No, no, no, I’m not changing my blog to start my poll before four games have been played. That’s crazy, I hate the poll having too much say in things since wins become really impressive at the time and a team gets jumped up for a big win, but that club never has their ranking adjusted if that win turns out to be a dud. Think of it like this, Notre Dame just beat Michigan and climbed up the poll to 8th. What if Michigan spirals and is sitting at 3-3 by the mid-point of the year, are the Irish going to see their rank dip any? Nope. That’s why I like to wait and actually watch some games.
Real AP Poll:
- Alabama (48)
- Clemson (12)
- Georgia
- Ohio State
- Wisconsin (1)…Nice to see that writer in…Milwaukee(?) Madison(?) Green Bay (?) Oshkosh(?) is sticking to their guns and voting for Bucky.
- Oklahoma
- Auburn
- Notre Dame
- Washington – Huskies will probably be working on their red zone offense this week after letting a great shot at knocking off Auburn slip through their fingers.
- Stanford
- LSU
- Virginia Tech – Dang that defensive front was nasty. Of course FSU’s OL could also be crap again so let’s see if Tech repeats this performance week in, week out.
- Penn State
- West Virginia
- Michigan State
- TCU
- USC
- Mississippi State
- UCF – Champs looked like champs in blowing out UConn.
- Boise State
- Michigan
- Miami (FL)
- Oregon
- South Carolina
- Florida
Dropped from rankings: FSU (19), Texas (23)
Receiving Votes: Utah, Oklahoma State, Boston College, Texas A&M, Northwestern, Maryland, Ole Miss, NC State, Florida State, Houston, Memphis, Washington State, Iowa State, Hawai’i, BYU, Iowa, Kansas State, Fresno State, Arkansas State
Teams on my radar:
American Athletic Conference
Those talented USF Bulls are 1-0, Cincinnati owns a power-five victory to start 1-0, and both Houston and Memphis are 1-0 to start the year. Navy had massive issues against Hawai’i but maybe the Rainbow Warriors are a solid team sitting at 2-0 already. Sleeper Tulane may be 0-1 but they played very well against Wake Forest, an ACC team that made a bowl last year.
Atlantic Coast Conference
BC went bowling a year ago and has a mega star at running back, Wake is 1-0 after a tough trip to New Orleans, NC State is 1-0, Syracuse can score a million points, and FSU has a decent team if they get the OL figured out. Coastal has a lot of questions outside of Virginia Tech after Miami couldn’t do a thing against LSU.
Big 12 Conference
Bunch of teams are 1-0 but haven’t really played anyone. Iowa State had their game cancelled due to weather but the current ranked trio of Oklahoma, TCU, and West Virginia look mighty dangerous.
Big Ten Conference
Too early to read too much into Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, and Northwestern getting to 1-0 but those teams do have the potential to join the four ranked league mates, several of which look like locks to be ranked all year-long.
Conference USA
The league’s best team, FAU, took a beating at Oklahoma to open the season. Going to be a long climb for any C-USA member to scratch their way into the polls but North Texas’s offense is electric so they are a team that is floating around the back of my mind currently.
Independents
You can probably guess my feelings about Notre Dame’s rapid climb for just a single win but they are deservedly ranked. BYU also looked good against Arizona, spoiling Kevin Sumlin’s debut. The Cougars get Wisconsin later this season, a win there and they will be ranked for sure.
Mid-American Conference
When previewing this league for the podcast, we all really liked Buffalo and they looked good in taking down a FCS member to open the season. Ohio and Toledo are also 1-0 and picked to finish very highly in this league so there are a few members to check out during MACtion games to see if they deserve to be in the best poll on the net.
Mountain West Conference
Boise State dominated Troy on the road, Utah State looks dangerous after nearly dropping Michigan State, Hawai’i is 2-0, and Fresno is 1-0. Rough one for San Diego State up at the farm, but don’t count Rocky Long’s ball club out just yet. They will still play a role in determining this league’s champion.
Pac-12 Conference
An intriguing Cal team is 1-0, a young Washington State team is 1-0, Utah and Colorado both had strong starts, and the four ranked teams all have potential to string wins together. Maybe not a “playoff” contending league again like last year, but a fun wide open one.
Southeastern Conference
Hey Look, LSU won a nice game. Doesn’t mean I’m eating crow, just means Miami has some kinks to work out. Why is Florida ranked? Why is South Carolina ranked? I actually thought Ole Miss’s win was the best. They beat up on a power-five program, something UF and USC didn’t do week one.
Sun Belt
I had Troy ranked last year but clearly they have a lot to fix after graduating so many key players. Arkansas State is now the team most able to string wins together and crack the polls. Appalachian State also impressed in an overtime loss at Penn State.
Big Ten and Counting 