College Football Preseason Top Ten: Where Are They Now?
By J.P. Scott
There are some notable differences between the AP’s Preseason Top Ten and how things currently sit on the college football landscape.
Last night we saw the very first edition of the College Football Playoff rankings released. There weren’t a whole lot of surprises, all things considered. The teams who had been at the top of the AP and Coaches Polls recently maintained their position for the most part.
What I found interesting was how far we’ve come and how things have changed since the initial preseason AP Poll. For years, the AP Poll has framed the college football picture to start the season and guided it throughout. Your strength of schedule — at the end of the day — was really just the opinion of some sports writers based partly on the results of the last season and then on how they thought the teams stacked up heading into the new season.
It’s too easy to play armchair quarterback and talk about how wrong the AP had it when it came to this season’s preseason rankings. Instead, we’ll just look at how the top ten of the preseason AP Poll have fared and where they stand now.
1. Florida State — The Seminoles had 57 of the initial 60 first place votes. They were the defending champs and returning the Heisman Trophy winner under center. So far, they’ve done all that anyone has asked of them, running the table and remaining undefeated to this point. They are currently No. 2 in both the College Football Playoff Rankings and the AP Poll. This begs the question: why? If they were good enough to start the season No. 1 and haven’t lost a game, why are they looking up as Mississippi State? Has their schedule changed between the release of the preseason polls and now?
2. Alabama — Alabama has maintained its position as one of the top teams in the nation. They lost a game to Ole Miss that wasn’t as close as the score indicates, but bounced back admirably with three consecutive wins over now unranked teams. Currently, the Crimson Tide sits at No. 6 in the College Football Playoff Rankings and No. 3 in the AP Poll.
3. Oregon — The Ducks have averaged 45.5 points per game en route to decisive wins over every team on their schedule, san a loss to Arizona. Among the teams they knocked off were Michigan State and UCLA. Currently, the Ducks sit at No. 5 in both the College Football Playoff Rankings and the AP Poll.
4. Oklahoma — The Sooners have had a bit of a rough go of it since the initial polls were released. The season started out fine, with Oklahoma winning its first for games in impressive fashion. As of now, they’ve dropped two of their last three games and have dropped to No. 18 in the College Football Playoff Rankings and No. 19 in the AP Poll.
5. Ohio State — No team has been hurt more by one loss than the Buckeyes. After losing their starting quarterback for the season, the Buckeyes dropped their second game of the 2014 campaign at home to Virginia Tech. Since then, they’ve won five straight games by scoring an average of 51 points per outing. It hasn’t been enough. Ohio State currently sits at No. 16 in the College Football Playoff Rankings and No. 13 in the AP Poll.
6. Auburn — The Auburn Tigers got some impressive wins over Kansas State and LSU early on, but were tripped up in a visit to Mississippi State. The loss didn’t seem to faze people nationally, as today they sit at No. 3 in the College Football Playoff Rankings and No. 4 in the AP Poll.
7. UCLA — The AP seemed to have high hopes for a UCLA team with as much talent as anyone in the country on paper. It hasn’t panned out for the Bruins quite the way they’ve planned, losing back-to-back games to Utah and Oregon to start October. The Bruins are now ranked No. 22 in the College Football Playoff Rankings and No. 25 in the AP Poll.
8. Michigan State — The Spartans lost to Oregon in Week 2 and have responded by laying waste to the rest of their schedule. Outside of a five-point win over Nebraska that wasn’t as close as that score would indicate, the Spartans have defeated all opponents since the loss to Oregon by and average of 35.6 points. They seem to be treading water in the eyes of the voters right now, sitting at No. 8 in both the College Football Playoff Rankings as well as the AP Poll.
9. South Carolina — A preseason ranking of No. 9 seemed a little high to me, especially after losing the amount of talent that the Gamecocks did to the NFL Draft. They started the year by getting blown out by now unranked Texas A&M. They looked like they were going to save their season with a win over Georgia, but now have lost three of their last four and disappeared from the rankings altogether.
10. Baylor — The Bears have hung around all season, lighting up scoreboards like they’ve done for a few years now. They tripped up in a shootout with West Virginia and as a result now sit a No. 13 and No. 12 in the College Football Playoff Rankings and the AP Poll respectively. Ironically, Texas Christian sits ahead of Baylor in both polls, despite Baylor winning their matchup head-to-head.
More from FanSided
- MLB Trade Grades: Dodgers land Amed Rosario from Guardians
- Colorado gives Pac-12 a possible death knell with move to Big 12
- NFL rumors: Dalvin Cook suitor maintaining very ‘real’ interest
- Braves get dose of bad news on Max Fried as ace nears return
- LA Galaxy vs. Club Leon Leagues Cup match rescheduled for July 26