Ohio State Climbs One Spot in AP Poll, but Both Legacy Polls Find Another Way to Prove Irrelevance

By 11W Staff on October 18, 2020 at 1:08 pm
Polls are dumb
116 Comments

The College Football Playoff rankings, which will debut Nov. 24 this season, long ago rendered the legacy polls pointless. But the AP and Coaches Polls sure would like to drive that point home.

Despite losing 41-24 at Alabama Saturday night, the coaches, or in a lot of cases, the staffers they have filling their rankings out, felt Georgia should only fall one spot from No. 3 to No. 4 in both the AP and Coaches rankings this week. Ohio State, yet to play a game, moved up from sixth to fifth in the AP Poll, but held firm in the five spot in the Coaches Poll.

With the Big Ten set to start playing football this coming weekend, you can probably expect Ohio State – and other Big Ten teams – to rise in the rankings quickly, provided they play well.

Whatever. Legacy polls are dumb.

AP TOP 25 Poll
RANK TEAM RECORD PTS PREV CONFERENCE
1 CLEMSON 5–0 1,542 (54) 1 ACC
2 ALABAMA 4–0 1,494 (8) 2 SEC
3 NOTRE DAME 4–0 1,337 4 ACC
4 GEORGIA 3–1 1,300 3 SEC
5 OHIO STATE 0–0 1,223 6 Big Ten
6 OKLAHOMA STATE 3–0 1,137 7 Big 12
7 TEXAS A&M 3–1 1,054 11 SEC
8 PENN STATE 0–0 1,033 9 Big Ten
9 CINCINNATI 3–0 1,028 8 American Athletic
10 FLORIDA 2–1 942 10 SEC
11 MIAMI (FL) 4–1 887 13 ACC
12 BRIGHAM YOUNG 5–0 875 14 IA Independents
13 OREGON 0–0 841 12 Pac-12
14 NORTH CAROLINA 3–1 677 5 ACC
14 WISCONSIN 0–0 677 16 Big Ten
16 SMU 5–0 638 17 American Athletic
17 IOWA STATE 3–1 511 20 Big 12
18 MICHIGAN 0–0 489 19 Big Ten
19 VIRGINIA TECH 3–1 411 23 ACC
20 KANSAS STATE 3–1 399 22 Big 12
21 MINNESOTA 0–0 234 24 Big Ten
22 MARSHALL 4–0 227 Conference USA
23 NORTH CAROLINA STATE 4–1 199 ACC
24 USC 0–0 192 25 Pac-12
25 COASTAL CAROLINA 4–0 185 Sun Belt
USA Today Coaches Poll
RANK TEAM RECORD PTS 1st VOTES PREV CHANGE
1 CLEMSON 5–0 1540 52 1
2 ALABAMA 4–0 1494 8 2
3 NOTRE DAME 4–0 1351 4 +1
4 GEORGIA 3–1 1295 3 -1
5 OHIO STATE 0–0 1254 2 5
6 OKLAHOMA STATE 3–0 1149 7 +1
7 PENN STATE 0–0 1059 8 +1
8 FLORIDA 2–1 1002 9 +1
9 TEXAS A&M 3–1 1001 11 +2
10 CINCINNATI 3–0 989 10
11 MIAMI 4–1 890 12 +1
11 BRIGHAM YOUNG 5–0 890 13 +2
13 NORTH CAROLINA 3–1 725 6 -7
14 WISCONSIN 0–0 698 15 +1
15 OREGON 0–0 683 16 +1
16 SOUTHERN METHODIST 5–0 618 18 +2
17 MICHIGAN 0–0 507 19 +2
18 IOWA STATE 3–1 485 20 +2
19 KANSAS STATE 3–1 395 22 +3
20 VIRGINIA TECH 3–1 373 23 +3
21 MINNESOTA 0–0 209 25 +4
22 NC STATE 4–1 200 NR +5
23 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 0–0 186 24 +1
24 COASTAL CAROLINA 4–0 150 NR +8
25 MARSHALL 4–0 139 NR +4

Penn State checks in at No. 8 in the AP Poll, with Wisconsin 14th, Michigan 18th, and Minnesota 21st.

Ohio State welcomes Nebraska to Ohio Stadium Saturday for a noon kickoff to the Buckeyes' 2020 season.

116 Comments
View 116 Comments