This Is My Top 25. There Are Many Like It, But This One Is Mine
Talk about a lot of changes in the top 25. It seems as though every conference save for the ACC! and the Big Ten! didn’t change much. The Pac 12, the SEC, and the Big 12 all had flip flops in power as a result of losses to Oregon, Alabama, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma. While the debate can be had as to whether those teams should have been ranked that highly in the first place (or that preseason rankings should exist at all), it is what it is. The top 25 is probably going to change a ton this week too, as there are even more head-to-head games between highly ranked opponents.
Regardless, onto the top 25:
14 thoughts in 14 lines
Probably watching you a little more closely this weekend: TCU
Probably not watching you at all this weekend: Vanderbilt
Thought you were good, you were: Auburn
Thought you were bad, you weren’t as bad: Georgia Tech
Game you couldn’t get a ticket for this week: #2 Auburn at #3 Mississippi State
Game no one wants a ticket for this week: Idaho at Georgia Southern
A little overrated: Ole Miss
A little underrated: West Virginia
Lamb for slaughter: Illinois (vs Wisconsin)
Smells like an upset: #9 TCU over #5 Baylor
Best power conference: SEC
Worst power conference: ACC
No need to panic: Alabama
Start freaking out: USC
So many feels for you in week 6: Every conference not called the SEC
With four teams in the top ten and seven teams in the top 25, it’s pretty clear that the SEC is good. I’ll readily admit that to anyone who cares to ask. But what I’ll also readily admit is that the conference is pretty overrated, too. It’s not that there isn’t a lot of talent in the SEC anymore or anything (there’s more now than ever before), but the product on the field doesn’t match the actual storyline being pumped out by the media.
Mississippi State jumping from #12 to #3 or #6 (depending on your poll) is the biggest overreaction I’ve seen by pollsters in a long time. This is the same team that gave up 34 points to UAB, nearly lost to one of the worst LSU teams of the past six years, and beat a Texas A&M team that was overrated to begin with (and needed overtime to beat Auburn). Mississippi State is not a complete team, and in my heartest of hearts do not think they are a better team than Notre Dame, Michigan State, Oklahoma, TCU, or Ohio State. Same goes for Ole Miss, which beat an Alabama team that, again, has more question marks than any Saban-led team over the past four years.
Most of the other conference powers who also have one loss are getting the “Yeah they’re good, but they don’t play in the SEC” treatment by ESPN’s talking heads. Who cares if they don’t? My eye test is telling me that if Oklahoma, Michigan State, TCU or Baylor played the same schedule as A&M or Ole Miss, they’d probably end up with the same record at the end of the season. These teams are just as good (and just as flawed) but they don’t get the SEC bump. It’s not really fair, but it is the status quo.
It’s amazing when both LSU and South Carolina are still receiving votes for the top 25 despite seasons that have been incredibly forgettable. In the SEC they’re going to be three and four loss teams, and I think if they played in the Big Ten, Pac 12, or Big 12 they’d have that exact same record. I’m not suggesting that the top tier team in the SEC (Auburn) isn’t worthy of its ranking, I just don’t think that the rest of the conference should get this automatic bye that they always get. And if they do, then stop acting so surprised when the rankings go to shit after a series of upsets; you decided to rank them that high in the first place
College Football Haiku:
The Lone Star state is
an island. Simply too good
too bad for playoffs.