Alabama jumps to No. 1 in AP Poll, but the real question is what to do with Georgia

The post-Nick Saban Alabama Crimson Tide handled business against Georgia in an instant classic, giving a shakeup to the AP Top 5.

Alabama is the new No. 1 this week, with Texas at No. 2.

There are 63 voters on the AP Top 25 panel. There’s at least one voter from each state that has an FBS team and a handful of national folks. For the state of Nebraska, there’s one voter.

Each week I’ll break down my ballot compared with the actual Top 25 and write on some pressing topics.

Without further ado, here’s my ballot ahead of Week 5:

1. Alabama
2. Texas
3. Georgia
4. Ohio State
5. Tennessee
6. Miami
7. Oregon
8. Penn State
9. Missouri
10. Michigan
11. Mississippi
12. USC
13. LSU
14. Notre Dame
15. Clemson
16. Iowa State
17. Louisville
18. Utah
19. Oklahoma
20. BYU
21. Illinois
22. Kansas State
23. Indiana
24. Boise State
25. UNLV

And here’s the actual AP Top 25, well, Top 26, for Week 6:

1. Alabama
2. Texas
3. Ohio State
4. Tennessee
5. Georgia
6. Oregon
7. Penn State
8. Miami
9. Missouri
10. Michigan
11. USC
12. Mississippi
13. LSU
14. Notre Dame
15. Clemson
16. Iowa State
17. BYU
18. Utah
19. Oklahoma
20. Kansas State
21. Boise State
22. Louisville
23. Indiana
24. Illinois
25. UNLV*
26. Texas A&M*

*tied at 25 with 122 votes.

Alabama: What a game. What a first half. Alabama was pummeling Georgia, the second-ranked team in the country last week, through the game’s first 30 minutes before the Dawgs made it interesting down the stretch. The big question after Alabama’s thrilling win was if it was enough to jump Texas in the rankings. For the majority of the voting panel, and yours truly, it was. Alabama had 40 first-place votes while Texas had 19. Ohio State received four.

BYU: A win at Baylor to make the hot seat for BU’s Dave Aranda even hotter moves the undefeated Cougars up five spots this week to No. 17.

Boise State: Hello, Broncos. After sneaking into the rankings at No. 25 last week, the boys in blue proved they belonged once again — throttling a respectable Washington State team, 45-24.

Indiana: I had the Hoosiers ranked last week, and after running out to a 5-0 start with its win over Maryland on Saturday, the Hoosiers come in this week at No. 23. How about that?

UNLV: The Runnin’ Rebels are ranked for the first time EVER. Despite all the distractions all week long regarding its starting quarterback leaving the program due to alleged unfilfilled NIL promises, UNLV handled business against Fresno State, 59-14. That’s an even bigger margin than Michigan beat Fresno State by.

Four teams dropped five or more spots this week, and one team dropped out entirely.

Utah: Unranked Arizona controlled this one from the jump in some late-night old Pac-12 After Dark action and the Utes plummeted eight spots in this week’s rankings to No. 18. 

Louisville: A close loss at Notre Dame sent the Cardinals tumbling seven spots down to No. 22.

Mississippi: An inexplicable loss to Kentucky had Ole Miss falling from No. 6 to No. 12. Still in solid positioning for the playoff, but they’ve got a rough road ahead.

Illinois: The Illini played a competitive game in Happy Valley to start, but Penn State finished them in the White Out game. Illinois stayed ranked at No. 24 after falling five spots.

Oklahoma State: The Cowboys followed up a rough loss with another rough loss at Kansas State, 42-20, to fall to a 0-2 start in Big 12 play. The Cowboys dropped out and only received eight votes.

A tie doesn’t happen every day, so naturally there’s a quirk with my ballot. I didn’t have Texas A&M ranked.

I also didn’t drop Louisville as far as everyone else. I had the Cardinals at No. 17 when they came in at No. 22. I also didn’t have BYU as high as the consensus. I had BYU at No. 20 and they were ranked at No. 17. 

Yes. I had Georgia at No. 3. That was not a mistake. Naturally, people are mad. That’s fine. Be mad at me. 

Even with the loss to Alabama, I still feel like Georgia is better than Ohio State as it stands right now. Ohio State, while boasting a team with tremendous talent, hasn’t played any team worth anything this season. So, naturally, Ohio State has run through its schedule like a buzzsaw. 

I’m treating this like volleyball almost. If top teams play a close game against one another, I don’t understand dropping them for the sake of just dropping them. Especially when I feel like one of them is still one of the best teams in the country.

Now, if they prove otherwise, then I’ll drop them further. 

But here’s the thing, this is supposed to be reflective of things right now. Not prognosticating the future. Do I think Ohio State is a contender? Heck yeah. Some of those highlights through the first several games were incredible. But again, we can’t get ahead of ourselves. 

We’ll circle back to this after Ohio State plays Oregon in two weeks.

There’s only one ranked vs. ranked game this week.

No. 9 Missouri at No. 25 Texas A&M: Mizzou is coming off a bye and Texas A&M had a close win over Arkansas. Will the Aggies ruin the Tigers’ undefeated season, or will the Tigers roll to 5-0?