The AP Top 25
Utah keeps riding their Oregon win and gaining traction. The Utes have 16 first-place votes, but someone needs to explain to me how the #3 team in the country is an underdog to an unranked .500 USC team this weekend. They have wins over #15 Michigan and #20 Cal, and they don't have any other currently-ranked teams on their schedule until the Pac-12 title game.
TCU fell from #3 to #4 after their win over Iowa State, but the Horned Frogs still have to play West Virginia, at #14 Oklahoma State, at #17 Oklahoma, and #2 Baylor.
Michigan State remains at #7 after a miracle win over Michigan. They get Nebraska on November 7 and Ohio State two weeks later.
For the first time since 1979, two teams from Pennsylvania are ranked and neither are named Penn State (#22 Temple, #25 Pittsburgh).
The SEC is holding steady with 5 teams in the Top 25. Ole Miss is at #24 after losing to Memphis and will find themselves out of the Top 25 if they lose to Texas A&M this week.
Bama in the AP
Alabama jumped from #10 to #8 after beating Texas A&M, who fell from #9 to #15.
The Crimson Tide resoundingly answered three pressing questions this weekend: Could the offensive line open holes and protect the QB against A&M's vaunted defensive line, could Bama's young corners limit A&M's explosive receivers, and can Nick Saban beat a spread offense?
The Tide left Kyle Field with an 18-point road win over a Top 10 team, but 20 of the 61 AP voters either didn't move Alabama or ranked them lower than last week:
- 16 voters ranked Bama the same as last week.
- Ed Daigneault and Matt Charboneau dropped Bama from 5 to 6.
- Joey Knight dropped Bama from 5 to 7.
- Rustin Dodd dropped Bama from 6 to 8.
Chris Murray gave Bama their worst ranking...for the 4th week in a row.
The good news is that two voters already have Bama in their Top 4: Ed Johnson ranked Bama #3 and Sam McKewon has Bama at #4.
Voter | Alabama |
Ed Johnson | 3 |
Sam McKewon | 4 |
Eric Hansen | 5 |
Jon Wilner | 5 |
Kirk Bohls | 5 |
Rob Long | 5 |
Bob Asmussen | 6 |
David Briggs | 6 |
Ed Daigneault | 6 |
Laura Keeley | 6 |
Matt Charboneau | 6 |
Nathan Deen | 6 |
Pete DiPrimio | 6 |
Tom Murphy | 6 |
Adam Jude | 7 |
Adam Zucker | 7 |
Brent Axe | 7 |
Brian Howell | 7 |
Dave Reardon | 7 |
Duane Rankin | 7 |
Gary Horowitz | 7 |
Joey Knight | 7 |
John Clay | 7 |
Mike Sands | 7 |
Robert Cessna | 7 |
Scott Hamilton | 7 |
Scott Wolf | 7 |
Brett McMurphy | 8 |
Chadd Cripe | 8 |
Doug Lesmerises | 8 |
Eric Avidon | 8 |
Garland Gillen | 8 |
Gary Smits | 8 |
Jay Binkley | 8 |
Jeff Seidel | 8 |
Jim Dunaway | 8 |
Joel Klatt | 8 |
John Shinn | 8 |
Ken Medlin | 8 |
Marc Weiszer | 8 |
Michael Lev | 8 |
Mike Sorensen | 8 |
Robert Gagliardi | 8 |
Ross Dellenger | 8 |
Rustin Dodd | 8 |
Steve Layman | 8 |
Tim Griffin | 8 |
Doug Doughty | 9 |
Jim Polzin | 9 |
Jimmy Burch | 9 |
John Adams | 9 |
Josh Kendall | 9 |
Keith Sargeant | 9 |
Matt McCoy | 9 |
Mitch Vingle | 9 |
Nate Sandell | 9 |
Ryan Finley | 9 |
Sam Werner | 9 |
Steve Batterson | 9 |
Tom D'Angelo | 9 |
Chris Murray | 10 |
The Coaches Poll
Georgia sneaked back into the Coaches Top 25 with a 9-6 "win" over Missouri.
The Massey Composite
Averaging each team's ranking across 55 sources from the Massey index gives us this Top 5:
- Ohio State (average ranking 4.3)
- Utah (4.4)
- Alabama (6.1)
- Clemson (6.5)
- Baylor (7.1)
Alabama is Underrated, LSU Overrated
Throughout the season, the computer average has warned when the human polls were wrong about a team, and now they're saying that #8 Alabama should be closer to #6 and #5 LSU should be #8. We'll see who's right when LSU visits Tuscaloosa on November 7.
Alabama is #1 in eight sources' rankings. Vern has the Tide at #21.
The SEC
Team | AP | Coaches | Average | High | Low |
Alabama Crimson Tide |
8 | 8 | 6.1 | 1 | 21 |
LSU Tigers |
5 | 5 | 8.1 | 1 | 26 |
Florida Gators |
13 | 14 | 11.3 | 3 | 29 |
Texas A&M Aggies |
15 | 16 | 17.5 | 9 | 28 |
Ole Miss Rebels |
24 | 23 | 26.5 | 9 | 46 |
Mississippi State Bulldogs |
26 | 26 | 27.4 | 15 | 47 |
Georgia Bulldogs |
31 | 25 | 31.8 | 7 | 52 |
Tennessee Volunteers |
35.8 | 13 | 67 | ||
Auburn Tigers |
42.6 | 24 | 78 | ||
Arkansas Razorbacks |
51.6 | 13 | 83 | ||
Kentucky Wildcats |
52.9 | 31 | 79 | ||
Missouri Tigers |
54.6 | 42 | 66 | ||
South Carolina Gamecocks |
68.8 | 55 | 88 | ||
Vanderbilt Commodores |
84.0 | 66 | 103 |