Monday's Poll Watch returns with a glimpse into the peculiarities of the AP Top 25 ballots and ballot voter data. We scan these ballots to look for interesting patterns and what they may say about the college football landscape as the season progresses.
The AP Poll Says Goodbye to Les Miles
Several programs had major losses, most prominently Georgia and Michigan State. Yet, no other loss resulted in the sacking of a head coach, the first major head coaching casualty of 2016.
| Voter | LSU Rank | Auburn Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Ferd Lewis | 24 | 23 |
| Garry Smits | 25 | 24 |
| Graham Watson | 23 | NR |
| Matt Charboneau | 25 | NR |
| Matt Galloway | 20 | NR |
| Matt Porter | 24 | NR |
| Steve Wiseman | 24 | NR |
LSU lost in a bizarre clock management situation for which we otherwise grew to love Les Miles and his uncanny ability to pull a win out of his ass. The latest clock management situation resulted in a few blunders and a would-be game-winning touchdown that was a second too late. This cost Miles his job.
It also bumped LSU from the AP No. 18 to the realm of the unranked. LSU went from 528 points to just 17 this week. Incidentally that is 41 points fewer than North Dakota State and just one point fewer than the Auburn team that defeated it.
The loss cost Miles his job and LSU its rank in the AP Top 25, but seven AP voters felt the Tigers were still one of the top 25 teams in the country. Matt Galloway (Topeka Capital-Journal) even has the Tigers at No. 20.
Do note that all but two of LSU's voters have Auburn off their ballots. College football is fun.
The September Aggies
Kevin Sumlin's Texas A&M Aggies are a combined 17-1 in the months of August and September since Sumlin's breakout first year in College Station in 2012. Alabama is responsible for its one loss in 2013. These strong starts to the season have given the Aggies AP ranks of No. 10, No. 6, No. 14, and now No. 9 by September's end.
The Aggy Annual Rollercoaster (via Prevail and Ride)
College football commentators and AP voters alike have become enamored with the potential of the Aggies. September's love affair with Texas A&M is one our strongest college football traditions in the present.
The epilogue to this September fling is Texas A&M turns into a frog in October and November. The Aggies are a combined 9-12 in October and November over the past three seasons. Enter fall; exit Aggy.
This is usually how the story ends, but there is not a lot of cynicism at the moment for Texas A&M. Its lowest vote comes from Andy Greder (Pioneer Press), who has the Aggies at No. 14. Still others are sold completely on Texas A&M. Bill Landis (Plain Dealer) and Brett McMurphy (ESPN) have Texas A&M at No. 4, nominally in their playoff. Tony Parks (1280 AM/97.5 FM KZNS) has Texas A&M at No. 5.
Georgia and Michigan State Tumble
Who had a worse Saturday (beyond Les Miles), Georgia or Michigan State? Fans should consider blowout losses at home as "worse" than blowout losses on the road, but the AP voters say Georgia was a bigger disappointment than Michigan State. No. 12 Georgia had 726 points in the AP last week and fell to No. 25 with just 142 points this week. By comparison, No. 8 Michigan State had 1084 points last week and fell to No. 17 with just 527 points this week.
The bigger plummet for Georgia may follow a comparison of each program's résumé to date. Georgia had a win in Atlanta over North Carolina, a team that may repeat as ACC division champions. However, it followed that with limp efforts against Missouri and even Nicholls, which, I reiterate, is an FCS program with nine total wins in the last combined five seasons. Michigan State manhandled Notre Dame and at least looked better in its wins. The Notre Dame win lost a lot of shine on Saturday as well, though.
Notwithstanding its embarrassing home loss, Michigan State still ranks quite high on a few ballots. The Spartans appear as high as No. 11 on Jon Wilner's (Mercury News) ballot. Wilner, as long-time readers may recall, is this feature's spirit animal for his daffy ballots and his knack to find ways for me to reference him in this feature even when I'm trying to resist the urge to humor him. Michael Bonner (The Jackson Clarion-Ledger) ranked Michigan State at No. 12. The Spartans also have three No. 13 votes from Adam Zucker (CBS Sports Network), Mitch Vingle (Charleston Gazette-Mail), and Steve Wiseman (Durham Herald-Sun).
By comparison, Georgia's highest vote on any one ballot is No. 16 (Mitch Vingle). It has a No. 17 vote from Scott Wolf (Los Angeles Daily News) and two No. 18s from Bob Asmussen (Champaign News-Gazette) and Steve Wiseman.
Other Peculiar Observations
- Oklahoma is now unranked. Last week's No. 25 failed to cover against the bye week and lost 19 points and its spot in the AP rankings for it.
- There's nothing to report on the Ohio State front. The Buckeyes had four No. 1 votes and 1442 points last week. It kept those No. 1s but lost just two points to random movement in the ballots.
- Washington needed overtime to beat Arizona and lost 54 points and a spot in the AP rank for it. It's more likely that AP voters had already made up their minds to jump Texas A&M and Wisconsin over them before this game concluded. East Coast voters were already sleeping by that point.
- The AP Top 25 says hello to its second Mountain West team. Boise State joined the ranks as the new No. 24 team. Kirk Bohls (Austin American-Statesman) even has Boise State at No. 14.
- Mike Barber (Richmond Times-Dispatch) has Maryland at No. 24 and I do not know why.
