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Week 9 Poll Review

Iowa is definitely in the playoffs

Kirk Ferentz and the Iowa Hawkeyes are *definitey* in the playoffs.
Kirk Ferentz and the Iowa Hawkeyes are *definitey* in the playoffs.
Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports

College Football Playoff Selection Committee Rankings

The first playoff rankings of the season come out tonight, and just to show how many teams are in the mix...

AP Top 25

TCU was the only Top 7 team in action last week and with no major upsets, the top spots remain unchanged. #8 Notre Dame and #9 Stanford switched places after the Irish beat then-#21 Temple and Stanford beat Washington State when the Cougars missed a last-second field goal.

#15 Memphis and #16 Michigan also swapped spots this week. Notre Dame/Stanford and Memphis/Michigan swapping one spot were the only changes in the Top 20.

North Carolina jumped from #27 to #21 after beating Pittsburgh. With Miami's win* over Duke, the Tar Heels are the favorites to win the ACC Coastal.

Mississippi State moved up to #24 after a bye, and and Texas A&M is back in the Top 25.

Previous Bama opponent Wisconsin is #26 and Tennessee is #35.

Alabama in the AP

A slow week left Bama unmoved on most ballots. Forty-eight of the 61 voters left the Tide where they had them last week. Eight voters dropped them. Iowa beating #80 Maryland was enough for four voters to jump them over idle Alabama.

  • Brett McMurphy dropped Bama from 7 to 9 (TCU, Florida).
  • Gary Smits and Jim Polzin dropped Bama from 7 to 8, and Sam Werner dropped Bama from 8 to 9 (Iowa).
  • Pete DiPrimio jumped idle LSU over idle Alabama; I assume he gave LSU more credit for their Florida win after Florida's decisive win over Georgia.

Five voters moved Alabama up this week after Stanford's near loss and after Oklahoma State let Texas Tech score 53.

  • Adam Zucker, Doug Lesmerises, Jeff Seidell and Jimmy Burch jumped Bama from 8 to 7 (Stanford).
  • Duane Rankin jumped Bama from 11 to 9 (Oklahoma State, Stanford)

Coaches Poll

Clemson sits at #5 in the Coaches Poll.

Massey Composite

Combining the 95 polls in the Massey index gives us this composite Top 10:

  1. Clemson (average rank 2.7)
  2. Ohio State (4.8)
  3. LSU (5.6)
  4. Alabama (6.2)
  5. Notre Dame (7.1)
  6. TCU (7.1)
  7. Baylor (9.2)
  8. Michigan State (9.4)
  9. Florida (9.8)
  10. Iowa (9.8)

Playoff Ranking Preview

Clemson, Ohio State, LSU and Baylor are the most likely to be in the first Playoff Top 4 when the rankings are released tonight. Here's how many times each team appears in the Top 4 in the sources that make up the Massey composite. Clemson is in the Top 4 in 82 of the 95 sources. Florida, Stanford, Utah and USC (!) each appear in the Top 4 in one source's rankings.

SEC in the Computers

Team AP Coaches Average High Low
LSU Tigers
4 4 5.6 1 19
Alabama Crimson Tide
7 7 6.2 1 15
Florida Gators
11 12 9.8 5 27
Ole Miss Rebels
19 19 17.7 7 39
Mississippi State Bulldogs
24 25 24.0 10 46
Texas A&M Aggies
25 24 25.1 9 68
Tennessee Volunteers
35 30.6 8 69
Georgia Bulldogs
42.0 8 60
Arkansas Razorbacks
44.6 20 64
Auburn Tigers
52.5 33 93
Missouri Tigers
67.1 43 91
Kentucky Wildcats
69.5 43 93
South Carolina Gamecocks
73.4 51 94
Vanderbilt Commodores
80.9 50 96