The greatest poll on the internet returns after an action packed week that had LSU and Mississippi State lose, two teams I was no longer ranking. Can’t be 100% however as my gamble with Iowa went horribly wrong as the offense struggled all day in their loss to MSU.
Real AP Poll:
- Alabama (44)
- Clemson (17)
- Oklahoma
- Penn State
- Georgia – Well I got to see the monster win I had been waiting for but at the same time I really, really, don’t trust Tennessee so I’m not all in on UGA just yet. Dawg’s defense is the real deal, though.
- Washington
- Michigan
- TCU
- Wisconsin – That Northwestern game inspired a lot of confidence, oh, wait, no it didn’t.
- Ohio State
- Washington State
- Auburn
- Miami
- USC
- Oklahoma State
- Virginia Tech
- Louisville
- USF
- San Diego State – How many games in a row do USF and SDSU need to win before they can even sniff the top 10 or 15? I mean what has USC done so far to remain so high? Miami has played just 3 games. Va Tech can’t beat highly ranked teams. Louisville was embarrassed their one game against a good team. I’m not saying USF and SDSU are under ranked, but I am saying if they were stocks you could buy low with both of them right now.
- Utah
- Florida
Notre Dame - (Tie at 21)
- West Virginia
- NC State
- UCF – Hey, I had them ranked last week.
Josh’s Top 25:
- Clemson
- Alabama – Let’s compare resume’s for one sec. Non conference for Alabama thus far has been Florida State, Fresno State, and Colorado State. Rams are a nice Mountain West team, Fresno is (probably) a terrible MTW team, and FSU is a good, not great team. Clemson’s non-con has been Kent State and Auburn. Auburn is better than anyone Alabama played in their non-con, check to Clemmy. How about ranked teams? Alabama has faced one: the no-longer ranked FSU team. Clemson has faced three: Auburn, Louisville, and Virginia Tech, all still ranked. Time and again the comparison favors Clemson so my ranking reflects that.
- Oklahoma
- Washington
- Penn State
- TCU
- Georgia
- Ohio State
- Michigan
- Wisconsin
- Auburn
- Oklahoma State
- Washington State
- USC
- Virginia Tech
- Miami
- Louisville
- South Florida
- San Diego State
- West Virginia
- Notre Dame
- Utah
- UCF
- – 25 See Below – Final Verdict
See Below, What the Hell is That?
This is the most prestigious rankings on the internet, I can’t just give teams the final spot all willy nilly. I had a reader say that this section wasn’t very clear so I’ll try and state the process more clearly. Since many leagues will have a ton of teams on my radar, I only take one team from each league to start with. On rare exceptions, I’ll take more than one team but for the most part, I really try and weed out within leagues first. Then I see if my final selections have played any FCS teams or have had a bad game (for example a 3-0 win by a SEC school over a .500 Sun Belt team would qualify or a lopsided loss would count as a bad game). After those first two criteria, I take the remaining teams and examine their best win, worst win, best loss, and worst loss to make the final selections.
American Athletic Conference
Navy, SMU, and Houston are all 3-1 or better so I gave them each a shot to impress me. The Ponies are getting cut first. In addition to being the only team of this trio to have a FCS win, they also have the most lopsided loss, losing by 20 to TCU. Navy is also getting dropped. Despite being 4-0 and 3-0 in the AAC already, they lack a power five win and their opponents’ record is a combined 7-12.
That leaves Houston who is only 3-1 but beat a power five team and lost to another by just a field goal. I’m not sure the Cougars have done enough once I open up the comparison nationally, but their defense looks the part of a top-25 team and their standing thus far in the AAC is without question.
AAC Nominee: Houston
Atlantic Coast Conference
By being ranked a week ago, Duke automatically gets a second glance. Joining them is NC State, Florida State, Georgia Tech, and Virginia. First to go is Florida State. They are still wildly talented and has a lot of upside but at 1-2 with a single score win at Wake being their only win, they don’t deserve a ranking right now. Virginia lacks a power five win still so they also depart.
Tech looked the part of a ranked team when they clobbered UNC but their choking display loss to Tennessee looks real bad now after Georgia blew the Vols out of the water, 41-0. Jackets will get ranked before too long if they keep winning but not this week. As for those North Carolina schools…I still love the fact that Duke has three power five wins to NC State’s two but the Wolfpack took down Florida State and in their first game against a ranked foe this year, Duke got crushed by the Caines. You know what that means…
ACC Nominee: NC State
Big 12
Kansas State hasn’t made up enough for their Vanderbilt loss and Texas Tech’s valiant effort against Oklahoma State isn’t enough once the resumes are compared nationally.
Big 12 Nominee: No One
Big Ten
Took that risk on Iowa and it backfired. As a result I’m looking again at Michigan State and Maryland – who upset Minnesota on the road. Sparty’s ugly loss to Notre Dame is disqualifying and Maryland’s overall record being boosted by a FCS team will make it tough for them to move very far during my selection process.
Big Ten Nominee: No One
Pac 12
With four teams already ranked, the bench is pretty deep but it might get a little deeper thanks to Stanford and Oregon. Cardinal have ripped off two straight wins to get back above .500 and Oregon bounced back with a win over Cal. Unfortunately that win came with a price as Justin Herbert broke his collarbone. Due to my trust in the UO signal caller and that now being taken away, I can’t in good faith rank a new look Oregon team yet.
Pac 12 Nominee: Stanford
Southeastern Conference
Despite obvious shakiness Florida and Texas A&M have each put together winning streaks. UF’s three straight has gotten them to 3-1 and TAMU’s four straight has them sitting at 4-1. The Gators’ run has included three SEC teams while Texas A&M has just two plus a FCS win. As a result the Gators remain ahead of the Aggies.
SEC Nominee: Florida
Elimination Time
The above four teams join upstart UT-San Antonio (3-0) as the five teams vying for the last two spots in my poll. The first criteria I will look at is who has played FCS teams and then look at any bad games.
FCS Much?…UTSA is 3-0 with a win over a Big 12 school but they also have a win over a bad Texas State team and a victory over a FCS club. Beep-beep, ya out Roadrunners. NC State is the only other team in this group to have a FCS win but undeniably, knocking off Florida State on the road more than makes up for that so they make this cut.
Bad Game(s)…Florida’s opening day loss to Michigan and Stanford’s no-show at USC are worthy contenders but this is kind of a soft week. I’m inclined to let their resume’s stack up for at least another step but both are on very thin ice.
Final Four
From five to four as I search for my 24th and 25 ranked teams. For this I try to just look at a couple of games: each team’s best win, worst win, best loss (i.e. a moral victory), and worst loss.
- Florida
- BW: ??? at Kentucky…maybe
- WW: ??? Vanderbilt
- BL: N/A
- WL: Michigan (by 16)
- Houston
- BW: at Arizona
- WW: Rice
- BL: Texas Tech (by 3)
- WL: N/A
- NC State
- BW: at Florida State
- WW: FCS
- BL: South Carolina (by 7)
- WL: N/A
- Stanford
- BW: UCLA
- WW: Rice
- BL: at SDSU (by 3)
- WL: at USC (by 18)
First thought is damn, I should have trusted my instinct. Florida’s bad game against Michigan combined with the joke that is the SEC East has resulted in a confusingly muddled resume that just doesn’t look like a top 25 worthy one yet and Stanford having two losses looks terrible this early on.
With those two gone it is clear how these two should be ranked. NC State has the single best victory and their loss to a full strength South Carolina team (injuries have killed them this year) feels more like one of those games where the better team ran out of time to pull out a victory than the Gamecocks really beating them.
Final Verdict:
24. NC State
25. Houston
League Breakdown:
5 – ACC
4 – Big 12, Big Ten, Pac 12
3 – American, SEC
1 – Independent, Mountain West
Big Ten and Counting 