My AP top 25 ballot: Say hello to Kentucky, Texas Tech. Say goodbye to Virginia Tech

There are lots of changes in my top 25 this week. That’s what happens when a handful of ranked college football teams lose to unranked teams.

Here’s a look at how I voted:

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Kentucky. The Wildcats weren’t even on my ballot last week, but they crashed the party at No. 15 after thumping Mississippi State 28-7 on Saturday.

I was impressed with the Bulldogs when they hammered Kansas State two weeks ago in Manhattan. So I’m equally impressed by Kentucky manhandling them in SEC play, even if Mississippi State doesn’t turn out to be as good as projected.

Kentucky now has nice wins over Florida and Mississippi State. It is 4-0. Welcome to not just the top 25, but the top 15.

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Virginia Tech. The Hokies’ opening victory over Florida State did not age well … At all. And they just lost to Old Dominion 49-35. I see no reason to vote for them this week, even though I previously had them at No. 12.

So I dropped Virginia Tech off my ballot.

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Texas, Texas Tech and BYU.

Not sure what the Longhorns were doing in Week 1 against Maryland, but three straight wins over Tulsa, Southern California and TCU has moved them back into my top 25. Texas is at No. 20 after downing TCU on Saturday.

Texas Tech has had an equally surprising turnaround. The Red Raiders looked inept against Mississippi, yet played brilliantly against Oklahoma State on Saturday and picked up a rare win in Stillwater 41-17. I ranked Kliff Kingsbury’s team at No. 18.

BYU, which beat Wisconsin last weekend, is also now in at No. 24. Still not sold on the Cougars, but their 3-1 record and win over the Badgers is too good to ignore.

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Virginia Tech, TCU, Boise State and Oregon. Thought about keeping the Ducks in, because they looked good most of the way against Stanford, but decided there were more deserving teams out there.

My AP top 25 ballot:

1. Alabama

2. Clemson

3. Georgia

4. Oklahoma

5. LSU

6. Ohio State

7. West Virginia

8. Stanford

9. Notre Dame

10. Penn State

11. Auburn

12. Washington

13. Miami (Fla.)

14. Central Florida

15. Kentucky

16. Michigan

17. Wisconsin

18. Texas Tech

19. Mississippi State

20. Texas

21. Oklahoma State

22. Duke

23. Colorado

24. BYU

25. North Texas

This story was originally published September 23, 2018 at 6:29 AM.