Oct. 12 top 25 and the PG ballot

I have to admit I haven’t fretted much over my ballot until this week. For the first seven weeks of the season I felt like I had a good grasp of which teams should move up and which should move down. This was the hardest, and it gets this way every year about this time, when teams accumulate more losses, often against other top 25 teams.

 

I chose to give Texas my first-place vote because the Longhorns never blinked against the No. 1 Sooners. I toyed with the idea of jumping Penn State over Alabama, which was off, but ultimately decided the Lions should go to No. 3. After that, it got really difficult. The next three teams each have a bad loss. Florida lost to Mississippi at home, USC lost to Oregon State on the road and Georgia got thumped by Alabama at home. I placed Oklahoma seventh behind those three teams, but I just as easily could have placed the Sooners fourth. I guess the bottom line was I felt the Sooners deserved to drop further because they gave up 45 points.

 

BYU remained eighth, I dropped Texas Tech to ninth because the Red Raiders struggled with a very mediocre Nebraska team. And I had LSU 10^th. My only other consideration there was Oklahoma State, but I didn’t have the Cowboys ranked the previous week, and I still want to see how they do the next few weeks before I become a believer.

Here is my ballot followed by a link for the new top 25

 

1.Texas
2. Alabama
3. Penn State
4. Florida
5. USC
6. Georgia
7. Oklahoma
8. BYU
9. Texas Tech
10. LSU
11. Ohio State
12. Oklahoma State
13. Boise State
14. Utah
15. Missouri
16. Kansas
17. Ball State
18. Virginia Tech
19. North Carolina
20. Michigan State
21. Pitt
22. South Florida
23. Wake Forest
24. Minnesota
25. Georgia Tech

New top 25 link

 

New on my ballot:

 

Michigan State – The Spartans play host to Ohio State this week, their first game against a ranked foe.

 

Wake Forest – Only loss was a bad loss to Navy at home.

 

Minnesota – Only loss was to Ohio State. The Gophers could get third or fourth place in the Big Ten. They don’t have to play Penn State this season.

 

Georgia Tech – Only loss was at Virginia Tech by three points. The Jackets visit disappointing Clemson this week.

 

On the cusp of my ballot:

 

Tulsa – Undefeated but untested.