My top 25 ballot: UCLA Bruins make biggest climb, several big names fall after Week 1
I feel like I need to apologize to Chip Kelly and UCLA football fans for not ranking the Bruins anywhere on my preseason top 25 ballot.
To be honest, they weren’t even on my radar as a team that was going to be remotely good this season.
UCLA went 10-21 in its first three seasons under Kelly, and I saw no reason to expect a major change this year. But change is apparently afoot in Los Angeles. Few teams have looked better than the Bruins thus far.
They opened the season with a blowout victory over Hawaii that got my attention and then followed it up with a statement win over LSU. They should be on every voter’s ballot after that. Where? That will be up for debate. I decided to rank them fifth.
Alabama is the nation’s clear top team after it made Miami look like the junior varsity in its opener. Georgia deserves the No. 2 spot after beating Clemson on a neutral field. Oklahoma and Ohio State didn’t look great in their openers, but I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt over UCLA ... for now.
But nobody else deserves to rank higher than UCLA after Week 1.
Maybe some more of its fans will start showing up for games at the Rose Bowl now.
Other teams on the rise
UCLA wasn’t the only big climber on my ballot.
Notre Dame also jumped up six spots to No. 6 after it defeated Florida State. Iowa climbed nine spots to No. 7 after it demolished Indiana. Virginia. Penn State went up to No. 13 after it beat Wisconsin.
One other team I moved up the rankings: Texas. The Longhorns looked good enough in Steve Sarkisian’s debut against Louisiana-Lafayette to move all the way up to No. 12 on my ballot.
Farewell to Washington, North Carolina
It will be a long time before I consider ranking the Washington Huskies again.
Losing at home to Montana is no way to impress anyone. The entire Pac-12 North looks like a clown show after Week 1. The division is off to a 1-5 start, with the only win coming by a narrow margin from Oregon against Fresno State.
Needless to say, the Huskies fell out of my top 25.
North Carolina also went from 10th on my preseason to ballot to unranked this week. I considered leaving them in at No. 25 but ultimately decided to go with other teams. The Tar Heels simply didn’t look very good losing at Virginia Tech.
Miami dropped from ninth to No. 24. I gave the Hurricanes a little more cushion because, well, Alabama makes everyone look bad.
LSU and Louisiana-Lafayette also dropped out of my top 25. It wasn’t a great week for cajun schools.
What to do with Clemson?
The winner of the Clemson/Georgia game in Charlotte was obviously going to move up near the top of my top 25 ballot.
Where to rank the loser? Well, that takes a little more thought. In my mind, Clemson shouldn’t be penalized too severely for losing a close game on a neutral field to Georgia. Then again, the Tigers lost a very boring game and only scored three points. They had to drop at least a few spots.
I settled on eighth, behind teams that impressed in Week 1 but ahead of teams that won in ho-hum fashion like Iowa State.
Say hello to ...
Virginia Tech, Central Florida, Utah and UCLA are all newcomers in my top 25.
I probably should have included Utah in my preseason poll, and corrected that error after a few teams lost in front of them.
On my radar
These teams didn’t quite make my top 25 this week, but I’ve got my eye on Arizona State, BYU, Kansas State, Nevada and North Carolina State moving forward.
If they keep winning, it won’t be long before some of those teams make the cut.
My AP top 25 ballot
Last week’s ranking in parentheses.
1. Alabama (1)
2. Georgia (5)
3. Oklahoma (2)
4. Ohio State (4)
5. UCLA (NR)
6. Notre Dame (12)
7. Iowa (16)
8. Clemson (3)
9. Iowa State (6)
10. Cincinnati (7)
11. Texas A&M (8)
12. Texas (18)
13. Penn State (17)
14. Oregon (11)
15. Florida (13)
16. USC (14)
17. Virginia Tech (NR)
18. TCU (19)
19. Oklahoma State (22)
20. Ole Miss (24)
21. Coastal Carolina (25)
22. UCF (NR)
23. Utah (NR)
24. Miami (9)
25. Wisconsin (15)