Here’s the latest AP Top 25. I’ve added a few of my ACC-centric thoughts on it below.
SCHOOL |
RECORD |
POINTS |
PREVIOUS |
| 1. Alabama (55) | 6-0 | 1,495 | 1 |
| 2. Oregon (5) | 6-0 | 1,438 | 2 |
| 3. Clemson | 6-0 | 1,352 | 3 |
| 4. Ohio St. | 6-0 | 1,330 | 4 |
| 5. Florida St. | 6-0 | 1,242 | 6 |
| 6. LSU | 6-1 | 1,137 | 10 |
| 7. Texas A&M | 5-1 | 1,105 | 8 |
| 8. Louisville | 6-0 | 1,077 | 8 |
| 9. UCLA | 5-0 | 1,017 | 11 |
| 10. Miami | 5-0 | 912 | 13 |
| 11. South Carolina | 5-1 | 896 | 14 |
| 12. Baylor | 5-0 | 849 | 15 |
| 13. Stanford | 5-1 | 824 | 5 |
| 14. Missouri | 6-0 | 749 | 25 |
| 15. Georgia | 4-2 | 615 | 7 |
| 16. Texas Tech | 6-0 | 590 | 20 |
| 17. Fresno St. | 5-0 | 383 | 21 |
| 18. Oklahoma | 5-1 | 380 | 12 |
| 19. Virginia Tech | 6-1 | 352 | 24 |
| 20. Washington | 4-2 | 309 | 16 |
| 21. Oklahoma St. | 4-1 | 264 | 22 |
| 22. Florida | 4-2 | 249 | 17 |
| 23. N. Illinois | 6-0 | 185 | 23 |
| 24. Auburn | 5-1 | 156 | NR |
| 25. Wisconsin | 4-2 | 153 | NR |
OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES:
Michigan 118, Nebraska 94, Michigan St. 69, Utah 47, Notre Dame 39, Oregon State 21, UCF 19, Texas 16, Arizona St. 7, Northwestern 7, Houston 3, Rutgers 1.
NOTES:
* As it turned out, Clemson was not penalized for needing 3+ quarters to put away Boston College at home. No. 4 Ohio State closed the gap from 54 points to 22, but that margin will likely expand if the Tigers win this Saturday. Speaking of which …
* Stanford’s loss to Utah allowed Florida State to move to No. 5 nationally. Yep, that’s right. Clemson-Florida State is now a matchup OF TWO TOP FIVE ACC TEAMS!!! Ponder that for a moment, but not too long, or else your head will start to really hurt.
* Oh hey, in addition to that top-five matchup, the ACC also now has three Top 10 teams. Miami sat back with a bye last weekend and watched all the carnage, with the end result being a move up of three spots for the Hurricanes, from No. 13 to No. 10. The Canes were aided by losses by Stanford (No. 5), Georgia (No. 7) and Oklahoma (No. 12). Throw in Louisville and the ACC would boast four of the nation’s top 10 teams, the most of any conference … Okay, you’re right, you really can’t throw in the Cardinals yet. Still, three top 10 teams ties the ACC with the SEC for the most from any league.
* Virginia Tech is proving an old adage of football polls: At this time of the year, as long as you keep winning, you’ll move up, even if you’re not accumulating style points. Impressive point totals and wide margins of victory come in handy when everyone’s winning and you need some way to differentiate between unblemished teams. But now that conference play has started, teams are going down all over the place. Thus, the slow and steady Hokies – who grinded out a 19-9 win over Pitt – jumped all the way up from No. 24 to No. 19.
* Strangely enough, we have an ACC team benefiting from its advance reputation, while an SEC team has been held back a bit in the rankings by its sleeper status. Consider the cases of Clemson and Missouri.
The ACC Tigers started off the season ranked highly, knocked off Georgia at home to jump up to No. 3 and have stayed there ever since while pounding some teams and simply beating others (N.C. State and Boston College).
The SEC Tigers, meanwhile, didn’t crack the AP Top 25 until last week, when they sneaked in to the No. 25 spot. They’d rolled up a lot of points in their first five wins, but admittedly hadn’t beaten anyone of consequence until they won big at Vanderbilt. Then, of course, Mizzou went into Sanford Stadium and knocked off Georgia.
You could have a pretty good debate as to which team has accomplished more thus far, yet 6-0 Clemson sits at No. 3 while 6-0 Missouri – even with a huge leap up 11 spots – is at No. 14.