For those of you wanting to compare my polls against the media and coaches polls, I posted the new AP and Coaches polls on the page with the same name. I'll continue to put these polls on this page each week after they are released. I'll do the same with the playoff selection committee poll when it is first released on October 28th.
Some things I do like about the AP poll is that voters in this poll are being more fluid in moving teams up and down based on performance. I don't know if it's because of the first week and voters trying to correct their original preseason poll or if since the poll does not matter anymore, voters are more willing to move teams based on their performance. A perfect example of this is the number of teams getting first place votes. Usually teams in the top 5 get some first place votes. This week, there were 7 teams getting at least 1 first place vote including the #12 team. This is where I have a beef with this poll. Who the hell is voting LSU #1? Did they watch the game? The only reason they won was because of a trick play giving them momentum and Wisconsin not running the ball. Melvin Gordon had over 100 yards in the 1st half, but suffered a hip flexor on the last play of the 1st half. Instead of using their backup RBs, they instead started throwing the ball, turning it over and letting LSU back into the game. No way does LSU deserve to be #1. I bet the sports writer who voted them #1 is a LSU alum.
I was glad to see South Carolina drop as far as they did. I think this is the most an SEC has dropped in the polls after a loss. No matter how bad they lose, the most they usually drop is 5 spots, whereas if a Pac-12, Big 12 or Big 10 team loses a close game, they drop 10 spots. I'll give you a perfect example. Back in 2012, USC was the preseason #1 team. Even being an USC fan, I even thought they were overrated. I thought #5 was more accurate. They beat Hawaii 49-10 at home and they drop to #2. The next week they travel across the country and play Syracuse at Met Life Stadium in New Jersey. After an hour and a half delay due to lightning (I know since I was at the game), they won the game 42-29 and stayed at #2 and lost their starting center at the end of the game. The next week they play at #21 Stanford with a brand new center who hadn't played before against one of the best defensive lines in the country. He got eaten up, was totally lost, didn't know what he was doing, but since USC lacked depth due to scholarship limitations, he was it at that position. Matt Barkley was sacked, hurried, and pressured the whole game. That being said, USC had a 14-7 lead at halftime. Stanford tied it up in the 3rd quarter and then Stanford scored a late TD in the 4th to win the game 21-14. USC didn't get blown out, they were playing without their starting center and had back to back road games after traveling across the country and only lost by 7 points. With that loss, they dropped 11 spots to #13. I'm not saying they didn't deserve to drop in the polls, they did, but 11 spots? C'mon, maybe 5 spots. They were in the game the whole time and lost late in the 4th by a TD. It wasn't like they were blown off the field unlike the example below in the next paragraph.
Now let's look at an SEC team, Georgia, in the same year to prove my point. Georgia was ranked #5 and went to Columbia, SC to play #6 South Carolina. South Carolina throttled Georgia 35-7 and Georgia dropped down 8 spots to #13. Actually, I have to admit I thought they only dropped 5 spots and remained in the top 10, but when I looked it up they dropped 8 spots. Still, USC and Georgia both lost on the road to ranked teams. Granted, South Carolina was ranked higher than Stanford at the time (because the preseason poll had them ranked very low), but Stanford ended up winning the Pac-12, going 12-2 and beating Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl. South Carolina ended up not winning the SEC East, went 11-2 and beat Michigan in the Outback Bowl. Both Stanford and South Carolina ended the season being ranked #7 & #8 respectively in the final AP poll.
The point I'm trying to make is that the reason why there are always so many SEC teams ranked in the top 25 or even in the top 10 is that they get ranked high in the preseason poll and don't drop very much when they lose so they still stay highly ranked.
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