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Heading into last weekend, the Associated Press and the SwampSwamiSports.com College Football Top 25 both agreed that Texas was the #1 team in the land.
On Saturday, Texas pounded hapless Mississippi State 35-13 to move to 5-0 on the season. The Longhorns rang-up over 500 yards in total offense, and the defense allowed less than 300 yards to the Bulldogs.
Yet, the AP dropped Texas to #2 after this win. Why?
Last Saturday night on national television, Alabama jumped to a surprising 30-7 halftime lead on previously unbeaten Georgia. In the second half, Georgia turned the tables and grabbed a brief 34-33 lead with two minutes to go. The 4-0 Crimson Tide then rallied with a very impressive touchdown pass of their own to escape with a 41-34 win over the 3-1 Dawgs.
Yes, the Bama/Georgia game had a thriller of a finish!
The game was a tale of two halves with Bama operating flawlessly in the first half to open-up a big lead. If you turned off this game at halftime, you missed watching Georgia’s offense waking up and carving-up Alabama’s pass defense in the final quarter like a Thanksgiving turkey.
However, the stats prove that this game was less than flawless by both teams.
Georgia committed four turnovers against Bama. Quarterback Carson Beck had three passes intercepted – including his final toss toward the goal line in the last minute which ended Georgia’s chances.
In most games, teams with three interceptions and a fumble rarely win. Georgia almost pulled it off on Saturday night, though.
The Crimson Tide’s offense was…wait for it…rolling in the first half. Crimson Tide QB Jalen Milroe looked like a Heisman Trophy winner with his pinpoint passing and timely running on full display as Bama took a commanding lead by the end of the second quarter.
Apparently, Alabama’s pass defense decided to stay in the locker room after halftime.
The Tide surrendered one pass completion after another as Georgia rallied time after time to create a fantastic finish. The weakness displayed by Alabama’s pass defense has been duly noted by future opponents – including their long-time rivals in Baton Rouge.
Alabama’s electric freshman wide receiver Ryan Williams saved the game for Bama with his amazing 75-yard catch, spin, and run for the final touchdown in this game. ABC’s Kirk Herbstreit continued to bore viewers with comments about Williams’ youthful age (“Did you know he was just 17 years old?”) rather than extolling this player’s receiving skills, speed, and elusiveness.
As a reward for this highly rated television performance, the Associated Press voters bumped the University of Alabama three spots from #4 one week ago into the #1 position this week.
Not me.
The AP Poll continues to be a beauty contest with very little regard for teams which continue to prove their mettle on the field every week.
How else do you explain why the AP voters left 5-0 Duke along with 4-0 teams like Navy, James Madison, Pitt, Rutgers, and Army completely out of their top 25 team rankings for this week?
Example #2 – Why is Ole Miss still #12?
The formerly unbeaten Rebels and their high-speed offense were kept off balance Saturday by the Kentucky Wildcat defense. Kentucky (now 3-2) handed Ole Miss a 20-17 loss in Oxford to drop the Rebels to 4-1. The Ole Miss offense was held to about 350 yards and never developed any type of rhythm in Saturday’s game.
After being embarrassed at home 31-6 by South Carolina early in the year, the Kentucky defense has been stingy of late. The Wildcats allowed just 13 points to Georgia and only 17 points at Ole Miss last Saturday.
For the Ole Miss Rebels, the AP dropped them from #6 last week to #12 this week. In my rankings, the Rebels dropped back to #30 for this week. With their best win coming over 3-2 Georgia Southern, the Ole Miss Rebels must regroup and put some more “W’s” on their ledger prior to returning to my Top 25 teams.
Example #3 – Why is 3-1 USC rated higher (at #11) than 5-0 BYU and 5-0 Indiana?
This is what many football fans refer to as “West Coast bias”. USC was fortunate to have prevailed 27-20 against 4-1 LSU in the season opener for both teams. The Trojans would then lose at 4-1 Michigan and had to rally from a 21-10 halftime deficit last Saturday before subduing a relatively weak 2-2 Wisconsin Badgers squad.
Though USC is certainly a worthy one-loss team, were they deserving of a #11 AP ranking this week when compared to unbeaten 5-0 teams such as BYU (AP #17) and Indiana (AP #23)? In my poll, USC is ranked #41 this week.
Brigham Young destroyed this week’s AP #20 team, Kansas State, by a 38-9 margin. Indiana (which is 5-0 for the first time since 1967) gave Maryland its second loss this weekend 42-28.
Biased? Who me???
Though the AP voters have proven to be biased toward the big schools, my SwampSwamiSports.com poll definitely tilts toward rewarding teams with the most wins and fewest losses – regardless of their conference – every week.
If unbeaten teams like Duke, Navy, James Madison and Army have beaten every team they have played thus far in 2024, why shouldn’t they receive recognition having a perfect record through the last weekend of play?
That’s the entire reason why I developed my ranking system. Though several of the one-loss teams will eventually to return to my rankings toward season’s end, the smaller conference teams shouldn’t be penalized if they have won every game on their schedule.
Congratulations to Miami (OH), Old Dominion, New Mexico, and Wyoming!
The Redhawks, Monarchs, Lobos, and Cowboys all picked up their first win of the season last weekend. That leaves just three of the 134 FBS large schools without a victory in 2024.
UTEP and newcomer Kennesaw State are now 0-4. The Kent State Golden Flashes dropped to a woeful 0-5. Perhaps this week will see one or more of those teams break into the win column.
With 19 unbeaten teams remaining, let’s raise the curtain on the SwampSwamiSports.com Top 25 College Football rankings for the week ending Saturday, September 28, 2024:
