My AP top 25 college football ballot: It was a good week for Purdue and Notre Dame
Purdue is an interesting football team.
The Boilermakers (6-3, 4-2 Big Ten) have one of the more hot-and-cold resumes I have ever seen at this point in a season. On the hot side, they have very impressive victories over Iowa and Michigan State to go along with solid wins over Oregon State and Nebraska. On the cold side, they have a head-scratching loss to Minnesota and a pair of non-competitive defeats against Notre Dame and Wisconsin.
You could make an argument that they are the nation’s best three-loss team, or at least place them in a Dos Equis commercial that proclaims them to be “the most interesting team in the world.”
Where should they be ranked? I pondered that question for a while as I was putting together my latest top 25 and ultimately decided to slot Purdue at No. 19. It was the first team to beat both Iowa and Michigan State. None of its losses are cringe worthy, even that one against Minnesota.
By now, you can probably tell I didn’t approve of the College Football Playoff selection committee inexplicably ranking the Gophers in the top 20 this week. Fortunately, karma intervened and Illinois beat Minnesota on Saturday.
In any case, Purdue has played a strong schedule and pulled off some impressive victories. I am going to reward the Boilermakers for it.
Arkansas, Iowa State and Pittsburgh also joined my top 25 after not being ranked in this space last week.
My playoff four
It’s hard to go undefeated.
There are only four teams with unblemished records remaining in all of college football (Cincinnati, Georgia, Oklahoma, UTSA) and I have all for of them ranked in my top 15.
I think No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Cincinnati and No. 3 Oklahoma all deserve a playoff spot at this exact moment. Some will try and ding Cincinnati for only beating Tulsa by eight at home, but it’s worth remembering that Ohio State needed two late touchdowns to pull away from the same team earlier this season. Winning is winning.
I paired those three with No. 4 Alabama this week, even though the Crimson Tide didn’t look like world beaters during a close victory over LSU.
Their one loss, at Texas A&M, has aged well and they are the nation’s best one-team loss in my book.
No. 5 Oregon is the first alternate, followed by No. 6 Notre Dame. I moved Ohio State down a spot, because I think the Fighting Irish have a slightly better overall resume and looked better on Saturday.
Michigan State and Wake Forest both fell after suffering their first losses of the season, but I only dropped them to No. 9 and No. 14, respectively.
On my radar
I will be keeping an eye on Kansas State, Nevada, North Carolina State, San Diego State and Wisconsin next week.
They could all easily enter my top 25 ballot with another victory.
MY AP TOP 25 BALLOT
*Last week’s ranking in parentheses
1. Georgia (1)
2. Cincinnati (2)
3. Oklahoma (4)
4. Alabama (5)
5. Oregon (6)
6. Notre Dame (8)
7. Ohio State (7)
8. Oklahoma State (10)
9. Michigan State (4)
10. Michigan (12)
11. Texas A&M (13)
12. BYU (15)
13. Ole Miss (17)
14. Wake Forest (9)
15. UTSA (19)
16. Houston (16)
17. Baylor (11)
18. Louisiana (20)
19. Purdue (NR)
20. Iowa (21)
21. Auburn (14)
22. Coastal Carolina (24)
23. Arkansas (NR)
24. Iowa State (NR)
25. Pittsburgh (NR)
Dropped Out: Kentucky, SMU, Fresno State, Mississippi State.
This story was originally published November 7, 2021 at 6:29 AM.