was on game four of a four-week gauntlet (Oklahoma, Missouri, Okla. State and Tech) without a bye. Tech had a bye before its loss and Oklahoma had its tough opponents divided evenly.

5) Texas had the toughest non-conference schedule according to win/loss record. Oklahoma did beat Cincinnati and TCU, but also played 0-11 Washington and 1-11 FCS Chattanooga. Tech played two FCS teams.

Yeah, the voters need to do the right thing here. We’ll see if they do. Now to the rankings:

1. Alabama (1) – Still undefeated and broke a six-game losing streak to Auburn. Has its hands full with Florida.

2. Florida (2) – The Gators are straight pile-driving fools right now. Look to be the favorites to win the title.

3. Texas (3) – Beat Texas A&M by 40. Explained the rest above.

4. Oklahoma (4) – The Oklahoma State victory was a good one. But I’m sorry, I’m not ranking them above Texas.

5. USC (5) – Embarrassed Notre Dame. What else is new.

6. Utah (6) – Still undefeated and will remain that way until January. Good enough for me.

7. Penn State (8) – They move up because Texas Tech struggled again. Nits should have a good Rose Bowl matchup with USC.

8. Texas Tech (7) – Almost made the BCS picture infinitely easier by almost losing to Baylor. Get penalized because they didn’t.

9. Boise State (9) – All I know is that it was 13-10 over Fresno State before I left to drive to Temecula Friday night and it ended up being 61-10.

10. Ohio State (10) – Oregon State loss likely sews up BCS bid.

11. Ball State (13) – Big win over Western Michigan moves undefeated Cardinals up.

12. TCU (15) – Move up 3 despite regular season being over. Must be nice.

13. Cincinnati (16) – The Bearcats locked up the Big East title and a BCS berth. And no, Bob Huggins had nothing to do with it.

14. Georgia Tech (19) – The Yellow Jackets put on a triple-option clinic against Georgia, getting a bump in the rankings in the process.

15. Boston College (20) – Eagles’ fourth win in a row sends them to ACC title game against Virginia Tech for the second straight year.

16. Oregon (21) – Ducks throw up 65 on Oregon State, ruining the Beavers’ BCS hopes while making USC and Ohio State very happy.

17. BYU (18) – Teams losing ahead of them give the Cougars a tiny bump up.

18. Oklahoma State (12) – 41 points should have been enough to beat Oklahoma. But it was 20 short.

19. Georgia (11) – The Bulldogs’ house of cards were crumbled by Georgia Tech. The preseason No. 1 leaves the regular season without a win over a ranked team.

20. Pittsburgh (23) – The Panthers take down West Virginia to win the Backyard Brawl for the second year in a row, driving the Mountaineers crazy again.

21. Missouri (14) – Loss to Kansas leaves Missouri in same boat as Georgia, great against inferior teams and inferior to great teams. Could really screw things up with a Big 12 upset next week.

22. Michigan State (24) – Spartans move up with losses by others and a newly-minted win over a top 25 team in Iowa.

23. Mississippi (25) – The Rebels killed Mississippi State to continue their late-season surge.

24. Oregon State (16) – Losing 65-38 in a must-win game is a tough end to what was a great season for the Beavers.

25. Iowa (NR) – The Hawkeyes sneak into the rankings. And hey, they can say they were the only ones to beat Penn State.

Under consideration: Northwestern, Florida State, Tulsa

Dropped out: No. 22 Florida State (lost to Florida).

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