Advertisement

Matt Baker’s AP Top 25 ballot: Florida Gators, UCF keep rising

Texas is back ... in our top 10?
 
Published Oct. 7, 2018

We're at the point in the season where the transitive property becomes confusing. How much stock do you put in a head-to-head win compared to the season as a whole?

That's the question I kept debating while filling out this week's AP Top 25 ballot. Kentucky beat Florida, which beat LSU. So should Kentucky be higher than LSU? Mississippi State beat Auburn, which beat Washington. The Bulldogs don't really belong higher than the Huskies, right?

My rankings usually sort themselves into tiers — blobs of teams that could go in any order. The biggest tier for me this week came from 9-15, with Texas, Oklahoma, UCF, Michigan, Kentucky, UF and LSU. That's the order I settled on. The Wildcats have two nice victories (over the Gators and Mississippi State), a solid win over South Carolina and a close loss at a pretty good A&M team. That's a good resume. Maybe not as good as the one LSU has (wins over Auburn and Miami), but good enough to stay in front of the Tigers and in my top 15.

A side effect I didn't realize at the time: the Gators are my new No. 2 team in the state, behind UCF (which rose to No. 11) and ahead of Miami. I didn't drop the Hurricanes for a 28-27 win over Florida State, even though the Seminoles are not good. A rivalry win is a rivalry win. But the Gators have played very well since the Kentucky loss, and they look like the more complete team at the halfway point in the season.

At the top, Notre Dame jumped Clemson for fourth on my ballot. The Irish have a better resume (wins over Michigan, Stanford and at Virginia Tech) than the Tigers.

Oklahoma State, Boise State, Michigan State and Stanford all dropped out of my ballot. Mississippi State, Iowa and Texas A&M reentered it, and Colorado makes its first appearance. I had been waiting on the undefeated Buffaloes to beat a decent team, and a win over Arizona State qualifies. Among the teams I also considered: USF, Cincinnati, San Diego State, Fresno State and Appalachian State.

Here's the AP Top 25 ballot I submitted Sunday morning:

1.       Alabama (6-0)

2.       Ohio State (6-0)

3.       Georgia (6-0)

4.       Notre Dame (6-0)

5.       Clemson (6-0)

6.       West Virginia (5-0)

7.       Washington (5-1)

8.       Penn State (4-1)

9.       Texas (5-1)

10.   Oklahoma (5-1)

11.   UCF (5-0)

12.   Michigan (5-1)

13.   Kentucky (5-1)

14.   Florida (5-1)

15.   LSU (5-1)

16.   Wisconsin (4-1)

17.   Miami (5-1)

18.   North Carolina State (5-0)

19.   Oregon (4-1)

20.   Mississippi State (4-2)

21.   Auburn (4-2)

22.   Washington State (5-1)

23.   Colorado (5-0)

24.   Texas A&M (4-2)

25.   Iowa (4-1)