Once again, we got a glorious 15-ish hours of college football Saturday, starting with the UCLA-Memphis shootout at the Liberty Bowl and ending with a literal blackout in San Diego that wrapped up sometime around 2:30 a.m. ET. Now it's time to look ahead to Week 4.
We've already presented what the latest AP Top 25 poll should look like — find that list here — but with the new AP poll out, the voters have again gotten plenty of them wrong. Thankfully, we're here to correct all their egregious mistakes.
Ohio State (No. 10 – ranked too high)
We all know that when it comes to Ohio State, there's media favoritism (that was indisputable once the Buckeyes got into the playoff over Penn State last year) but this season it has been taken to more awkward and uncomfortable heights. The Buckeyes' current resume includes wins over Indiana (where they trailed at the half) and that dominant victory over Army on Saturday … that showed us absolutely nothing. Oh, and then there was a beatdown by Oklahoma at the Horseshoe two weeks ago.
So where does all that get you? Well, if you're Ohio State, squarely in the top 10. That's a shame when others behind it like Georgia, TCU and Mississippi State have signature wins over Power 5 teams. Of course in the voter's eyes, that's nothing compared to that great Buckeyes win over Army that we'll all be telling our grandkids about decades from now.
The Buckeyes are always overrated. But they're especially overrated at No. 10 in this poll.
Georgia Bulldogs (No. 11 – ranked too low)
To the pollsters' credit, they moved Georgia up two spots. To their discredit, Kirby Smart's club is still ranked too low. What do the Dawgs gotta do to get a little respect?
This is a team that has dominated the two opponents it should — beating Appalachian State and Samford by a combined score of 72-24 — and also picked up a solid, true road win at Notre Dame — a victory that looks even more impressive after the Irish's 49-20 win at Boston College on Saturday.
Georgia is a darn, darn, DARN good team and will have a chance to prove it next week when it faces No. 19 Mississippi State. It'll be interesting to see if the voters actually do the right thing, and move Georgia up, if it gets a win.
Florida Gators (No. 20 – ranked too high)
If media bias favors Ohio State, then straight up blinds the media from saying anything bad about Florida. Because I've got to ask: Am I the only person who has actually watched the Gators play this year?
In case you forgot, in Week 1, they got blown out by Michigan 33-17 in a game in which virtually all their "offense" came off two defensive touchdowns. Then they beat Tennessee this week, in a game in which Tennessee had about a million different ways it could have won that game — and somehow lost it anyway. Honestly, archaeologists will be studying this game for centuries, still trying to figure out how and why UT didn't win.
Point being, Florida isn't even close to one of the 20 best teams in college football. Heck, I could legitimately argue the Gators are the sixth-best team in the SEC right now (ahead of only Missouri). Not only should they not be ranked — every pollster who had them on their ballot should never be allowed to vote again.
LSU Tigers (No. 25 – ranked too high)
Take everything I just said about Florida, add some Cajun spicing to it and that's basically what you've got with LSU football. Of every team in college football, there might not be one that has gone from "we thought they were good" to "proven to be a total fraud" in three weeks quite like Ed Orgeron's club.
Why is that? Well, remember when we got super-excited about LSU's opening night win over BYU — only to realize that BYU is terrible. The Cougars are currently 1-3, with that sole win coming against Portland State (which isn't even a state, last time I checked). Then there was Saturday night where LSU got embarrassed by Mississippi State in Starkville. The offense was once again nonexistent, and the defense — which was at least a strong suit under Les Miles — got embarrassed.
As I joked on Twitter, Tigers fans have to feel like the groundskeepers in Major League II, where after an offseason filled with hope they realize, nope, "We're still s***y."
The Tigers are also wildly overrated at No. 25.
Vanderbilt Commodores (not ranked – too low)
While voters continue to swoon over Florida and LSU like teenagers at a Justin Bieber concert, they've somehow forgotten a couple of teams that are actually playing decent football in the SEC. Like the Vanderbilt Commodores.
Apparently, things like "stats" don't seem too important to voters, who appear to be ignoring the fact that Vandy is LEADING THE NATION in scoring defense, allowing 4.3 points per game. And that Derek Mason's club also held a Kansas State team that scored 55 points in each of the first two games of the season to just seven Saturday night.
Also, here's a fun fact to throw around at your next cocktail party: Vanderbilt owns the SEC's longest win streak — six straight victories. However, none of it matters to the AP voters who have Vandy unranked.
Aaron Torres is covering college football for FanRag Sports this season after four years at Fox Sports. Follow him on Twitter @Aaron_Torres, Facebook or e-mail at ATorres00@gmail.com.
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