LSU Continues to Fall in Our Poll After a Lackluster Effort Versus Towson
As is customary, we’ll be bringing you a new take on the top 25 teams in the country each Monday during the regular season. With so many upsets this early, this poll — like many others — features tons of questions once you get past 15 or so. Disagree at all? Feel free to share that with us below (respectfully, of course).
Atlantic Coast Convos 2012 Top 25 (Week Six)
1. Alabama Crimson Tide (5-0) (LW: 1) (First-place votes: 6)
2. Oregon Ducks (5-0) (LW: 2)
3. Florida State Seminoles (5-0) (LW: 3)
4. Georgia Bulldogs (5-0) (LW: 5)
5. South Carolina Gamecocks (5-0) (LW: 6)
6. LSU Tigers (5-0) (LW: 4)
7. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (4-0) (LW: 9)
8. Kansas State Wildcats (4-0) (LW: 14)
9. Texas Longhorns (4-0) (LW: 12)
10. Ohio State Buckeyes (5-0) (LW: 13)
11. West Virginia Mountaineers (4-0) (LW: 10)
12. Florida Gators (4-0) (LW: 14)
13. USC Trojans (3-1) (LW: 11)
14. Clemson Tigers (4-1) (LW: 16)
15. TCU Horned Frogs (4-0) (LW: 15)
16. Oregon State Beavers (3-0) (LW: 21)
17. Stanford Cardinal (3-1) (LW: 7)
18. Oklahoma Sooners (2-1) (LW: 17)
19. Nebraska Cornhuskers (4-1) (LW: 20)
20. Louisville Cardinals (5-0) (LW: 19)
21. Mississippi State Bulldogs (4-0) (LW: 22)
22. Michigan State Spartans (3-2) (LW: 18)
23. Texas Tech Red Raiders (4-0) (LW: NR)
24. UCLA Bruins (4-1) (LW: 25)
25. Northwestern Wildcats (5-0) (LW: 24)
Next Five: Louisiana Tech, Texas A&M, Rutgers, Michigan, Arizona State
Per conference: Big 12 (6), SEC (6), Pac-12 (5), Big Ten (4), ACC (2), Big East (1), Independent (1)
Atlantic Coast Convos 
Not a bad list – you can make a good argument for all 25. Something tells me that’s too many SEC teams in the top 10, and in particular I’m still not convinced about South Carolina, but we’ll find out soon enough…
There are far too many teams who haven’t proved much, and I think it’s going to lead to a huge shakeout in October. I’d say the only teams I can accurately gauge right now are Alabama, Oregon and FSU. Everybody else has show issues in one aspect of the game or another — or have benefited from an easy schedule thus far.
It’s an interesting list, that’s for sure. I’ve got a separate list of about a dozen teams I’m “keeping a close eye on” in case one or more of the lower top 25 falls away. Some of ’em had my votes in previous weeks.
West Virginia’s performance was interesting. They scored 10 touchdowns … but they also gave up 9. Simultaneously they managed to put on both a great and an awful performance.
Right. And we also have no idea how to read Baylor at this point. Unlike most weeks, where all of us named maybe 30 different teams all together, this week had 39 teams receive votes — pretty big number for six submissions.
That’s incredible. I think that means that only 11 teams were included on all ballots.
Side conversation on some of these teams: What does everyone think of the Big East squads near the bottom? I feel like Louisville was most impressive in week one, and has declined each week since. Rutgers also fails to possess a quality win — and no, Arkansas no longer counts. I’ll disclose that I failed to include either in my ballot.
Those are some of the toughest teams to figure out. Louisville, Rutgers, and Cincy can all make a case for inclusion (which says more about the overall badness of everyone outside the top 20 than any strength those teams might have). I ended up including Rutgers not because of their record but because I think their defense is rock-solid–admittedly based as much on hangover from last year as real results so far. Of the three, Cincy has the most impressive set of scalps, and with a likely 6-0 start they’ll probably make it into the rankings eventually just by attrition, but the Bearcats’ offense doesn’t look like what we’ve seen the past few years and I don’t think they’re top-25 worthy yet. I didn’t understand the preseason love for Louisville, and while a 5-0 record looks nice, that includes three very close wins against pretty mediocre teams–I remain unconvinced that the Cardinals will win the Big East.
People really like Teddy Bridgewater, and for some reason, felt that they had the best chance to run through the Big East schedule unscathed (sure?). Since they’re still in a major conference, according to the BCS, voters will give them the benefit of the doubt if they’re undefeated. Many largely ignore Louisville’s schedule, however, which features a bunch of joke teams and Kentucky (who is putrid this season).