Alabama Still Tops Voter Polls

September 21, 2017 by Staff

The college football polls are out after another week filled with upsets and close games, and for the second consecutive week there is a new team at number 2, but the same number 1, which could surely impact the college football week 4 picks.

Last week, the Clemson Tigers defeated the Louisville Cardinals in a game that they dominated from the opening whistle. The win not only gave the Tigers a victory over a top 15 team, it gave them a victory over a top 15 team for the second consecutive week, after defeating the Auburn Tigers the previous week.

Anyone that follows college football knows the fans aren’t always happy with the rankings because they feel their team is always undervalued. Voters understandably didn't give the Tigers a lot of love in the preseason rankings because they lost a lot of starters to the NFL, including all-everything quarterback Deshaun Watson. But after the first few weeks of the season, it's impossible not to see that Clemson is just fine. The Tigers still haven't lost a game since defeating Alabama in last year's title game. 

Of course, there are four teams going into the playoffs and your team just needs to be somewhere in the mix. There's also a lot of football left to play so it really doesn’t matter where they’re ranked now.

After the 47-21 loss to the Tigers, Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson said the team didn’t play their game and put the blame on himself and the offense. The loss to a division opponent makes it almost impossible for the Cardinals to make it to the ACC Championship game, but not necessarily the College Football Playoff. Just reference Ohio State last year. 

Another win that caused a shakeup in the top 25 was Mississippi State’s domination of an LSU team that some thought was overrated from the beginning. The loss knocked the Tigers down to 25, while the Bulldogs moved up to 17.

Four teams you don’t see in the rankings this week are Tennessee, UCLA, Stanford and Kansas State. They all played on the road last week, and lost. The Vols fell 26-20 at Florida on a 63-yard touchdown strike as time expired; the Bruins were outscored 48-45 at Memphis, the Cardinal got dropped 20-17 at San Diego State, and Kansas State was upset 14-7 at Vanderbilt.

For the complete AP Top 25, go here:

Several of the top teams once again hit the road to face undefeated opponents. Alabama travels to Vanderbilt, Penn State goes to Iowa, USC visits California, Florida goes to Kentucky, Mississippi State plays at Georgia, TCU visits Oklahoma State, and Michigan heads to Purdue.

Even San Diego State could get its own comeuppance when it plays at Air Force (1-1) on Saturday.

Keep an eye on the games this week as a major shakeup in the rankings is possible.