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Josh’s Top 25

Return of the big boys in the AP with California, Florida, Michigan, Mississippi State and West Virginia all jumping in.  Meanwhile Temple, Houston and Memphis will just keep winning.  Toledo, too.

Real AP Poll:

  1. Ohio State (45)
  2. Michigan State (5)
  3. Ole Miss (10)
  4. TCU – Injury issues make me skeptical of keeping the Frogs this high.
  5. Baylor
  6. Notre Dame – The Zombie Irish keep winning!
  7. UCLA
  8. Georgia
  9. LSU
  10. Utah (1) – Utes jump 8 places to 10th and Oregon drops out entirely.  If Utah is deemed that good, can’t you justify keeping Oregon in?  Or if Oregon is that bad, why have Utah skyrocket?  AP is goofy.
  11. Florida State
  12. Clemson
  13. Alabama
  14. Texas A&M
  15. Oklahoma
  16. Northwestern – When you look at the offensive capabilities of USC, Wisconsin, Okie State, WVU and Cal, it makes me feel two things.  The first is, good for a stout defensive team to be ahead of them.  The second is, can this team keep up if a game ever turns into a track meet?  I’m a little dubious of that second part.
  17. USC
  18. Stanford
  19. Wisconsin
  20. Oklahoma State – Still not sold.  Haven’t played anyone and got bailed out by the refs.  I watched a lot of that game, Pokes don’t look like one of the 25 best teams to me.
  21. Mississippi State
  22. Michigan
  23. West Virginia
  24. Cal – Jared Goff should be invited to New York.  He might not win but he has the Bears undefeated, looking good and still doesn’t have that much around him.  He and Dak Prescott are one-man bands right now.
  25. Florida

My Top 25:

  1. Ohio State
  2. Michigan State
  3. Ole Miss
  4. Baylor – Look, they are healthier than TCU and if the non-con is fooling me, fine – it will get corrected like it did last year when they lost to West Virginia but for now they are firmly in at number 4.
  5. Georgia
  6. UCLA
  7. TCU – When you compare them to the teams I just had jump them, they lack the defense and the health.  Here’s the good news, if TCU goes undefeated, they can easily jump back up because both the Dawgs and Bruins have some incredibly tough games coming up.
  8. Alabama
  9. Notre Dame
  10. USC – I’m still buying them.  They have a proven quarterback and an opportunistic defense.  I think the Stanford game was a wake up call to unleash the beast, let’s also not forget the Cardinal are a pretty good team in their own right.
  11. Utah
  12. LSU – Still major concerns about their quarterback play and ability to come from behind.  Fournette is a beast but they haven’t played anyone.  Until either the Florida or Bama game, I’m keeping the Tigers in a holding pattern just outside the top ten.
  13. Clemson
  14. Florida State
  15. Oklahoma
  16. Texas A&M – A&M’s best win is Arizona State who got embarrassed.  Oklahoma’s best win is Tennessee who just choked.  Why can’t these teams just play each other?!  I miss the Big 12 South.
  17. Northwestern – Big jump because the Stanford win is looking more impressive and the Duke win looks even better now with the Blue Devils taking down my ACC division champ Georgia Tech, yikes.
  18. Wisconsin – Two shutouts is really impressive.
  19. Houston
  20. Temple
  21. Stanford – What???  Look, the USC game was great but other than that they haven’t played anyone.  Don’t worry, plenty of time to rise up, including UCLA in two weeks.
  22. Michigan – Defense is playing great and took it to a BYU team I had ranked 20th last week.
  23. Florida – Won at Kentucky (3-1), defeated ECU (just took down Va Tech, 2-2) and beat a Tennessee team we all liked.  Nice resume, lets see if they can keep it up.
  24. Memphis
  25. Oregon – Oh the humanity!!!  Look, did they get waxed?  Yup.  Is their qb hurt?  Yes.  When Vernon Davis was healthier did they nearly knock off MSU?  Yes.  If I’m wrong, well then they’ll keep losing – right?  If I’m right, the will probably end the year 10-2 and in the Pac 12 title game.  Time will tell.

Justifiable Outrage:

I assure you, I am not trying to get a rise out of Oklahoma State fans.  I just don’t think their 4-0 start is particularly impressive.  They are right there though, I just want to see them rip off some wins against schools people have actually heard of.

Josh you must hate the Big 12 by leaving out West Virginia.  To the contrary, I like this Mountaineer team.  The problem is they are 3-0 and their wins are Georgia Southern, Liberty (FCS) and god-awful Maryland.  Next up is Oklahoma, so if they win, they’re in.

Mississippi State is close but at 3-1 with a win over an FCS team you have to adjust that as just a 2-1 mark.  They have plenty of quality opponents upcoming though.

Last but not least, Cal, was left out because they played FCS Grambling and their Texas win came with a lot of luck.  They play Utah in two weeks so they’re fine.  Don’t worry Bears fans.

League Breakdown:

6 – SEC

5 – Big Ten, Pac 12

3 – American, Big 12

2 – ACC

1 – Independent

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