Another week, another butchered top 25 by the orangutans over at the Associated Press. I don’t want to harp too much on what the AP Poll got wrong. There’s only so much time in the day and if I dissect it too much I’ll probably give myself an aneurism.
Instead, let’s focus on fixing this poll. I think the key to any reputable poll is to look at each week as a new slate. Instead of making 1-week adjustments, it is key to consider – I fucking HATE using this phrase, but – every team’s full body of work.
A&M bounced back to beat Miami a couple weeks ago. But Miami just got housed by Middle Tennessee State at home. Instead of writing off A&M’s win over Miami as a “top 25 win” and moving on, maybe take all the information in week by week. If the AP Poll did that, they’d realize neither of those teams were any good!
We’re at the point in the season where being undefeated has to be recognized and rewarded. Things will surely change over the course of the season and this week’s top 25 will likely look nothing like week 14’s top 25.
But the job of voters isn’t to project how good teams will be. The job of voters is to give you a snapshot of who the best and most rewarding college football teams are this week.
Let’s dive in to the Floor Slap’s Top 25 for week 5 of the 2022 college football season. Check out the sub-bullets more some more explanation into my thinking.
- Georgia (4-0); AP rank: 1
- Ohio State (4-0); AP rank: 3
- Alabama (4-0); AP rank: 2
- Michigan (4-0); AP rank: 4
- Clemson (4-0); AP rank: 5
- USC (4-0); AP rank: 6
- Kentucky (4-0); AP rank: 7
- The only difference in my top 7 is OSU over Bama. Alabama struggled in their only test to date (20-19 vs now 2-2 Texas), and their next-best win was this past week against Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt lost to Wake Forest by 20 and struggled against Elon in week 2. Ohio State has been improving week over week and is more deserving of the #2 spot.
- Penn State (4-0); AP rank: 11
- Minnesota (4-0); AP rank: 21
- The Gophers are good, and it’s about time they get the national attention they deserve. They’ve looked nearly flawless so far, outscoring their opponents 183-24 (including 2 Power-5 opponents). Last week, they were 17 seconds away from posting a shutout in East Lansing. Minnesota is also 10th nationally in Strength of Record and 3rd in Game Control.
- Tennessee (4-0); AP rank: 8
- The Vols fall below PSU and Minnesota because I am not as impressed with their two “quality” wins. They beat what I believe to be an incredibly overrated Pitt team by 7, and squeaked out a win at home vs Florida last week – the same Florida team Kentucky largely dominated in Gainesville.
- Ole Miss (4-0); AP rank: 14
- Washington (4-0); AP rank: 15
- NC State (4-0); AP rank: 10
- Florida State (4-0); AP rank: 23
- Another big deviation from the AP Poll here. With the 25th-ranked hardest schedule to date and the #1 strength of record nationally, the Noles deserve credit for taking care of business so far. They play Wake Forest, NC State, and Clemson in the next 3 weeks before getting a bye, so we will know how good this team actually is very soon. Until then, they belong right alongside the other undefeated Power-5 teams.
- Kansas (4-0); AP rank: unranked
- Keeping Kansas out of the top 25 is easily the AP’s biggest fuck up. QB Jalon Daniels is leading a lethal offense, completing over 70% of his passes at nearly 10 ypa. He’s accounted for 15 total TDs while turning the ball over once and only getting sacked once. Who doesn’t want to see Kansas relevant in college football??
- Oklahoma State (3-0); AP rank: 9
- The Cowboys have played Central Michigan (to whom they gave up 44 points), Arizona State (who lost to Eastern Michigan the next week), and AR-Pine Bluff (which I think is a fake school). They could certainly end up being a good squad, but they haven’t shown anything worthy of being a top-10 team so far this year.
- TCU (3-0); AP rank: unranked
- This is the shit that just doesn’t make sense about the AP Poll. The Horned Frogs have an almost identical resume to OK State, having beaten Colorado, Tartleton, and SMU. But one team is in the top 10, and the other is unranked?
- Oregon (3-1); AP rank: 13
- Their 46-point loss to Georgia was nearly unforgiveable, but the Ducks seem to have gotten back on track. After dismantling Eastern Washington and BYU at home, they found themselves down 12 with 6:42 left at Washington State. But two long TD drives and a pick-6 sealed the game for them. WSU is no slouch this year, and the way Oregon closed the game out was genuinely impressive.
- Wake Forest (3-1); AP rank: 22
- I have a really hard time punishing the Deacons for last week’s 2OT loss to Clemson. It was a quality game between two quality teams. QB Sam Hartman can get Wake Forest to compete with just about any team in the country.
- Syracuse (4-0); AP rank: unranked
- Usually I give the nod to the undefeated team, but Syracuse’s last two wins just haven’t been all that impressive. They were gifted the game-winning drive at home vs Purdue when the Boilermakers had to kick off from their own 10 yard line. Last week, they beat Virginia by 2. The same Virginia team that got shellacked by Illinois a week prior. Nonetheless, 4-0 is 4-0.
- Oklahoma (3-1); AP rank: 18
- Utah (3-1); AP rank: 12
- Washington State (3-1); AP rank: unranked
- They have a win at Madison and had control of Oregon for 3.5 quarters this past week. Hard to drop them from the rankings after such a hard fought, evenly-matched loss.
- Kansas State (3-1); AP rank: 25
- Maryland (3-1); AP rank: unranked
- They walked into the Big House and played the Wolverines down to the wire. If it weren’t for them muffing the opening kick off and an interception by the Michigan defense that shouldn’t have counted (the ball clearly hit the ground, but it was not reviewed), the result might have been different. Again, this was a loss that is hard to penalize the Terps for. And if we’re all on board with Wake Forest and
Notable unranked teams:
- Texas A&M; AP rank: 17
- This team barely beat Miami at home two weeks ago. The same Miami team that just got throttled at home vs MTSU. A&M followed that up with another pathetic offensive performance against Arkansas. They really should have lost, but a goal-line fumble that A&M returned for a TD and a doink on what would’ve been the game-winning, chip-shot field goal gave the Aggies the win. All in all, I’m thoroughly unimpressed with this team. The teams that have actually looked good in their wins deserve the national recognition. Not the team that’s good “on paper.”
- Arkansas; AP rank; 20
- Had they pulled out the win against A&M last week, Arkansas would be a top-20 team. But the choke job coupled with the close win against an FCS team the week before drops them out of the rankings entirely.
- BYU; AP rank: 19
- The Cougars have a tremendous opportunity to hop back in the rankings after this week’s bye with back-to-back games against Notre Dame and Arkansas. But their 6-point win over Baylor in week 2 does not outweigh a 21 point loss to Oregon and a tight win against 1-4 Utah State last week.
- Baylor; AP rank: 16
- The Big 12 might be the country’s deepest conference, top to bottom. There is still a lot to learn about these teams, but I’d rather give early-season love to the teams that have taken care of business. Their 6-point loss against BYU isn’t enough of a “quality win” to keep them in the top 25.
- Pitt; AP rank: 24
- I have a hard time understanding why Pitt gets so much national respect. They barely beat WVU in week 1 (the same team Kansas beat much more soundly the following week). They couldn’t take care of business when Tennessee came to town the following week. And then they played Western Michigan and Rhode Island in the subsequent weeks. The can re-enter the top 25 if they string together some more wins (throughout what is an incredibly weak schedule), but to date they haven’t shown enough to warrant a ranking.
*the ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac 12, and SEC all have 5 teams ranked in this week’s top 25*