The AP Top 25 poll for week 2 has been released and there are quite a few surprises. While there weren’t a ton of upsets or ranked matchups in the first week of the season, there was still a lot of shakeup in the rankings that will leave some fan bases already feeling a lot of hope for the rest of the season while others feeling like the season is already over.
Of course, it is very easy to overreact after just one game, but the rankings do matter, and they do play a huge part in the narratives around the sport for the rest of the week.
AP Top 25
In case you missed the rankings from ESPN or AP, here is the Top 25.
- Georgia
- Ohio State
- Texas
- Alabama
- Notre Dame
- Ole Miss
- Oregon
- Penn State
- Missouri
- Michigan
- Utah
- Miami
- USC
- Tennessee
- Oklahoma
- Oklahoma State
- Kansas State
- LSU
- Kansas
- Arizona
- Iowa
- Lousiville
- Georgia Tech
- North Carolina State
- Clemson
Margin of Victory Didn’t Seem to Matter
Most teams played either a lower-tiered G5 school or an FCS school for their first game and the margin of victory didn’t really seem to matter all that much. In other words, Ole Miss winning 76-0 didn’t really do all the much to help them as opposed to Oregon only winning 24-14, both against FCS foes. Sure Ole Miss jumped them, but it’s not like Oregon dropped significantly either.
The term ‘just win’ seems to be the overwhelming theme as the teams who won stayed in the order they were ranked in the preseason (mostly), while the teams that lost saw a drastic drop in the rankings, even falling out completely.
Georgia Tech’s Big Win Couldn’t Have Come at a Worse Time
Had there been a poll released last week, I am 100% confident that Georgia Tech would have been ranked 5-6 spots higher than where it landed. Last week, the narrative was that they beat the 10th-best team in the nation on a neutral field. Today, the narrative is that they beat a 0-2 Florida State team who may struggle to make a bowl game.
Also, it’s been nine days since they beat Florida State and there has been a lot of football that has taken place since then. In a world of here and now, winning a big game nine days ago just doesn’t yield the same media boost in the rankings that it would have the game happened last Saturday.
Still, Georgia Tech is looking like a dark horse to win the ACC.
The Preseason AP Top 25 Still is the Worst
Clemson lost 42-3 to Georgia on Saturday. Yes, it was Georgia, but still it was 42-3. The Tigers are 0-1 with the worst P4 margin of loss in the country. Yet, because of their high preseason ranking, they are still ranked this week. Do you know who isn’t ranked? About 40 P4 teams who took care of business and won their first game of the season.
This is the issue with preseason polls. Even with a loss, Clemson has the inside track to a high ranking later in the season. A team like Arkansas, BYU, or Indiana could match Clemson’s record stride for stride from here on out, but Clemson would still be the higher-ranked team at the end of the year despite having one more loss.
Why? Because they started higher based on some hypothetical ranking that is completely unreliable (see Florida State) .
