News/Commentary

Alabama Unanimous No. 1 in FWAA-NFF Super 16 Poll

October 15, 2017 by FWAA-NFF

NOTE: CollegeFootballPoll.com's Dave Congrove is among the voters.

Alabama strengthened its grip on the top spot of the FWAA-NFF Super 16 college football poll, garnering all 48 first-place votes. But there was some major reshuffling behind the unbeaten Crimson Tide after previously unbeaten and 2nd-ranked Clemson was upset at unranked Syracuse, while Washington and Washington State both lost road games to unranked teams.

The SEC's unbeaten Georgia moved into the No. 2 slot, just 1 point ahead of Penn State. TCU assumed the 4th spot, up from 6th a week ago. Wisconsin moved from 7th to 5th, and Ohio State rose from 9th to 6th.

Clemson fell from 2nd to 7th, Washington tumbled from 5th to 11th, and Washington State dropped from 8th to 14th. Auburn plummeted from 10th to completely out of the poll after taking its second loss of the season, this time at LSU.

Virginia Tech re-entered the poll at No. 15 after a bye week.

The Big Ten led all conferences with four teams, followed by the ACC, Big 12 and Pac-12 with three each. The SEC had two teams in the poll. Notre Dame was the lone independent.

Voters in the poll consist of FWAA writers and College Football Hall of Famers who were selected to create a balanced-geographical perspective.

Congrove's top 5 this week had Alabama No. 1, followed by Penn State, Georgia, TCU and Wisconsin. The rest of his ballot had Miami (Fla.) 6th, followed by Oklahoma, Ohio State, Clemson, USC, Notre Dame, Washington, Oklahoma State, Washington State, Virginia Tech and USF.

FWAA-NFF Super 16 Poll
(For games through October 14, 2017)

  Team Points 1st LW
1. Alabama (7-0) 768 48 1
2. Georgia (7-0) 688 --- 4
3. Penn State (6-0) 687 --- 3
4. TCU (6-0) 602 --- 6
5. Wisconsin (6-0) 555 --- 7
6. Ohio State (6-1) 501 --- 9
7. Clemson (6-1) 472 --- 2
8. Oklahoma (5-1) 398 --- 11
9. Miami (Fla.) (5-0) 387 --- 12
10. Oklahoma State (5-1) 277 --- 13
11. Washington (6-1) 254 --- 5
12. USC (6-1) 244 --- 14
13. Notre Dame (5-1) 185 --- 16
14. Washington State (6-1) 108 --- 8
15. Virginia Tech (5-1) 104 --- ---
16. Michigan (5-1) 94 --- 15

Others receiving votes:

NC State 48), USF (38), Michigan State (35), Auburn (30), UCF (26), Stanford (18), West Virginia (4), San Diego State (3) and LSU (2).

This week's key games:

Tennessee at No. 1 Alabama; No.16 Michigan at No. 3 Penn State; Kansas at No. 4 TCU; Maryland at No. 5 Wisconsin; No. 8 Oklahoma at Kansas State; Syracuse at No. 9 Miami (Fla.); No. 10 Oklahoma State at Texas; No. 12 USC at No. 13 Notre Dame; Colorado at No. 14 Washington State; No. 15 Virginia Tech at North Carolina.