My AP top 25 ballot: Auburn, LSU, Virginia Tech the biggest winners from Week 1

By Kellis Robinett

Updated September 4, 2018 1:39 PM

LSU head coach Ed Orgeron celebrates with his team following their 33-17 win over LSU in an NCAA college football game Sunday, Sept. 2, 2018, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Ron Jenkins) Ron Jenkins AP

The latest AP Top 25 poll was released Tuesday.

The first week of the college football season did nothing to change my top four.

Alabama, Clemson, Georgia and Oklahoma all cruised in their openers. So I’m feeling good about my preseason rankings there.

Everywhere else? Not so much.

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The biggest mistake on preseason ballot: No LSU. Sorry Tigers. Not only should I have ranked you from the beginning, I should have ranked you in the top 15. I fixed that error this week by moving LSU to No. 12 after it blasted Miami (Fla.) on a neutral field in Arlington, Texas.

I really liked the Hurricanes heading into the season and still think they can make noise in the ACC. But the Tigers flattened them 33-17. And the score looked a lot worse before Miami added on some touchdowns in garbage time. LSU can climb even higher in two weeks if they back up that win and beat Auburn.

Speaking of Auburn, they also moved up (seven spots) this week after beating Washington.

Virginia Tech was the other big climber on my poll. The Hokies jumped up six spots after beating Florida State.

Boise State also received a nice bump into the top 20 after blowing out Troy.

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Miami, Michigan and Washington all fell significantly after suffering losses in Week 1.

It’s hard to punish those teams too much considering they tested themselves and lost to strong competition. But none of them looked very good this week. Miami and Michigan, in particular, seemed overmatched.

I gave some thought to dropping the Wolverines out of the top 25.

They all face uphill climbs the rest of the season if they want to enter the playoff picture.

Say hello to ...

Hawaii. The Rainbow Warriors are off to a 2-0 start with wins over Colorado State and Navy. They’re putting up tons of points and are a fun team to watch. They check in at No. 25 this week.

Say goodbye to ...

Florida Atlantic, Florida State and Texas. All three teams dropped out of my top 25 following opening losses.