 Mike HlasHi, I'm Gazette/TheGazette.com sports columnist Mike Hlas. This is the Hlog. We will meet here, discuss things, and then go [...] |
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Hlas’ AP Top 25 ballot: Who’s No. 3? I go with the Gators
Off you go, Florida State, Georgia, LSU ...
Florida is 4-0 in the SEC on Oct. 7.
A lot of teams don’t have four total wins. A lot.
I scratched my head and scratched it some more before casting this week’s Associated Press Top 25 ballot, and not because of head lice. Who to pick for No. 3 behind Alabama and Oregon? The candidates were Florida, Kansas State, Notre Dame, South Carolina, West Virginia and Ohio State.
Florida RB Mike Gillislee had two TDs, and LSU had none (AP photo)
For a fleeting moment, I penciled in Kansas State. It won at Oklahoma. It clobbered Miami at home.
I thought about South Carolina, after the Gamecocks’ dominant 35-7 home win over Georgia. The eyeball test might say to go with USC, as South Carolina calls itself. And the Gamecocks are also 4-0 in the SEC. But their other league wins were over Vanderbilt, Missouri and Kentucky.
Notre Dame has downed Michigan State in East Lansing, Michigan in South Bend, and Miami in Chicago. Nice, very nice. But not one of those teams should be in the top 23.
West Virginia won at Texas Saturday, which was quite a feat. It also has beaten Baylor at home. Ohio State has beaten Michigan State and Nebraska on successive weeks.
So I took Florida. It won at Texas A&M, which has lost to no one else. It won at Tennessee, convincingly. And it knocked off LSU, which had been my No. 4 team. The Gators certainly don’t look like the third-best team in the country, but they have the body of work. And we’re told to vote on performance.
By the way, I had Florida sixth last week. No one in the AP electorate had the Gators higher, and only one other voter had them as high as No. 6. So there.
On with my ballot:
1. Alabama (5-0)
2. Oregon (6-0)
3. Florida (5-0)
4. Kansas State (5-0)
5. South Carolina (6-0)
6. Notre Dame (5-0)
7. West Virginia (5-0)
Carlos Hyde and Ohio State ran over Nebraska, 63-38. (AP photo)
8. Ohio State (6-0)
9. Oregon State (4-0)
10. LSU (5-1). Hosts South Carolina this Saturday night. That will be a hoot.
11. Oklahoma (3-1)
12. Texas (4-1)
13. USC (4-1)
14. Florida State (5-1)
15. Clemson (5-1)
16. Georgia (5-1)
17. Mississippi State (5-0). Should be 7-0 when it plays at Alabama on Oct. 27. Then it will be 7-1.
18. Stanford (4-1)
19. Baylor (3-1)
N.C. State quarterback Mike Glennon (right) after the Wolfpack's 17-16 upset win over Florida State (AP photo)
20. Rutgers (5-0).
21. Louisville (5-0). I got emails from Louisvillians after I didn’t rank the Cardinals last week. What do you have against Louisville, one person asked. Nothing. I was in Louisville in March, and enjoyed it greatly. But I only voted for you this week because Nebraska, TCU, UCLA and Texas Tech all lost Saturday.
22. Louisiana Tech (5-0)
23. Boise State (4-1)
24. Michigan (3-2). Hey, I had to put someone from 20 through 25. Michigan’s losses were to Alabama and Notre Dame. That isn’t ham and eggs.
25. Texas A&M (4-1)
The AP poll:
| RK | TEAM | RECORD | PTS |
| 1 | Alabama (60) | 5-0 | 1500 |
| 2 | Oregon | 6-0 | 1435 |
| 3 | South Carolina | 6-0 | 1359 |
| 4 | Florida | 5-0 | 1265 |
| 5 | West Virginia | 5-0 | 1260 |
| 6 | Kansas State | 5-0 | 1217 |
| 7 | Notre Dame | 5-0 | 1176 |
| 8 | Ohio State | 6-0 | 1053 |
| 9 | LSU | 5-1 | 938 |
| 10 | Oregon State | 4-0 | 873 |
| 11 | USC | 4-1 | 812 |
| 12 | Florida State | 5-1 | 800 |
| 13 | Oklahoma | 3-1 | 756 |
| 14 | Georgia | 5-1 | 733 |
| 15 | Texas | 4-1 | 711 |
| 16 | Clemson | 5-1 | 657 |
| 17 | Stanford | 4-1 | 587 |
| 18 | Louisville | 5-0 | 494 |
| 19 | Mississippi State | 5-0 | 450 |
| 20 | Rutgers | 5-0 | 331 |
| 21 | Cincinnati | 4-0 | 205 |
| 22 | Texas A&M | 4-1 | 153 |
| 23 | Louisiana Tech | 5-0 | 129 |
| 24 | Boise State | 4-1 | 114 |
| 25 | Michigan | 3-2 | 82 |
- Dropped from rankings: TCU 15, Nebraska 21, Washington 23, Northwestern 24, UCLA 25
- Others receiving votes: Ohio 79, Baylor 62, Iowa State 54, TCU 50, Michigan State 49, Arizona State 39, Washington 39, North Carolina State 17, Nebraska 5, Arizona 4, Duke 3, Tennessee 3, Texas Tech 2, Tulsa 2, Penn State 1, Northwestern 1
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Your argument for picking Florida hinges on them beating LSU which I would argue you (and many others) had vastly overrated. LSU is finally down near #10 which would is where they probably should have been given their resume. But once again the preseason polls had them high and even as they looked like a good, not great team up to 5-0 nobody could drop them too far because at least they didn’t lose. Now that they’ve been beaten it seems only logical that the team that beat them should jump the other undefeated teams vying for #3. Thank you for providing another example of the lasting impact of preseason polls and how they can often prevent a realistic assessment of a team’s resume, including how that can ripple out through a team’s schedule.
Defending a ballot in something so subjective is an argument I can’t win.
We are told to vote on performance. I vote on body-of-work. In my opinion, Florida has beaten a better schedule than the other teams I considered for No. 3 behind Alabama and Oregon. At Texas A&M, at Tennessee, and now LSU at home.
South Carolina hasn’t defeated anyone as good as LSU in my opinion, and after Georgia, there isn’t a quality win on its resume. That doesn’t mean I don’t think South Carolina isn’t as good or better than Florida.
The Gamecocks are at LSU this week. If they win, there is no argument. They’re No. 3.
And you’re absolutely right. LSU was overrated from Day One. But how you could you put a South Carolina or West Virginia or Kansas State ahead of LSU in the early voting? I’m with the many who think the polling shouldn’t start until four or five or six weeks into the season. But that makes me a hypocrite, too, because I willingly vote in the AP poll. Why? For the traffic these arguments bring.
Two BCS road wins, one leaving assorted streaks in its wake, isn’t up to your Top 25 standards?
If I State beast KSU on Saturday, you have to put them in the top 15 at least. Not a very logical leap for someone who seems to use some in justifying placements.
At least you kept the M and Louisville fans happy. I’m sure there must be upwards to near 20 in your traffic.
It’s not about keeping anyone happy, Jay. Louisville got on this week’s ballot by default. After the top 18 or so, I didn’t find anyone that necessarily deserved to be ranked.
Iowa State got rolled at home by Texas Tech. How do you justify ranking one-loss ISU above one-loss TTU, when Tech’s lone loss was to Oklahoma. And I didn’t have TTU on my ballot, either.
I didn’t, and don’t, think TCU was the TCU of recent vintage even before the starting QB went haywire last week. I’d bet you right now the Frogs have a losing Big 12 record. But do not get me wrong: Great win for Cyclones. A road win against that program is a great win, period.
If ISU beats K-State, I’ll rocket ISU into the top 15, and most other pollsters will, too. How could you not?
Is M the same “vintage” of 40 years ago? M has beaten Air Force, UMass and Purdue.
Louisville has beaten exactly nobody.
Your prerogative, but I State has beaten somebody. Slotting them in either spot really wouldn’t have hurt too much. Who knows, you might have liked it,….local guys make good. Always a good story.
An I State win next, jumping them to, lets say #12, just proves the total bias in the popularity contest polls. Which is all they are.