A quick reaction to last week prior to today’s AP Poll release

5 of the top 11 teams lost yesterday, headlined by no.1 Alabama. In addition, no.4 Tennessee, no.9 Missouri, no.10 Michigan, and no.11 USC all lost. I think this holds up the notion that the Big Ten and SEC are the two best, but now I think it’s fair to say they are the two deepest conferences as well (helps to have 18 teams in the Big Ten and 16 in the SEC respectively!). Because of the teams that lost, it will be interesting to see where each of the losers fall. Moreover, how do we rank the teams that beat them?

Michigan and USC missed a major opportunity to jump in the polls particularly by losing tough games on the road. Because of Missouri and Tennessee losing as well as Alabama, I had thought maybe Michigan could jump ahead of Alabama this week. But it’s a moot point now.

Again, as far as the teams that pulled off these upsets, I think it’s fair to say if the teams they beat all remain ranked, there has to be some discussion about “unequivocally better” at this time to determine the order. Alabama I still think will be ranked ahead of Tennessee, and Texas A&M will certainly make the most astronomical jump.

Vanderbilt unfortunately won’t be ranked because they’re 3-2 now, and Minnesota is 3-3 after beating USC. Perhaps it’s fair to think neither Michigan or USC should be ranked this week because of their losses, but for Michigan, they maybe borderline top 25 right now. Washington should be ranked ahead of them because of the same record and head to head. It’s possible Texas A&M may even be ahead of both Alabama and Tennessee. Having said that, I think Texas will be the new no.1 this week, followed by Ohio State and then Georgia. Oregon and Penn State will round out the top 5.

6-10 I think will be Miami, Alabama, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, and then LSU.

11-15: Clemson, Notre Dame, Iowa State, BYU, Tennessee.

16-20: Utah, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas State, Boise State.

21-25: Indiana, Illinois, Pittsburgh, Nebraska, Washington.

I think Washington should be rewarded for their head-to-head win over Michigan, and because Rutgers lost, it helps Washington’s case to be ranked even though Rutgers beat them. As of now, no 2-loss teams are ranked, and because of the teams that are beating each other, it’s bound to happen soon given we are now halfway through the season. It’s difficult to imagine a top-10 team falling out altogether, but Michigan didn’t start well and even though the fought back like a top-10 team is expected to do, they didn’t have enough in the tank to finish. Michigan will just be on the outside looking in regarding the AP poll in my opinion, but they now have four ranked teams left on their schedule (Illinois, Oregon, Indiana, Ohio State). Tough sledding but there’s plenty to play for if you’re the Michigan Wolverines.