Week 4 Top 25

 

RK	AP Poll	USA Today Poll	Jeremy	Nick
1	Florida State (1)	Florida State (1)	Florida State (1)	Florida State (1)
2	Oregon (2)	Alabama (2)	Alabama (2)	Alabama (2)
3	Alabama (3)	Oregon (4)	Oregon (3)	Oregon (3)
4	Oklahoma (4)	Oklahoma (3)	Auburn (4)	Oklahoma (5)
5	Auburn (5)	Auburn (5)	Baylor (6)	Auburn (6)
6	Texas A&M (7)	Baylor (7)	Oklahoma (8)	Baylor (7)
7	Baylor (8)	Texas A&M (8)	LSU (9)	LSU (8)
8	LSU (10)	LSU (9)	Texas A&M (10)	Texas A&M (9)
9	Notre Dame (11)	Notre Dame (11)	Ole Miss (14)	Notre Dame (10)
10	Ole Miss (14)	UCLA (12)	Georgia (5)	Georgia (4)
11	Michigan State(13)	Michigan State (13)	Stanford (11)	Michigan State (20)
12	UCLA (12)	Ole Miss (15)	Notre Dame (12)	South Carolina (22)
13	Georgia (6)	Arizona State (14)	Michigan State (13)	Ole Miss (13)
14	South Carolina (24)	Georgia (6)	South Carolina (25)	Kansas State (14)
15	Arizona State (16)	Stanford (16)	USC (7)	Wisconsin (15)
16	Stanford (15)	South Carolina (23)	Missouri (18)	Stanford (19)
17	USC (9)	Wisconsin (17)	Arizona State (17)	Arizona State (18)
18	Missouri (20)	Ohio State (18)	Kansas State (19)	Clemson (23)
19	Wisconsin (18)	Missouri (22)	UCLA (21)	UCLA (12)
20	Kansas State (19)	Kansas State (20)	Wisconsin (20)	BYU (25)
21	BYU (25)	USC (10)	Ohio State (22)	Nebraska (17)
22	Clemson (23)	Nebraska (21)	Clemson (24)	Ohio State (24)
23	Ohio State (22)	BYU (NR)	Nebraska (NR)	USC (11)
24	Nebraska (NR)	Clemson (24)	Florida (23)	Missouri (NR)
25	Ok State (NR)	North Carolina (25)	Washington (NR)	Pittsburg (NR)

 

 

 

Movers and Shakers

 

The top ten stays mostly the same this week with just a few teams shuffling around.  Georgia (No. 6 last week) and USC (No. 9 last week) both drop out of the top ten after road losses at South Carolina and Boston College, respectively.  The subsequent win for South Carolina propels them up ten spots from No. 24 last week to No. 14 this week.  I think this is much closer to where South Carolina should be ranked.  They’re a good team with a ton of upside and I think we overstated their struggles in weeks one and two.

 

Ole Miss and Notre Dame make an appearance in the top ten with the Rebels at No. 10 and Notre Dame No. 9.  Nebraska is back in the top 25 after dropping out last week due to a horrendous performance against McNeese State.  Oklahoma State makes their first appearance in the rankings.  The Cowboys have looked much better to this point this season and I think have exceeded expectations. 

 

Through the first two weeks we’ve seen some drastic reactions to wins and losses and I see this being a theme all season- wins and losses will be over exaggerated.   

 

 

Going Up 

 

South Carolina

A win against a top 5 team at home was exactly what the Gamecocks needed to get their season back on track. That game raised more questions than it gave answers about the SEC East the rest of the season. South Carolina is a dangerous team and has the potential to come back and win the division.

 

BYU

The Cougars missed an opportunity on national television on Thursday night against Houston to really show what they can do, but nonetheless they are playing well early in the season and look like a potential contender. I am not at all going to buy them a chance in the playoff, but a larger New Year’s Day bowl game is not out of the question.

 

The SEC West

Just when everyone wants to build up the Pac-12 North as a better division in football the SEC West comes out with six of its seven teams undefeated. This is easily going to be the toughest division to get through this season and its winner looks like it has the potential for two losses. I don’t think Ole Miss or Mississippi State will stay undefeated very long, but the other four teams (Bama, LSU, A&M and Auburn) could all be contenders the rest of the season.

 

Going Down 

 

Georgia

I am not going to spend a lot of time on this because Colombia is a tough place to play and the Dawgs just didn’t have the firepower on Saturday to pull this one out. I think Georgia will be fine this season and still has a very good chance for a spot in the playoff.

 

Virginia Tech

I was a major buyer of the Hokies stock last week and then they let ECU score the first 21 points on Saturday. They did come back to make it a close game, but it’s tough to not sell their stock after a major letdown like this. I still think VaTech is a good team and can win the ACC Coastal, but playoff contender I don’t think so.

 

USC

I never fully bought into the Trojans after their win at Stanford, because they were out played by the Cardinal and should not have won that game. This team should be fine as it has a ton of talent, but I don’t think it can be the world beater or even Pac-12 champion like a lot of people have started calling for.

 

Bubble Watch

 

TCU

The Horned Frogs just dominated Minnesota in Fort Worth on Saturday and this team looks like it might be able to pull things together this season. I am not quite ready to put them in the top 25 because I will want to see what happens to them over the next month as three of their next four opponents are in the top 25 and two are in the top 10.

 

Virginia

I doubt many will agree with me here but I think the Cavs look like a team that could make some noise in the ACC Coastal this season. They play solid, gritty defense and their offense isn’t the best but it is average. We will know a lot more about them after this weekend against BYU so don’t buy too much stock yet in them but I think this is a bowl team.