This week's Roundtable is hosted by the Dawg lovers and apologists at Hey Jenny Slater. For comparison's sake, here's my ballot vs. the final poll.

1. In his "visiting lecturers" series posted on Every Day Should Be Saturday over the past few months, Orson Swindle asked each participant to explain which country, during which historical period, their team most resembles. Let's bring everything up to the present day and ponder: Which current sovereign nation is your team? Or to look at it another way, how does your team fit into the "world" of college football?

RMN: I'll answer this the exact same way I answered Orson at Every Day Should Be Saturday:

"This was a tough one, but I'll stick by present day Emerging China. Both China and the Missouri football team are having to get a feel for new found power and respect, and a lot of eyes are focused their way waiting to see how they conduct their business. In addition, no one is quite sure what to expect from them in the future. Case in point:

'Anyone who gives a straight-line prediction about where China will be in 20 years is making it up.'  -- Heritage.org

Anyone who can give you a prediction on where the Mizzou football program will be in 20 years is hitting a Missouri pride point a little too hard. Plus, if Missouri is going to emerge, it wants to do it with the borders sealed, monopolizing on its own people (especially since Missouri lacks a major D1 school in-state with which to compete)."

When this was originally posted, a lot of readers misinterpreted what I was trying to say. Yes, I realize Mizzou is not a former power or a once great empire. The point that lies in my answer is that the uncertainty of emergence amongst expectations perfectly defines the circumstances that currently surround Missouri football.

2. Every preseason roundup has to have some discussion of who's overrated, but let's go beyond that. Which team do you think is poised to crap the bed in the biggest way this season relative to high expectations, and which game do you think will begin their slide into ignominy?

RMN: My first thought when thinking of a team poised to "crap the bed" is Virginia Tech, who began the process early by getting a head start in the Orange Bowl last January. This isn't to say that Virginia Tech's record will reflect it, given the relative strength of the ACC being close to that of the alcoholic strength of a Natty Light. 

Beamer has his hands full with this team. Brandon Ore? Gone. Top four wide receivers? Gone. Sean Glennon? Still mediocre. Tyrod Taylor? Talented but inexperienced and inefficient. That pedestrian offense could still be enough in the ACC, but I'm not buying it for a team that's supposedly Top 20, much less Top 15.

As for the slide, it could happen as immediately as September. The Hokies have a three-game stretch of Georgia Tech, everyone's new sleeper North Carolina and a trip to face Bo and the Huskers in Lincoln. If they make it through September unscathed, then I still see at least two losses in the mix of Boston College, Florida State, Maryland, Miami and Virginia.

More questions after the jump.

3. On the flip side of that coin, which team do you think is going to burst out of nowhere to become 2008's biggest overachiever -- this year's version of Kansas '07, as it were -- and what's going to be the big upset that makes us all finally sit up and take notice of them?

RMN: I'm high on Cincinnati, who barely cracked the Top 35 in the BlogPoll. I'm not predicting the Bearcats to have 2007 Kansas-type Cinderella season, but Brian Kelly churns out under-appreciated winners wherever he goes and Cincy in 2008 should be no different. I don't expect them to ever crack the Top 10, but the Bearcats have the weaponry to compete in the wide-open Big East, and their non-conference date against Oklahoma will more than prepare them for any test they'll face in conference play.

4. Here's an "I'll hang up and listen" question. I put Ohio State and Oklahoma #1 and #2, respectively, despite their recent high-profile BCS face-plants. Where did you rank those two teams, and did those BCS issues have anything to do with it?

RMN: I had Ohio State at No. 6 and Oklahoma at No. 3 on my ballot, and when it comes to the Buckeyes, I'm ashamed to admit that the BCS issues did indeed have something to do with it. There's no question about the talent Tressel has in Columbus, as well as the more-than-manageable road the Bucks have through the Big Ten (non-conference date with USC not included). But because of recent failure and because of my bit of unfamiliarity, I've put OSU in the "Show Me" column of teams I'm willing to shoot up the ballot in a heartbeat as soon as I see it's deserved.

Oklahoma sits at No. 3 after I toyed with the idea of giving them a look at No. 1. Yes, they lose all kinds of talent on the defensive side of the ball, but isn't that par for the course for Stoops? The big selling point for me with the Sooners is the O-Line, which is one of the most dominant units I've ever seen in person. Doing the things Sam Bradford did last year becomes a lot easier when you have absolutely NO threat of being touched or pressured.

5. Last season was a statistical outlier in countless ways, not the least of which was the fact that we ended up with a two-loss team as national champion. Do you think anyone plays a strong enough schedule to get MNC consideration as a two-loss team this year? Conversely, do you see anybody managing to sail into the national-championship game undefeated?

RMN: Any dominant-looking SEC team will get a bit of a pass if they have two close losses just by virtue of the difficultly of navigating through the conference (SEC East - notably Georgia and Florida - we're looking at you). Outside of those two, I think USC and Ohio State each get a "One Loss Free" card by virtue of having the cojones to schedule each other in non-conference. I'd be tempted to throw in Oklahoma and Missouri into that mix, but the two losses would have to come before the Big 12 Championship, and I don't think a Big 12 Title would be enough to vault a two-loss Big 12 champ into the BCS Top 2.