1. Chuck Landon Marshall, Charleston Gazette-Mail
Biggest Issues:
a. Alabama (7) ahead of Texas (10).
This is particularly odd since Texas beat Alabama 34-24 after a 4th quarter that saw Texas pull away from an Alabama team that looked tired and depleted. What’s the argument here? Alabama is a better team? As the season rolls along, I’m perfectly fine accepting the argument that Alabama is a better team than Texas, but after what we just saw? There’s no way to get this square peg in a round hole.
Not only does he have Alabama ahead of Texas, but he placed Alabama 7th – the highest spot they received on the 62 ballots.
10th is also the lowest spot Texas received.
Did Chuck watch this game?
b. Wisconsin (24), Washington State (NR)
One of the most interesting trends in Chuck’s ballot is the idea that you can lose a game but still be a better team somehow. Would Wisconsin beat Washington State nine times out of ten? This must be the argument that Chuck is going for, but that doesn’t work because they’re not going to play ten times, plus Wisconsin has lost to Washington State two years in a row now. I don’t believe Washington State has to be on every ballot, but how can you leave them off and keep Wisconsin on?
Wisconsin only received one other 24th vote, meaning Chuck has once again tied a highest spot for a team.
Did Chuck watch this game?
c. Clemson (22), Tulane (25)
There’s probably an argument to keep Clemson on the ballot, but it’s a tough one to push right now. Tulane’s argument is that the loss they received to Ole Miss is that they lost to a ranked Ole Miss. Clemson lost to an unranked Duke and it wasn’t close. Then, Clemson turned around and struggled for a half against a bad FCS team, Charleston Southern. Not sure how to justify putting Clemson on right now, and especially ahead of Tulane who has had a far better two games.
2. Matt Baker Florida St/Florida, Tampa Bay Times
a. Florida State (1)
Matt Baker wasn’t the only one who put Florida State first, Rece Davis and Brett McMurphy also did, but there’s something especially interesting when a writer for the Tampa Bay Times, who is listed as having affiliations with Florida State/Florida, puts Florida State at #1. Do they have a reasonable claim? They beat an LSU team that has now sunk to the middle of the Top 25 (#14), so it’s still a decent win, and maybe as the season goes along the win will look better and better. But for now it’s hard to suggest Florida State is better than Georgia.
b. LSU (10)
Perhaps to reinforce how important the Florida State win over LSU was, Matt has placed LSU at #10 in the polls – their 2nd highest ranking this week. Matt adheres to the pro wrestling mentality where you are only as good as the opponent you beat. Wrestlers will always mention their opponent is tough because there’s no value in beating a weak opponent, and Florida State is wise to do the same. But it’s hard to justify LSU as a Top-10 team when their only win is a 72-10 beatdown of Grambling. There are other worthier teams for this spot.
c. Tennessee (15)
Matt gives Tennessee their lowest ranking this week (15th), and while their two wins over Virginia and Austin Peay aren’t much to write home about, they’re also a team that’s well coached, has depth, and has shown little struggles so far. What is it that he’s not seeing in Tennessee that others are?
d. USC (6), Utah (14), Colorado (20), Washington State (25)
While Matt didn’t rank every Pac-12 team lower than they finished, it’s certainly an interesting move to see so many teams from one conference being ranked lower. Utah, Colorado and Washington State were all ranked multiple spots lower than their final rankings. Contrarian or visionary?
3. Dave Preston Maryland, WTOP
Biggest issues:
a. Ohio State (3), Penn State (5)
The first five spots in a ballot stand out a lot and it’s hard to come up with a top five that stands out for the wrong reasons since so many people will focus on it. Yet Dave Preston, Maryland voter from WTOP, has gone ham with support for his Big Ten Conference buddies. Placing Ohio State and Penn State that high, three spots higher for OSU and two for PSU than their actual ranking, makes one wonder if these are valid or simply conference backing. Few other voters had Ohio State (5/62 voters) or Penn State (5/62) that high.
b. Florida State (7), Miami (24), North Carolina (25)
FSU down 4 spots, Miami down 2 spots, North Carolina down 5 spots. Dave’s ballot has B1G schools higher than most and ACC schools, Maryland’s former conference, lower than most. 7th was Florida State’s lowest rank, 25th was UNC’s lowest rank, and 24th was Miami’s 2nd lowest rank. Odd that Dave finds himself on the deep end for these schools.
c. Utah (9), Notre Dame (12), Ole Miss (14), UCLA (20), Iowa (22)
All four of these schools were placed three spots either higher or lower than their final rank. All of these rankings make me concerned that Dave isn’t watching the full games. Utah’s deep struggles on the road against a winless Baylor were not the actions of a Top-10 team, and Notre Dame’s three straight blowouts make them look like the Tiop-10 team most have them at. Dave even moved Utah up one spot from last week despite the terrible play.
4. Rece Davis Alabama, ESPN
Biggest issues:
a. Florida State (1), Michigan (2), Georgia (3)
Rece Davis, paragon of objectivity, brings us a barnburner Top-3 with the continued rankings of Florida State at #1 and Georgia at #3.
Is Florida State worthy of #1? We’ve talked about this earlier, and there is an argument but what’s the argument for Georgia at #3 below Michigan? Georgia is 31-1 in the last 32 games with two national titles. You could argue that the season’s rankings should only be based on the current season’s actions, which is impossible since the season starts with a preseason ranking, but even if we only look at this season’s games, how could you rank Georgia below Michigan? Georgia has only played UT-Martin and Ball State, winning both handily, while Michigan beat two FBS schools – East Carolina and UNLV – and went through them fairly easily as well. Were Michigan’s two wins better than Georgia’s? Michigan failed to beat the spread in either game with Georgia covering in one. Is it because Michigan hasn’t had their head coach Jim Harbaugh return from suspension? We can’t debate whether they’d win bigger with him in charge because there’s no way to verify it. This feels like a ranking to make Rece not look like the SEC homer that he is.
b. Tennessee (8), LSU (10)
Rece dodges the first wave of SEC homerism by flinging LSU into the bottom of the Top 10 and helps give Tennessee their highest ranking in the polls (8th). Georgia’s past success may not impress Rece enough to give them a Top-2 vote, but Tennessee and LSU have done enough in his eyes to slide this far up. The fact that he’s the only person to throw this combo down this high is telling.
c. Tulane (24), Wyoming (25)
Tulane did pick up several votes in this week’s ballot, but Rece only dropping Tulane from 22nd to 24th feels like an odd one since only 10/62 felt they were worthy enough for inclusion after the loss to Ole Miss. Wyoming receives their only vote in the poll from Rece, a unique positive vote, but are they worthy of inclusion? Their OT win over Texas Tech in Week 1 was thrilling, but Texas Tech is now 0-2 and the win for Wyoming isn’t looking as good. Their only other win is over Portland State from the FCS, a school that lost 81-7 to Oregon in Week 1. Wyoming’s two wins are admirable, and perhaps a bowl is in their future, but the poll vote feels like an attempt to classify Rece as a well-rounded student of the game when there are other undefeated G5 schools worthy of a look.
5. Jon Wilner Pac-12, San Jose Mercury News
Teams: The entire Pac-12 Conference
Biggest Issues:
a. Washington (5), Utah (8)
These errors feel light compared to people going big on declaring a new #1, but Wilner gives Washington and Utah their highest rankings in the polls (5 and 8, respectively). As a writer who covers the entire Pac-12 Conference, many might view this as overrating schools that fall within his purview. The flip side is that the bulk of writers don’t watch games out West, so maybe this is simply a counter to everyone else. As mentioned before, there’s no way to say Utah has looked like a Top-10 team, especially after that performance against Baylor, so placing them 8th feels absurd. Wilner even had Utah 8th the previous week, so after a bad performance there was no re-evaluation. Washington hasn’t faced a real test either, so placing them Top-5 is a bit much, and while Wilner did drop them from 4th to 5th, it doesn’t feel like Wilner has given others a fair look.
b. Alabama (9), LSU (10)
This is an odd pair. Both lost high-profile games, and these rankings are at the high end for both in this week’s poll. Are these justified? I think it’s hard to say so since both teams lost convincingly and have not shown signs they deserve a Top-10 ranking.
c. Penn State (12), Miami (15)
A real crossroads of rankings here. This is by far Penn State’s lowest ranking, their next closest was 9th. Is Wilner trying to take some steam off Penn St to open doors for USC and Washington? Or does he really think Penn St is below everyone in the Top-10?
Conversely, this is Miami’s 2nd highest-ranking in the poll (they also received a 14th vote). Miami did beat then 23rd ranked Texas A&M at home, but Wilner moved them from 24th to 15th. He even has them above Colorado, Ole Miss, and Washington St – three team that have received high-profile wins, and gotten a lot of buzz for doing so. Potential bias towards former Pac-12 coach Mario Cristobal doing well at Miami? He certainly sees more in them than 60 other voters.
d. North Carolina (22), Wisconsin (23), Fresno State (24), Duke (25)
Two very low votes for ACC schools North Carolina and Duke, with Duke receiving their lowest vote in this week’s poll from Wilner. What is it that UNC and Duke aren’t doing to merit higher votes? Wilner had UNC and Duke in the same spots in the previous week’s poll and didn’t see enough from UNC’s close win over Appalachian St or Duke’s win over FCS Lafayette to merit any movement. This will be interesting to see what happens in the coming weeks.
Fresno State getting their lone vote here is a good use of the poll. Their Week 1 win over Purdue on the road should be treated with respect.
Wisconsin getting a vote here feels a bit like Wilner wanting to give a small boost to Washington State to make their win more meaningful. He’s not the first person to try something like this (see above), but it can feel disingenuous.
Others to watch:
4. Steven Johnson TCU, Fort Worth-Star Telegram
Biggest Issues:
a. Texas (5), Oklahoma (22)
Steven’s ballot is mostly harmless with some schools higher and some schools lower than the average which is fine and not indicative of anything.
But what makes this ballot stand out is his placement of Texas and Oklahoma. TCU’s future former conference mates both got short shrift this week, and both have played well in 2023. Is Steven trying to keep either school down, or a one-week blip? Something to keep an eye on.
QB Watch 