The College Football Week 5 AP Poll Has It All Wrong Again

This week in college football was everything we needed. Elite teams picked up big wins, there were upsets all over the board, and we finally saw a few pretenders knocked out of the top 10 after suffering some losses.

The AP poll is all over the place with mistakes this week. Miami has one of the best resumes in the country, and they lost their number two ranking to Oregon. Newsflash, beating James Franklin in a top 10 game isn’t that impressive. No, but in all seriousness, that was an outstanding win for Oregon, but it shouldn’t have catapulted them above Miami.

My two other biggest takeaways are that Ole Miss has no business jumping up to 4th in the rankings for beating an overrated LSU, and Texas has done nothing to prove that they are a top 10 team. Here’s what the rankings should be.

#1 Ohio State

All week long, the trendy upset pick was Washington at home over the Buckeyes, and that never made sense to me. The game was probably closer than the score let on, but Ohio State’s defense is just incredible.

The offense still has a lot of work to be done, but going on the road to Seattle and absolutely shutting down Washington’s explosive run game was impressive. Any AP voter putting Oregon over Ohio State after that performance should have their vote taken away.

#2 Miami

Bye weeks shouldn’t impact a team's ranking. I had Miami ranked second last week, and Oregon did not show me enough to hop them, especially with the resume Miami has put together this season.

Florida State’s brutal upset loss at Virginia makes next week’s game a little less significant, but now it’s a can’t-lose game for the Hurricanes. The schedule weakens after this one, so if they stumble here, their ACC schedule doesn’t leave any room for another mistake.

#3 Oregon

Going on the road to Happy Valley and winning a night game white-out is the real deal; however, Penn State is just the same team they always are. Talented enough to win 9-10 games, but won’t beat any of the best teams in the conference.

I still want to give Dante Moore his flowers, though. Dan Lanning is becoming a quarterback whisperer here at Oregon, and before this year, I was low on what Dante Moore could be. He never looked the part of an elite quarterback at UCLA, but since coming to Oregon, he’s worked himself into becoming a potential first-round pick. More than that, he made so many big plays in this game, and never looked rattled in this hostile environment.

It doesn’t lighten up for Oregon either with a matchup at home against Indiana next week.

#4 Oklahoma

Everyone knows how important John Mateer is to this Sooner offense, but I am not punishing them for a player getting injured. Next week, against a horrific Kent State team, is a perfect time for backup quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. to get his feet wet.

Hopefully, Mateer isn’t out for long, but as long as they keep winning, especially with a backup, I won’t move them in my rankings.

#5 Texas A&M

This is not your mother’s Texas A&M. In years prior, if Marcel Reed had the performance he had on Saturday, Texas A&M would have found a way to lose. The Aggies found a way to win on Saturday. This was a solid Auburn team, and they had just played Oklahoma tough the week prior.

Texas A&M has as favorable an SEC schedule as you can have, and their next three weeks need to be wins to keep them in the playoff hunt. If the Aggies can make it to LSU at 7-0, things could get very interesting for Mike Elko’s squad.

#6 Ole Miss

I’m starting to buy in on Ole Miss. Lane Kiffin has completely changed how the Rebels are looked at on the national stage. Year in and year out, this should be an SEC contender if Kiffin is in Oxford.

With that being said, I’m still not fully in on Ole Miss. The score doesn’t fully show it, but they did dominate LSU. I also believe that LSU is not very good. I had them toward the bottom of my top 10 last week, because they have one of the worst offenses in the SEC. Trinidad Chambliss is one of the more fun guys to watch in college football, but I think there are a lot of holes in this Ole Miss team. Upcoming games against Georgia and Oklahoma could convince me otherwise.

#7 Alabama

My Ty Simpson bias might be showing here, but I think this Alabama team is excellent. Simpson went on the road, and he picked apart this Georgia defense. The loss to Florida State to start the season is bad, and might continue to get worse throughout the year, but this Bama team is going to be able to score on anyone all year.

This team isn’t perfect. The run game is kind of non-existent, and on the other side of the ball, I don’t really think they can stop the run. I’m willing to take a bet on Ty Simpson bailing them out of a lot of bad situations this year, as he did to close out a massive upset win on the road at Georgia.

#8 Georgia

Speaking of the Bulldogs, they can still win the SEC. I’m not sure what it is about Alabama, but Kirby Smart simply cannot beat them. The play calling just made no sense at points in this one. Georgia also just seemed so sloppy. I can’t explain why this team continues to no-show in games against Bama.

Also, Gunner Stockton proved he can make big throws in big games, but it felt like they were scared to unleash him. Georgia still has the big win over Tennessee, but they’re going to have to take care of business throughout the rest of the schedule.

#9 Indiana

The Hoosiers looked a lot more human with Iowa on the other sideline this week. Going into Kinnick, no matter how good or bad Iowa is, will always be impressive. The Hawkeyes just figure out ways to bring good teams down to their level. However, Indiana got the job done.

When they needed a big drive from Fernando Mendoza, he delivered. The Heisman talk will only grow with Mendoza, and if he can go on the road to Eugene and find a way to pull off the massive upset, he will be the no-doubt Heisman favorite.

#10 Texas Tech

The Red Raiders are the beneficiaries of the bye this week, securing the final spot in the top 10. Playing in the Big 12, you’ll have to go 12-1 or win the conference championship to make the playoffs, so next week against Houston could be a slightly tricky spot for the Red Raiders.

I think this defense is good enough to handle most of his conference schedule, so as long as they continue to win, expect them to climb in the rankings.

Honorable Mentions: Penn State, Texas, LSU, and Vanderbilt

The honorable mentions are never in a particular order, just teams that are on the cusp of a top 10 spot for me.

The first three are one-loss teams with good defenses and overrated quarterbacks. I trust Penn State the most on this list, but Texas probably has the best defense out of the group, so it’s a bit of a toss-up between the two.

I’m really low on LSU, but their defense is still legit. I had a lot of faith in Garrett Nussmeier this year, but he’s taken a step back this season—one of the more disappointing players in college football.

Lastly, I wanted to acknowledge Vandy. I respect Vanderbilt, and hopefully, Alabama respects them too next week. After last season’s brutal loss, I would be shocked to see Alabama come out slow in that one.