After one week of college football, people typically overreact to the results.
LSU lost by 2 points to a probably decent Wisconsin team on the road. The Tigers dropped 16 spots to 21st in the AP poll.
That’s nuts. LSU drops in my rankings, but one spot to 4th. Let’s not count them out just yet (although QB Brandon Harris did look terrible).
Here are the top 30 teams. The number is a rating, or expected margin of victory against an average FBS team.
1. Alabama, 20.8
2. Florida State, 18.0
3. Clemson, 15.8
4. LSU, 15.7
5. Stanford, 14.0
6. Oklahoma, 14.0
7. Tennessee, 13.3
8. Ohio State, 12.7
9. Mississippi, 12.6
10. Michigan, 12.2
11. Georgia, 11.0
12. Texas A&M, 11.0
13. Notre Dame, 11.0
14. Baylor, 10.4
15. Louisville, 10.3
16. Arkansas, 10.3
17. Oklahoma State, 10.1
18. Oregon, 9.4
19. TCU, 9.2
20. Wisconsin, 9.2
21. North Carolina, 8.3
22. Utah, 8.3
23. Nebraska, 8.2
24. Florida, 7.9
25. Washington, 7.7
26. Michigan State, 7.5
27. Houston, 7.3
28. USC, 7.2
29. Brigham Young, 7.2
30. Mississippi State, 7.2
For the full rankings, click here.
I’m not a fan of talking about the “appropriate” number of spots a team dropped or went up in the AP poll. Shouldn’t we want there to be big changes in the poll rankings based on what now is less of a guess and what we actually have some evidence to support?
If you want your rankings to make predictions, I would avoid making drastic drops based on one game. But that’s just me.
There you go again. Houston at 27.
Will you never learn?