Four teams go tumbling out of the rankings with 5 others taking a drop after a busy full opening weekend as the SEC once again takes command of the polls. Alabama and Georgia laid down early claims for the National Title hunt while the ACC has spent this work week recovering from vomiting all over itself.
Welcome back to college football!
18 Stripes Top 20 Poll
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | RESULT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama (+1) | 1-0 | 44-13 W vs. Miami |
| 2 | Georgia (+3) | 1-0 | 10-3 W vs. Clemson |
| 3 | Ohio State (+1) | 1-0 | 45-31 W at Minnesota |
| 4 | Clemson (-3) | 0-1 | 10-3 L vs. Georgia |
| 5 | Texas (NR) | 1-0 | 38-18 W vs. Louisiana |
| 6 | Texas A&M (+10) | 1-0 | 41-10 W vs. Kent State |
| 7 | Oklahoma (-4) | 1-0 | 40-35 W vs. Tulane |
| 8 | Cincinnati (+1) | 1-0 | 49-14 W vs. Miami (OH) |
| 9 | Iowa (NR) | 1-0 | 34-6 W vs. Indiana |
| 10 | Notre Dame (-3) | 1-0 | 41-38 W vs. Florida St. |
| 11 | Coastal Carolina | 1-0 | 52-14 W vs. Citadel |
| 12 | USC (+1) | 1-0 | 30-7 W vs. San Jose St. |
| 13 | Utah (+2) | 1-0 | 40-17 W vs. Weber St. |
| 14 | Florida (+3) | 1-0 | 35-14 W vs. FAU |
| 15 | Iowa State (-9) | 1-0 | 16-10 W vs. Northern Iowa |
| 16 | Penn State (NR) | 1-0 | 16-10 W at Wisconsin |
| 17 | UCLA (NR) | 1-0 | 38-27 W vs. LSU |
| 18 | Arizona State (+1) | 1-0 | 41-14 W vs. Southern Utah |
| 19 | UCF (+1) | 1-0 | 36-31 W vs. Boise St. |
| 20 | TCU (-2) | 1-0 | 45-3 W vs. Duquesne |
As suspected, Alabama wrecked Miami. Interestingly, Bryce Young looks a lot like peak Everett Golson so it’ll be fun to see the Tide offense with that type of player behind center. Do I even have to look to find out Young is now the Heisman favorite?
Georgia’s defense looks super nasty holding Clemson to just 180 yards. You simply cannot give up the SEC East with this type of defense. And yet, Georgia only put up 256 total yards themselves without an offensive touchdown. Clemson’s defense might be the 2nd or 3rd best in the country but something to keep in the back of your mind as the season progresses.
Ohio State seems, fine? Minnesota was frisky for a while as the Buckeyes explosive offense, well, exploded too many times in the 2nd half. It was a tough spot for C.J. Stroud’s first career start and he played well. Can anyone in the Big Ten keep up with OSU?
We’ll drop Clemson not too far and see how they recover. They won’t have many tests during the regular season so they could conceivably drop further without losing.
Texas is back! A&M zooms up the rankings! Hey, someone has to fill the void left from some of the carnage last week.
The Sooners offense was okay but their defense gave up way too much to Tulane, nearly costing them big time. Their game had a very similar feel to Notre Dame’s, except they weren’t facing Florida State on the road and instead a Green Wave program completely put out by the hurricane.
Cincinnati shutout Miami (OH) until late in the game and finished nearly +6.0 in yards per play. If you guesses this would be Notre Dame’s toughest opponent of 2021 you may be right.
The Great Iowa State Debate™ could’ve stolen the show this week, but the ‘Clones pulled through against a strong in-state FCS team. A bit of a look ahead situation for Matt Campbell & Co?
We called that UCLA win over LSU, of course. The collapse of an Ed Orgeron-led program is so easy to see coming. He has 4 more years on his massive contract after this year with a hefty buyout. LSU won’t be writing a sissy check, that’s for sure.
OUT: Washington, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Indiana
It was a tough week for a lot of programs but perhaps the worst overall for Washington as Jimmy Lake has quickly entered worrisome territory with a loss to end last year and this 2021 opening loss to FCS Montana. The Huskies were -3 on turnovers but only mustered 3.87 yards per play on offense anyway. Montana is pretty good for a FCS team so we’ll see if Washington figures things out on offense with a huge road trip this weekend.
North Carolina was terrible on 3rd down and had an awful time protecting Sam Howell (who tossed 3 interceptions). Will Virginia Tech (debated adding them to the top 20) turn out to be pretty good? Either way, the Tar Heels’ expectations (5-5 over their last 10, mind you) have been recalibrated.
That Notre Dame game against Wisconsin suddenly looks a lot less scary after they were out-gained by Penn State by 2 yards per play. Their defense looked legit in the 1st half then gave up some big plays after the break. This Badgers offense though, woof. They can’t run the ball like they used to and Graham Mertz looked overwhelmed.
Indiana’s loss is one of those game we may not want to overreact to a whole bunch (Iowa’s offense didn’t do much in the grand scheme) but the Hoosiers will have to earn their way back into the good graces of people like me who had them originally ranked. Despite hoping he’d be a fun storyline, Penix was a disaster at quarterback.
Week 2 Games to Watch
Last Week: 5-4 straight up
Oregon (+14.5) at Ohio State
Ohio State went through a good test early last week and came through with an impressive 2nd half performance flashing their typical offensive fireworks. Oregon couldn’t even average 5 yards per play against Fresno and their offense simply cannot keep up like it used to. Buckeyes win 35-17.
Air Force (-6) at Navy
Air Force blew the doors off Navy last year and thus far the Midshipmen have been rip to bits by Marshall. Even with the rivalry factor, this shouldn’t be too close. Falcons win 29-9.
Iowa (+4) at Iowa State
Given the recent history of this rivalry and the outcomes of the team’s during the opening week I really was not expecting Iowa to be road dogs. I definitely wasn’t expecting Iowa State to be more than a field goal favorite. I’m going with my head on this one. Hawkeyes win 23-18.
Appalachian State (+9) at Miami
Appalachian State is 36th in the current SP+ rankings right about where the quality teams begin on the list. Miami has to peel themselves off the floor and come back for this difficult matchup in front of a crowd that could turn hostile real quick. It should be fun! I do think Miami hangs on, though. Hurricanes win 38-30.
Washington (+6.5) at Michigan
After last week’s debacle, how can anyone trust Washington? Much to our chagrin, Michigan looked quite good in their opener and I’m surprised this line isn’t a little higher. Although, the season-ending injury to receiver Ronnie Bell maybe harms Michigan’s offense in a big way. Wolverines win 27-13.
Utah (-7) at BYU
The Holy War is back after a one-year absence due to Covid and of course that was when BYU had an in-form top quarterback capable of breaking the 9-game losing streak to Utah. I really like the Charlie Brewer-led offense for Utah in a close, entertaining game. Utes win 34-21.
Stanford (+17.5) at USC
We have seen some weird upsets in this series before but a quick glance at the recent years shows it’s been a lot more stable in favor of the better team than I believed. This is a ton of points, though! USC is favored more over Stanford than Notre Dame is over Toledo which says a lot about Stanford, I think. Even when they are better, USC has a habit of squeaking by in this game but I think they’ll breeze around Stanford’s defense. Trojans wins 42-16.
It makes me sad when Michigan and USC win.
That Michigan-Washington line is crazy. Michigan pounds a decent WMU, Washington falls to an FCS school, and now has to travel halfway across the country. That all adds up to the line being less than a touchdown? Something’s up with that game.
Yeah, very odd.
Vegas knows everything. I would have bet UM -20, but know I would consider taking UW moneyline
It’s particularly odd because Vegas has generally adored Harbaugh’s Michigan teams — IIRC, they were favored in every single game in 2018, including over Ohio State.
I don’t understand the unifying factor that makes struggling with Minnesota move you up to #3 vs struggling with a much more talented FSU team moves you down to #10, much less how to compare Tulane, with their zero percent Blue Chip Ratio and inability to get their fall practices in, having the ball with a chance to beat you at home slots you in at #7.
Ohio State “struggled” to a 14 point win. ND won in OT after their opponent missed a field goal.
I didn’t think I needed to repeat that since Eric listed the score, but yes, Ohio State won by 14 after trailing at half and again late in the third quarter.
What’s your top 20?
1 Alabama
2 Georgia
3 Ohio State
4 Notre Dame
5 Clemson
6 Texas A&M
7 Penn State
8 Oklahoma
9 USC
10 UCLA
11 Texas
12 Florida
13 Cincinnati
14 Iowa
15 Virginia Tech
16 Ole Miss
17 Arizona State
18 Oregon
19 Coastal Carolina
20 Auburn
Also considered for the last 5: TCU, ISU, Utah, Wisconsin, NC St. If I missed someone obvious it’s just a crosseyed error.
We both have OSU at 3rd so not sure about the complaint there and I dropped OU to one spot below your ranking.
So, basically you have ND 4 spots higher than the AP and 6 spots higher than 18 Stripes.
I was perhaps not clear in my comment since two people misunderstood. I don’t have a problem with OSU being #3, my comment was about the confluence of OSU, Oklahoma, and ND. I think there’s a general narrative about ND losing players, therefore they shouldn’t be ranked highly, without that same narrative being applied to other programs in the “chasing Alabama and Clemson” tier.
ND is coming off a season beating AP #1 and losing in the playoff, then went on the road and beat a top-25 talent team in week 1. That’s a lot better than the tenth best resume right now.
I get it, I just don’t think anyone should be considering FSU a top-25 type of win. At least, yet.
Need to wait and see if Mike Norvell is going to play his good QB or his QB with a career completion percentage of 52% and a 9:10 TD:Interception ratio.
Using those standards, I think losing to Georgia by a touchdown and holding them to 10 points is more impressive than beating Florida State by 3. Plus Clemson beat us down in the ACCCG fairly recently.
Clemson is getting a ton of credit for being the second best program in the country despite having a starting QB who is 1-2 in his career with a win over BC and not having either won a game or scored a touchdown this year.
Losing is bad for category one. As is playing FCS teams. So I promise not to move Clemson up after this week either if you really want to pre-emptively get your dander up. If USC covers against Stanford I’ll jump them over Clemson and there’s nothing you can do about it.
Weird, just above you gave ND credit for beating that same QB that you now appear to be questioning.
Clemson is the second best program recently with top 5 talent. They get a lot of credit for both those. They also lost their first game and have legitimate QB questions if they ever play another ranked opponent. It’s a good loss, but good losses aren’t that good compared to wins.
So Clemson gets a ton of benefit of the doubt despite bad results.
Notre Dame has the sixth best win of the season? Eighth best? Clemson, LSU, Miami, Wisconsin, maybe UNC, Washington, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota. That’s pretty good results for this year so far. They’re the fifth best program in the country. Sure, argue of Oklahoma, it’s a stupid thing to argue, but go for it. They’ve got top 15 talent, maybe a bit better than that.
So go ahead and pick between the two. It’s fine to come up with either answer, but I’ve posted my actual reasoning and supplied an entire top 20 for Eric, and you’ve twice misinterpreted my point with snippy replies that are beginning to make me doubt they’re in good faith.
I love that Michigan’s big ABC primetime maize-out OOC game is against a winless team that lost to Montana at home.
Classic Michigan.
Tough week for the ND schedule with UNC and Wisky taking a dive. Is it possible the schedule is weaker than generally anticipated? I’ve always sort of thought UNC is, perhaps not fraudulent but not much better of a term. @Va Tech looks tougher, but Fuente loses and re-gains that team very frequently.
Could be argued ND ends up avoiding 3 of the best 4 ACC teams this year (Clemson, Miami, NC State).
Also Wisconsin could be under a ton of pressure if Mertz doesn’t pick it up. It’s early to declare it outright but it sure is starting to look like they picked the wrong QB to hitch the wagon to…
The UNC hype this year never made any sense. They went 8-4 last year and lost their best skill players; therefore, this year, they will go 10-2. Huh?
They remind me of a poor man’s 2006 ND. If your whole plan is to have your good but not great pocket passer QB win every single game for you with a meh surrounding cast, you’re gonna find yourself in some close games against some very mediocre teams.
One thing to be careful with is to jump to big conclusions after week 1. (a) It is a small sample size, and (b) teams have had all off-season to prepare for that game.
Having said that, I do think that UNC is not as mighty as the early polls were suggesting (they have talent, but they are probably not a top-10 team). Wisconsin played against a good PSU team and had a horrible game, so I am not ready to write them off completely if they can get some things straightened out.
All good points. I was just thinking from the perspective that Notre Dame could have had three top-10 matchups this season (Wisconsin, Cincy, UNC) and two of them lost their first game out. Takes a bit of the luster out of the schedule, at least. Even though that certainly those teams can be expected to steady out the course.
Unrelated to top whatever teams. It sounds like Keys is leaving the program (but staying at ND and finishing his degree in Dec) and Watts is moving to Rover because of all the injuries.
Seems like a strange move to stop playing for ND if he plans to be a grad transfer. Has he been thoroughly passed by Styles? I thought Watts got a few snaps at FSU.
Read Keys got 5 snaps against FSU. He was buried as backup slot receiver behind Avery Davis who is going to play the most of the snaps there and since ND is running 2 TE or 2 RB, there’s not a lot of slot work in general right now.
I think I saw somewhere Keys stops now to keep 2 years of eligibility. Kinda sucks, but oh well. Doesn’t really seem a big loss, just unfortunate to have another WR defection.
I don’t think it saves him any eligibility. He has three years left (including this year) to play three years. Next year – wherever that is – it’ll be two years left to play two years. But it does allow him to focus on graduating by December apparently.
I could be wrong, but I thought it was COVID-inspired, or that’s how I took it. My understanding was it’s like 2020 never happened in terms of burning a year, so in eligibility terms he’s basically a JR this year. And he’s stopping now to not use up this year and keeps 2 in his pocket going ahead. Not 100% certain of it, though..
As in, his choices were:
–play out 2021 at Notre Dame, when he appears in 4+ games he burns one year of eligibility and only has 1 more year left as a grad transfer
OR
–drop from the team now, retain not burning eligibility in 2021, still have the 2 years left when he is moving forward
The COVID stuff confuses me though, so I could have read it wrong. Pretty sure it was on II, and their site seems to be crashed at the moment so I can’t check it.