If one could ascribe a theme to my ballot, was about sample size.
Could one bad loss drop and behind two teams they were heads and shoulders above in my preseason rankings? Were two games enough to determine that Clemson has systemic issues on offense? Had Miami erased all of its potential question marks after one big win over Notre Dame?
Dear reader, I offer this question to you: Are just one or two weeks of games enough to radically change your outlook on a team? If your answer is yes, then you likely thought my AP poll last week was the work of a schmuck.
It’s true that leaning on preseason outlooks for the first week or two to a strong degree — at least in comparison to my colleagues — may be flawed. But the truth is, there’s no perfect way to devise an AP poll, especially early in the year as teams try to discover themselves.
I don’t put together these rankings every week to convince anyone that my process is the right one. All I ask is for people to give me time and their respect as I explain my decision-making with my ballot each week.
With that said, here’s where I landed after a wild Week 3.
My AP poll after Week 3
1. Penn State, 2. Miami, 3. Georgia, 4. Ohio State, 5. Oregon, 6. Texas A&M, 7. Oklahoma, 8. LSU, 9. Texas, 10. Notre Dame, 11. Illinois, 12. Michigan, 13. Alabama, 14. Florida State, 15. Auburn, 16. Tennessee, 17. Texas Tech, 18. Georgia Tech, 19. Vanderbilt, 20. Missouri, 21. Utah, 22. TCU, 23. Iowa State, 24. Arizona State, 25. Tulane.
Just missed: Indiana, Southern Cal, Ole Miss, Nebraska.
Explaining Texas, LSU and OU
Texas and LSU dropped this week because of their struggling offenses. Yes, LSU hasn’t lost a game, and the Longhorns’ only defeat came to Ohio State on the road, but neither team dominated its weaker opponents to the degree that a top-5 team should.
For LSU, its wins over Clemson and Florida have lost the luster they had heading into the season. The Tigers also had trouble putting up points against h Tech.
Meanwhile, Texas struggled to complete a pass against UTEP on Saturday, as quarterback Arch Manning’s play through three games has left me worried about the Longhorns.
Those unimpressive results, combined with another strong performance from Oklahoma convinced me that the Sooners should slide up in my rankings.
I like how Oklahoma has looked on both sides of the ball. And even if the victory against Michigan was at home and against a freshman quarterback, the Sooners dominated a team that is better than anyone Texas or LSU has beaten this season.
The Notre Dame conundrum
A particular set of circumstances would’ve had to occur for me to place an 0-2 team in my top 10, but this year Notre Dame has surprisingly met that criterion.
The Fighting Irish have lost to two top-10 teams in my poll by a combined four points. If a couple of plays had gone their way, they’d probably be No. 1.
I’m not saying that Notre Dame is perfect, and it’s obviously important to win the games, but how you lose and who you lose to are also critical factors.
Other notes
Miami shot up my poll again after dominating South Florida this weekend. The Hurricanes offense has been surprisingly excellent, and their performance on Saturday proved their big win over Notre Dame wasn’t a fluke.
Filling out the bottom eight of my poll was an adventure. South Carolina, Pittsburgh and South Florida joined Florida and Clemson as the five schools that slid outside of my rankings; therefore, finding five suitable replacements for them was a challenge.
The easiest decisions I made, however, were ranking Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech.
Vanderbilt’s dominant showing against South Carolina on the road was impressive, even when factoring in quarterback LaNoris Sellers’ injury. The Commodores were winning before he got hurt.
Georgia Tech joined Vanderbilt in my poll after its big win over Clemson. The Yellow Jackets didn’t dominate the Tigers at home, but they were still the better team. I also nearly had Georgia Tech in my top 25 to begin the year.
Utah, TCU and Tulane were the other new entrants to my poll. The Utes and Horned Frogs have been on the cusp of making my top 25 for the past few weeks, and Tulane’s impressive win over Duke this week is why it earned the last spot in the rankings.
