College football chaos results in hardest AP Top 25 ballot exercise to date for Week

Down goes No. 1 Alabama, giving Vanderbilt its first-ever win against the nation’s No. 1 team. Down goes No. 4 Tennessee, losing at unranked Arkansas. Down goes No. 9 Missouri, losing to No. 25 Texas A&M. Down goes No. 11 USC, losing at unranked Minnesota.

How did we make sense of all that? Well, I don’t know if there is sense to be made of it. I think we just have to accept it and save the rationalization for another day. But the Top 25 poll has to come out.

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 7:

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

And here’s the actual AP Top 25 for Week 7, complete with several different ties at No. 11 and a three-way tie No. 18.

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

My brain is mush. The thought paths I went down at 4 a.m. were more reminiscent of the ravings of a sleep-deprived conspiracy theorist than one of a sane college football watcher.

Georgia’s one loss is to Alabama. Alabama beat Georgia last week, but lost to Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt! Tennessee beat Oklahoma, but lost to Arkansas. Michigan lost to Texas, which is fine, but then lost to Washington. USC lost to Michigan, and then lost to Minnesota, but beat LSU earlier this year? Texas A&M lost to Notre Dame, who lost to Northern Illinois, but then the Aggies pummeled Missouri. Miami is undefeated, but should they be? 

People are going to be mad. They are. It’s the way of the world. My social media mentions were in flames Sunday morning. Which, that’s fine, but what would you do? How would you do it? How much tape do you watch? What metrics would you prioritize?

How do you compare one-loss Georgia to technically undefeated Miami? Where do you slot Boise State, a team with Heisman contender — and frontrunner, depending on who you ask — Ashton Jeanty that is just smoking the competition, other than its early-season loss to Oregon? Do you rank Vanderbilt? Arkansas? What do you do with Mizzou? Do you drop the two-loss teams, even though that means leaving Michigan and USC off the ballot? What about the undefeated teams that aren’t Power 4 programs? Army, Navy and Liberty deserve respect, too, with their unblemished records. Oh, and can’t forget that eight ranked teams didn’t play due to their Week 6 idles.

Easier said than done, isn’t it? It’s an imperfect science. Some weeks, like this week, more imperfect than others.

Texas: Felt anticlimactic to crown a new No. 1 after the team didn’t play, but when the No. 1 team loses to an unranked squad, Texas is back at No. 1.

The entire top 5: With Alabama and Tennessee’s losses, the Top 5 had quite the shakeup. Texas moved up one to No. 1, Ohio State moved up one to No. 2, Oregon moved up three to No. 3 and Penn State moved up three to No. 4. Georgia stayed at No. 5.

Clemson: Clemson was one of the bigger jumps of the week, climbing five spots to No. 10 after its 4-1 start and a dominant win over a struggling Florida State.

Iowa State: Iowa State too jumped five spots to No. 11 after its big win over Baylor to stay undefeated on the season and one win away from bowl eligibility.

Texas A&M: The biggest jump of the week goes to the Aggies after they thoroughly dismantled Missouri, 41-10.

Boise State: Big jump for Boise State, rising four spots after dominating Utah State.

Indiana: The first team to reach bowl eligibility is none other than the Indiana Hoosiers. Curt Cignetti has Indiana in an incredible spot two weeks ahead of the Hoosiers’ clash against the Huskers.

In: One new face this week in the rankings and that’s SMU out of the ACC. A big win over the Mustangs over then-ranked Louisville and a 5-1 start has SMU ranked for the first time on the year and the first time since late last season.

Alabama: Alabama was one of the bigger drops this week, down six spots to No. 7 after losing to Vanderbilt.

Tennessee: The Volunteers “only” dropped four spots to No. 8 after losing at Arkansas.

Missouri: Missouri took a massive tumble after getting embarrassed by Texas A&M, falling 12 spots to No. 21.

The biggest fall of the week: Michigan. The Wolverines fell 14 spots to No. 24 after losing by 10 points to Washington. Plenty of voters, like yours truly, didn’t include the Wolverines. Another loss and they’re out out.

Out: USC is out after losing at Minnesota. Louisville is out after losing two in a row. UNLV is out after losing in overtime to Syracuse.

There were four quirks on my ballot this week.

For one, I had Nebraska instead of Michigan. I removed all two-loss teams from my ballot, including USC and Michigan, and that left a spot for one extra new team. I had Nebraska at No. 23 considering NU’s only loss was in overtime to a ranked team.

The other three quirks were some large ranking outliers, which was inevitable for this week after all the shakeups. To me, an outlier is five or more spots different from the actual ranking.

Boise State: I had Boise State at No. 12. Boise State was slotted at No. 17 in the actual poll. I like Boise State. A lot. Not as much as another voter who had them as high as No. 9, but I like what I see here. One of the nation’s most prolific offenses with one of the best offensive players in the country in Heisman hopeful Ashton Jeanty. I stand by putting Boise State at No. 12. Their only loss came to Oregon, now the No. 3 team in the nation. Boise State’s strength of schedule is No. 44, which isn’t bad. A big test for them comes this week when they have to play in Hawai’i.

Tennessee: I had Tennessee at No. 14, but the Vols were slotted at No. 8 in this week’s poll, despite losing a close game at Arkansas for. It was Tennessee’s first loss on the year, but I’m not sure what to make of the Vols right now. Tennessee’s biggest win of the season came at Oklahoma, which appeared to be a big win at the time but now doesn’t necessarily look as great after Oklahoma’s struggles against Houston and Auburn.

Clemson: I had Clemson at No. 15 and Clemson came in at No. 10 in this week’s poll. Maybe I should think higher of Clemson after four straight big wins over App State (66-20), N.C. State (59-35), Stanford (40-14) and Florida State (29-13). Clemson’s lone loss came in its season opener against Georgia, and it was an ugly, 34-3, result. Clemson’s strength of schedule is higher than you’d think it is at No. 13, which is close to in line with where I had them. Of course, having Georgia on the docket helps with that. 

Get ready for what should be an elite week of college football. Here are the games i have circled.

No. 1 Texas vs. No. 18 Oklahoma: Texas is an early 14.5-point favorite here, and I have a feeling the Longhorns might cover that. Oklahoma has looked shaky at spots this season. But, you never ever know in this rivalry. Saturday at 2:30 p.m. on ABC.

No. 4 Penn State at USC: Not a ranked-on-ranked matchup as we all thought this could be with USC falling out after its loss to Minnesota, but it’s still a big game. How does Penn State do with a cross-country game? Do the Nittany Lions establish themselves as a Big Ten title contender, or do things remain murky at the top? Saturday at 2:30 p.m. on CBS

Arizona at No. 14 BYU: BYU remains undefeated and Arizona is coming off a painful loss to Texas Tech. Will the Wildcats rebound or will the Cougars hit bowl eligibility right off the bat? Saturday at 3 p.m. on Fox.

No. 2 Ohio State at No. 3 Oregon: Everyone in the Big Ten has had their eyes on this game since the schedule came out and for good reason. Both teams are ranked in the top five and has intense Big Ten title ramifications. Both teams are 5-0 and 2-0 in league play. Both teams have hopes of vying for not just a Big Ten title but a national title. 6:30 p.m. Saturday on NBC.

No. 9 Mississippi at No. 13 LSU: This game will hopefully help make some sense of the topsy-turvy SEC. Both teams have one loss — LSU to USC and Mississippi to Kentucky. But both remain in good standing to make the playoff. But who wins Saturday? 6:30 p.m. Saturday on ABC.

No. 18 Kansas State at Colorado: Colorado may not be ranked, but the only loss it has this season is to Nebraska. Both schools are coming off a bye. There are big Big 12 implications on the line here, and a chance for Travis Hunter to keep his status as a Heisman hopeful. 9:15 p.m. on ESPN.

No. 17 Boise State at Hawai’i: Yes, Hawai’i is 2-3 and 0-1 in Mountain West play, but playing at Hawai’i can be a challenge that teams aren’t ready for. Is Boise State CFP material? This game, one that will kick off very late, will help solidify them as the Group of 5 candidate. 10 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.