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2017 Week 4 Poll

I hate the polls. I think it has silly swings of teams and doing a poll before several games are played clouds judgement. For instance, MSU was 8th in the nation last year when Wisconsin beat them on the road. UW soared through the rankings as a result, but MSU finished 3-9 (1-7) so was it really an impressive win? As a result, I don’t do my poll until the first month of the season is in the books, but I’ll weigh in on what the poll right now.

Real AP Poll:

  1. Alabama (45)
  2. Clemson (15) – Based on resumes and the eye test so far, I would take Clemson on a neutral field rematch over the Tide so I would be one of the 15 other voters to pick them number one right now.
  3. Oklahoma (1)
  4. Penn State
  5. USC
  6. Oklahoma State – Oops, Cowboys just scored again at Pitt.
  7. Washington
  8. Michigan
  9. Wisconsin
  10. Ohio State
  11. Georgia
  12. Florida State
  13. Virginia Tech
  14. Miami – Due to all the weather FSU and Miami are both just 1-0.  I don’t remember a season where two such highly ranked teams are still such unknowns by this point in the season.  At least the ‘Noles have NC State next to either get that Alabama game out of their system or add to their frustration.
  15. Auburn
  16. TCU
  17. Mississippi State
  18. Washington State – Anyone else want to add Boise State to the Pac 12 and drop Oregon State?
  19. Louisville
  20. Florida – Hmm, a hail Mary win equals jumping up four spots?  Okie-dokie.
  21. USF
  22. SDSU
  23. Utah
  24. Oregon
  25. LSU – Surprised this team is still ranked.  Their best win so far is BYU who just got shelled, again.

Dropped: Kansas State (18), Stanford (19), Tennessee (23), UCLA (25)

RV: West Virginia, Colorado, Maryland, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, Memphis, Cal, Stanford, Kentucky, Duke, Kansas State, Tennessee, Texas Tech, Iowa, Wake Forest, Michigan State, Houston

Josh’s Top 25:

N/A, I’ll wait until after week four to formally introduce my poll but I would have had a lot of these teams ranked as well. Here are a few gut reactions in bullet form:

  • Stunned to still see USC as high as they are.  They barely beat Western Michigan, smoke a team no longer ranked, then need overtime against a bad(?) Texas team.  Why isn’t Okie State and/or Washington ahead of them?
  • Anyone else surprised Auburn didn’t fall farther?  They followed up their putrid offensive game against Clemson with a 24-10 win over FCS Mercer.  TCU looks like the real deal and Mississippi State and Washington State are undefeated, all of them make compelling arguments to jump Auburn.
  • Is anyone a more quiet 3-0 than Utah?  Guess they’re quiet because they have beaten FCS North Dakota, a struggling BYU team (by just six), and San Jose State.  Not sure they should be ranked based on that resume yet here they sit.
  • Kentucky receiving this many votes is surprising.  Their 3-0 resume is a 7 point win over Southern Miss, an 11 point win over FCS Eastern Kentucky, and a 10 point win against South Carolina, who was booted from the poll.  Based on Florida next, one of these so-so clubs will get to be ranked next week, too most likely.  Barf.
  • Maryland jumped from 42 to 84 votes by not playing a game.  Evidently crushing Texas, who then nearly beats USC is more impressive instead of, you know, admitting USC is overrated.

First poll next week folks!  As Samuel L. Jackson says in Jurassic Park, “Hold onto your butts.”

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