My ballot for the AP Top 25 – If they let me have one

I have some short explanations for my picks in groups of 5 from 1 to 25. Then, at the bottom, I have a list of 1-40. I went 40 deep to show what my personal “others receiving votes” section would look like. 

We got some upsets in week 3, so there was plenty of movement. And realize that teams can move based on wins they got earlier in the year – wins over Florida look better now, right?

We’re mixing things up with the top 25 this week. I think we know most of the teams at the top, so I decided to go top-down this week. I also have quite a bit to say at the bottom due to a certain team falling more than I ever thought they could. I guess it’s true: the bigger they are, the harder they fall. 

Top 5

1 – Florida State
2 – Georgia
3 – Texas
4 – Penn State
5 – Washington

I feel like I need to explain myself here. LSU is good, really really good. So I HAVE TO have Florida State #1. That win is just too impressive to ignore. 

But, why did Texas fall? There is a combination of factors that made me move Georgia above Texas. 

1 – Texas played very poorly vs. Wyoming for over 3 quarters of football.
2 – Georgia picked up a P5 win, their 1st of the season.
3 – The Alabama win does not look nearly as good as it did a week ago. The 2023 Bama team may not be good. 

Is Penn State the best team in the B1G? I don’t know. What I do know – they have the best resume in the B1G. 2 P5 wins (over not terrible teams), and every game they play isn’t close. They have a top 4 resume right now.

Washington obliterated Michigan State. They are the top Pac-12 team. 

Kinda nice how 1 team from each P5 conference is in the top 5. Let’s see how long that lasts.

6-10

6 – Notre Dame
7 – Oregon
8 – Utah
9 – Michigan
10 – Ohio State

Notre Dame and Oregon have both looked consistently good. ND’s best win is at NC State, and Oregon’s is at Texas Tech. A lot can change in week 4 when Oregon plays Colorado and Notre Dame plays OSU.

Utah jumped OSU. How? The Florida win looks better than ever with the Gators convincingly taking down Tennessee. The same Gators that Utah beat by 13.

Michigan dropped. It’s time to stop relying on last year’s results to rank this year’s teams. Michigan has played 3 terrible teams, and blown out all 3. But even in the blowouts, it’s clear they are sleepwalking through the games. And for now, I have to keep them above Ohio State. I just think they’re the better team. 

11-15

11 – USC
12 – LSU
13 – Colorado
14 – North Carolina
15 – Duke

USC almost jumped the B1G heavy weights, almost. They have a P5 win, over Stanford, but I wanted to wait to see what that really was. My patience was rewarded – Stanford lost to FCS Sacramento State. Stanford is a P5 team in name only. In reality, they are no better than any of the G5’s Michigan has played. USC still has a barren resume and I still think their defense is suspect.

LSU is a tier change team. LSU and the 11 teams above them are in tier 1, and LSU shouldn’t fall out of tier 1 when their only loss is to the #1 team. 

Colorado is 3-0, wow. I don’t think they are the 13th best team now that Travis Hunter is out for a few weeks. But, I’m not going to lower their ranking just for injuries. We’ll see how things play out on the field and adjust accordingly then.

14-16 is an ACC logjam. UNC is the only team with 2 solid P5 wins. Comparing the Duke and Miami resumes:  I think Clemson is better than Texas A&M. That’s how you get UNC then Duke then Miami.

16-20

16 – Miami
17 – Ole Miss
18 – Kansas
19 – Oklahoma
20 – Oregon State

Kansas beat Illinois. Ole Miss beat Tulane minus their starting QB. I consider both of those wins better than anything Oklahoma has done, but just barely. Ole Miss is above Kansas because of their win over Georgia Tech last week. 

Oklahoma, play somebody. SMU is fine, but you didn’t blow them out like the top 12 club would’ve. 

Oregon State is just quietly waiting to show the rest of the Pac how good they are.

21-25

21 – Missouri
22 – Washington State
23 – UCLA
24 – Alabama
25 – BYU

Missouri deserves credit for the win over Kansas State. I don’t want to overreact and launch them up into the top 15 – Kansas State hasn’t played anybody outside of Missouri. What if they aren’t any good?

Washington State beat Wisconsin, I might be too low on them if anything. 

So what is Bama doing stuck between UCLA and BYU? The first thing you need to understand is how bad USF is. USF has won 2 of their last 15 games. Those wins – both over FCS teams. They almost ended their FBS losing streak TO ALABAMA. And almost is the proper term. USF was embarrassing the Alabama O-Line; they got 5 sacks and stopped the run well. 

The score was 3-3 at half. The score was 10-3 with 1 minute left. USF was in the game, for the whole game. 

So let’s look at Bama’s resume:

• Blowout win over Middle Tennessee State
• Convincing loss to Texas (a quality loss lol)
• Painful struggle win against bottom of the barrel USF

So what can I do besides rank them down here? UCLA has no struggle wins on their way to 3-0, so they are above Bama.

BYU struggled with Sam Houston (who likely isn’t as bad as USF). But it was still a rough win. Since both Bama and BYU have struggle wins, I gave the nod to Bama. I guess their quality loss has to count for something.

Top 40

Below is my top 40, I do not elaborate on teams outside the top 25.

1 – Florida State
2 – Georgia
3 – Texas
4 – Penn State
5 – Washington
6 – Notre Dam
7 – Oregon
8 – Utah
9 – Michigan
10 – Ohio State

11 – USC
12 – LSU
13 – Colorado 
14 – North Carolina
15 – Duke
16 – Miami
17 – Ole Miss
18 – Kansas
19 – Oklahoma
20 – Oregon State

21 – Missouri
22 – Washington State
23 – UCLA
24 – Alabama
25 – BYU
26 – NC State
27 – Florida
28 – Iowa
29 – TCU 
30 – Minnesota

31 – Kentucky
32 – Clemson
33 – Kansas State
34 – Louisville
35 – Maryland
36 – UCF
37 – Syracuse
38 – Texas A&M
39 – Wisconsin
40 – Tennessee

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This article was written by Cole Tollison and edited by Hayden Breene