No changes in the top nine this week, while we eagerly await these games:
–LSU at Alabama, Nov. 5
–Oregon at Stanford, Nov. 12
–Arkansas at LSU, Nov. 25
–Oklahoma at Oklahoma State, Dec. 3
That will help separate college football’s top tier, with Arkansas — coming off quality wins vs. Texas A&M and Auburn — rounding out the Top 10.
Arkansas, after a bye, next plays Ole Miss and Vanderbilt on the road before three consecutive home games (with South Carolina being the toughest). It’s not unreasonable to think the Razorbacks will go into their regular-season finale at LSU with only that one loss to Alabama.
Stanford looks great, but so do the seven undefeated teams ahead of it … and Stanford has the weakest resume of the bunch, for now. Washington, USC, Oregon and Notre Dame loom in the second half of the season.
Six weeks in, we’re getting to the part of the season where head-to-head results are a bit harder to keep straight. Auburn has that win over South Carolina, but subsequently looked horrible at quarterback against Arkansas, suffering its second loss.
Do you stick with the head-to-head result … or more heavily weigh the ensuing event? I’m going with the ensuing event in this case.
I still have Illinois ahead of Arizona State based on the head-to-head result because there hasn’t been any subsequent game to provide reason to switch them.
Here is my AP Top 25 ballot for this week:
1. LSU
2. Alabama
3. Oklahoma
4. Clemson
5. Oklahoma State
6. Wisconsin
7. Boise State
8. Stanford
9. Oregon
10. Arkansas
11. Michigan
12. Nebraska
13. Kansas State
14. Georgia Tech
15. Illinois
16. West Virginia
17. South Carolina
18. Texas A&M
19. Arizona State
20. Washington
21. Notre Dame
22. Auburn
23. Georgia
24. Michigan State
25. Baylor