The AL Poll: Post Week 7

The AP Poll is released at 1 p.m. on Sundays during the college football season and is a detriment to CFB society. The glaring issue with the poll is that it is flawed to ball watchers everywhere, the release time of updated rankings are the top piece of evidence in this claim. It is impossible for the voters to have enough time to fully digest the nearly 30 games from the weekend that must be taken into consideration. To save everyone from the horror show that is the AP Poll, I have very bravely taken it amongst myself to give you a more accurate take otherwise known as the Andrew Lotz Poll or AL Poll. I would love to hear your own thoughts in the comments below.

My credentials:

1) I watched either live or condensed game replays for every team that is ranked or has been removed. While I hope you comment with how wrong I am, my process is a definite step in the right direction that major polls should take into consideration.

2) I humbly can say that I am hardly wrong when it comes to these issues.

The SEC began the first stages of self-cannibalism this weekend as the consensus top two teams in the conference lost to underdogs and threw a wrench into every playoff outlook yet imagined. In the most memorable Saturday of my college football watching life, Notre Dame also lost on the road where they simply got outplayed by BYU for the entirety of their game. With that being said, this was the most difficult poll of the year and I only expect more shake-ups as the Big 12’s top teams begin to play each other and Ohio State tries to overcome losing their starting quarterback for at least a month.

BYU Reigns Supreme

BYU impressed on every level on Saturday as they controlled the game vs Notre Dame from kick until final whistle. While the Cougars definitely benefitted from a botched spike attempt by Notre Dame at the end of the first half in chip shot field goal range, there was no denying BYU looked like the better team on the field in Provo. They move to number 1 this week because of HOW they beat the Irish and established themselves as a serious National Championship contender. Despite BYU reaching the top of the poll, I stand firm in my belief that the Big 12 shouldn’t have 2 teams in the playoff and am starting to question if Notre Dame is as good as most people (me included) thought.

SEC: Southeastern Chaos

Well the SEC sure did nothing to help itself for max playoff teams this weekend as Georgia and Alabama both lost, sending the league rankings into utter chaos. Georgia could not stop the QB run game all afternoon vs Auburn which led to a narrow defeat in a game I would chalk up to a bad matchup where they made a few too many mistakes to win (the type of game that makes me say “If they played again, put the house on Kirby”) whereas Alabama was beaten at the point of attack all day Saturday and could not muster any offense in Neyland. Florida beat Texas in a similar fashion as the Longhorn offense could not get out of its own way and let the Gators (led by a backup QB) leave Austin with a win. To top of the craziness of the weekend, Missouri couldn’t score against what had looked like a mediocre Ole Miss defense and got their tiger striped doors blown off in Oxford. Sorting out the SEC this week was the most difficult part of any poll I have done this year and am glad they will start making it easier (hopefully) on me in the coming weeks. While the competition is turning out to be a curse for playoff seeding, this is exactly why it is the best football conference in America.

G6:

Sun Belt Billy has returned to his rightful throne high atop the small schools of the southeast as his Dukes are now 7-0 after a dominant win on Saturday and have been selected as the first G6 team to make the AL Poll since NDSU cracked the top 25 in week 3. Boise is right on their heels after their shootout win vs Fresno and will likely fare better in national polls thanks to name bias. If you’re looking for proof of name bias in the AP poll, look no further than the way James Madison is treated compared to a Boise team with a loss to a very weak Oregon squad. Also, don’t look now, but Oregon State is quietly becoming one of the hottest teams in America as they have dominated their competition over the past 4 weeks of play after getting off to a slow start against two of the best teams in the Big 12 (Houston & Texas Tech). While we will unfortunately have to see more of these teams make the playoffs in the 24 team format, it sure would be fun to see a G6 only playoff.

1. James Madison (7-0)
2. Boise St (5-1)
3. UTSA (6-1)
4. New Mexico (5-1)
5. Oregon St (4-2)