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The SEC took quite a hit last week, especially with losses by LSU and Ole Miss.
But coaches still placed seven SEC teams in their poll while sports writers included six conference squads in the Associated Press Top 25.
Alabama, Georgia and Texas A&M were impressive in their respective games, downing nationally ranked opponents in decidedly different styles. And for that, should either stay or rightfully move up in the rankings?
Based on last week’s results and not falling victim to massive overreactions, here’s how the AP Top 25 should’ve looked based on Week 1 performances.
How the AP Top 25 should’ve looked
1. Alabama (1-0; 54 first-place votes) — Is there any doubt that the Crimson Tide is the best team in the country? Plus, isn’t it amazing that year after year, Alabama waits until the last possible moment to decide upon its starting quarterback? And even when Nick Saban and Lane Kiffin shift gears like they did by replacing Blake Barnett with Jalen Hurts, it ends up working like a charm. Meanwhile, LSU never seems to have the right guy at QB. Weird.
2. Florida State (1-0) — The Seminoles moved up a spot in the AP Poll, but they should’ve finished ahead of Clemson. Yes, Ole Miss collapsed Monday night, but behind redshirt freshman QB Deondre Francois, FSU scored 33 unanswered points in a bizarre tale of two halves. If Francois has more performances such as this one, Florida State might even be better than most people thought. After the game, ESPN Radio analyst David Norrie even suggested that Francois might eventually be better than Jameis Winston. Wow.
3. Houston (1-0) — The Cougars pulled off the most impressive upset of the week, spanking an Oklahoma team that reached last year’s College Football Playoff. Considering the rest of their schedule, they might not move up much from here on out.
4. Clemson (1-0) — This is a reflection of the defending ACC champions winning on the road at an SEC stadium. Yes, Deshaun Watson and Clemson did what they had to do, but they weren’t impressive doing it. For starters, Auburn held them to 399 yards and one touchdown. Plus, Gus Malzahn played right into Clemson’s hands by having three different QBs run what looked like three different offenses. Clemson is still in the AP’s No. 2 spot pretty much because that’s where it was in the preseason poll.
5. Georgia (1-0) — The Bulldogs recorded the SEC’s second-biggest win behind Alabama’s thrashing of USC. With Nick Chubb running like a Heisman candidate and Jacob Eason lifting Georgia to a comeback victory over a ranked North Carolina team, it looks like the battle for the SEC East will be at least a two-team race. And that’s a good thing.
6. Wisconsin (1-0) — True. The Badgers did surrender 103 rushing yards to Leonard Fournette in the second half. And yes, other than Fournette, LSU was terrible on offense. But then again, what else is new? It wasn’t pretty, but Wisconsin passed the Big Ten’s most difficult test on Saturday. And that’s why the Badgers are in the top 10.
7. Stanford (1-0) — Christian McCaffrey got his potential Heisman Trophy campaign off to a good start with 210 all-purpose yards and 2 touchdowns. And even though Kansas State is not as good as it used to be, Stanford held the Wildcats to 13 points, which is more impressive than what the next two teams on this list accomplished in their openers.
8. Ohio State (1-0) — We watched J.T. Barrett shred Bowling Green for 7 total TDs and were left wondering why he didn’t start over Cardale Jones for most of last season. Buckeye Nation has every right to be excited about how Ohio State’s offense looks. But let’s see how it fares against an angry Oklahoma team in Norman a week from Saturday.
9. Michigan (1-0) — We’re not sure how any team that had to fly 10,000 miles for its first two games would have done against the Wolverines at the Big House, so Hawaii was obviously in a no-win situation. But Michigan’s defense will still be imposing nonetheless, and it looks like Jim Harbaugh might have a quarterback in Wilton Speight. But we won’t really learn more about this team until it kicks off its Big Ten slate against Penn State on Sept. 24.
10. Texas (1-0) – Beating Notre Dame at home is good, but doing so while surrendering 47 points is not.
11. Washington (1-0) – Rutgers is an utter disaster. Nuff said.
12. Louisville (1-0) – The Lamar Jackson Heisman Watch is underway.
13. Michigan State (1-0) — Playing at home, the Spartans should have beaten Furman by more than 15, right?
14. Texas A&M (1-0) — From unranked to inside the top 15. The Aggies are the biggest mover in this week’s “How the Top 25 should’ve looked” because they earned what might have been the biggest regular-season victory of Kevin Sumlin’s career, at least in terms of his job status. Yes, at No. 16, UCLA was probably ranked too high coming in. And allowing the Bruins to rally from a 24-9 deficit wasn’t a good thing. But Trevor Knight lifted the Aggies to a big win in a game they could have lost.
15. Tennessee (1-0) — The Vols are coming off a victory over Appalachian State that could have – and probably should have – been a loss. Just imagine how bad things would have been if they had lost. Saturday night’s game against Virginia Tech at Bristol Motor Speedway should definitely rev up Tennessee’s engine.
16. TCU (1-0)
17. Iowa (1-0)
18. LSU (0-1) — Yes, last Saturday’s game at Lambeau Field was basically a home contest for Wisconsin, but the Tigers had no excuse for losing, especially since their defense was solid and was protecting a late lead. What made it even more frustrating was that LSU had figured out the Badgers’ defense to the point where Fournette ended up averaging six yards a carry.
19. Ole Miss (0-1) — A terrible loss on so many levels. The Rebels couldn’t hold a 28-6 lead while surrendering 33 straight points to an offense led by a redshirt freshman QB. As good as it looked in the first half, Ole Miss was utterly awful over the last 30 minutes. What a missed opportunity for Hugh Freeze in the worst defeat of his career in Oxford. I feel bad for Wofford. Something tells me the Rebels will take out their frustrations on Saturday’s opponent.
20. Oklahoma State (1-0)
21. Baylor (1-0)
22. Oregon (1-0)
23. Miami (1-0)
24. Oklahoma (0-1)
25. Notre Dame (0-1)
Stan Chrapowicki is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers SEC football, Alabama and Auburn.
