Editor's note: J.P. Giglio is one of 60 AP voters.
• JP Top 25 archive
• AP, USA Today polls
Sorry, Ole Miss but somebody has to be No. 6.
The team in my No. 6 slot is 0-2 with Oklahoma State's loss to Houston, which followed Georgia's loss to Oklahoma State. The Rebels face Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday, which will really tell us if No. 6 is unlucky or if it's coincidence.
Moved Ohio State (12) up a spot after Saturday's tough 18-15 loss to Southern California, which jumped the Trojans past Alabama (5) for the fourth spot. The rest of the top 10 moved up a place with Oklahoma State's loss.
Houston (17) replaces East Carolina, its Conference USA partner, and Michigan (18) debuts after outlasting Notre Dame.
1. Texas
Record: 2-0
Last week: 1 (beat Wyoming, 41-10)
This week: Texas Tech
The 39-33 loss at Lubbock last year kept the Horns out of the Big 12 and national title games.
2. Florida
Record: 2-0
Last week: 2 (beat Troy, 56-6)
This week: Tennessee
Vegas likes the Gators by 28.5 against Vols. Over/under on the number of Lane Kiffin quotes posted in the Florida locker room: 82.
3. BYU
Record: 2-0
Last week: 3 (beat Tulane, 54-3)
This week: Florida State
FSU still plays one "sod cemetery" game a year. Is this it?
4. USC
Record: 2-0
Last week: 5 (beat Ohio State, 18-15)
This week: @ Washington
Truly have morphed into Miami from the first part of this decade — same surplus of NFL talent, only with better coaching.
5. Alabama
Record: 2-0
Last week: 4 (beat FIU, 40-14)
This week: North Texas
FIU ... North Texas ... yawn ... Arkansas should be a better barometer for the Tide on Sept. 26.
6. Ole Miss
Record: 1-0
Last week: 7 (bye)
This week: SE Louisiana
Strange scheduling with the early bye, then a Thursday night game (South Carolina) and two road games to open the SEC. Of course, the Rebs can't complain, they don't play Florida or Georgia from the East.
7. Cal
Record: 2-0
Last week: 8 (beat Eastern Washington, 59-7)
This week: @ Minnesota
The Bears are the second team to play in Minnesota's new outdoor stadium, should be the first visiting team to win.
8. Boise State
Record: 2-0
Last week: 9 (beat Miami, Ohio, 48-0)
This week: @ Fresno State (Friday)
Typically, a Fresno-Boise game is competitive. The Broncs won 61-10 last year, though.
9. LSU
Record: 2-0
Last week: 10 (beat Vanderbilt, 23-9)
This week: Louisiana-Lafayette
Three more weeks, and two more SEC games, before Florida visits on Oct. 10.
10. Oklahoma
Record: 1-1
Last week: 11 (beat Idaho State, 64-0)
This week: Tulsa
Not the same team without QB Sam Bradford, but this program has lost key players before and been resilient.
11. Virginia Tech
Record: 1-1
Last week: 12 (beat Marshall, 52-10)
This week: Nebraska
The Hokies hadn't scored 52 points since 2005 (a 52-14 win over Virginia). Another test with the Cornhuskers in Blacksburg on Saturday.
12. Ohio State
Record: 1-1
Last week: 13 (lost to USC, 18-15)
This week: Toledo (@ Cleveland)
Moved the Buckeyes up after the USC loss. The defense is there, but the decision-making at quarterback is becoming a problem — the late pick to Navy and the intentional-grounding against USC.
13. Penn State
Record: 2-0
Last week: 14 (beat Syracuse, 28-7)
This week: Temple
The Nits haven't lost to Temple in 34 meetings since 1943. That's not going to change Saturday.
14. Georgia Tech
Record: 2-0
Last week: 15 (beat Clemson, 30-27)
This week: @ Miami (Thursday)
Great start and then great response by the Jackets in beating Clemson. Expect a tougher fight with a rested "U" on Thursday, though.
15. TCU
Record: 1-0
Last week: 16 (beat Virginia, 30-16)
This week: Texas State
The Frogs are better than Virginia, duh, but are they better than Clemson? We'll find out next week.
16. Utah
Record: 2-0
Last week: 18 (beat San Jose State, 24-14)
This week: @ Oregon
Does anyone have a tougher schedule than Oregon?
17. Houston
Record: 2-0
Last week: 16 (beat Oklahoma State, 42-35)
This week: bye
I knew the C-USA had one top-25 team, just needed to look farther west.
18. Michigan
Record: 2-0
Last week: Not ranked (beat Notre Dame, 38-34)
This week: Eastern Michigan
I'll admit it, I thought Rich Rod was toast with the Big Blue. A quarterback is a coach's best friend.
19. Miami
Record: 1-0
Last week: 19 (bye)
This week: Georgia Tech (Thursday)
The only team to get a bye week before Georgia Tech this year. Let's hope they used it wisely.
20. Oklahoma State
Record: 1-1
Last week: 6 (lost to Houston, 45-35)
This week: Rice
The Owls, 55-10 losers to Texas Tech, should be a respite for the Pokes.
21. Georgia
Record: 1-1
Last week: 21 (beat South Carolina, 41-37)
This week: @ Arkansas
Now if they could put the defense from Week 1 together with the offense from Week 2.
22. Cincinnati
Record: 2-0
Last week: 22 (beat SE Missouri State, 70-3)
This week: @ Oregon State
When you can score points like that, who needs defense?
23. Oregon State
Record: 2-0
Last week: 17 (beat UNLV, 23-21)
This week: Cincinnati
The Beavers never seem to be healthy on offense but find ways to win.
24. Pitt
Record: 2-0
Last week: 23 (beat Buffalo, 54-27)
This week: Navy
The Panthers showed some scoring punch against a decent Buffalo team; Navy will be more of a challenge.
25. Nebraska
Record: 2-0
Last week: 24 (beat Arkansas State, 38-9)
This week: @ Virginia Tech
The Huskers got dropped by VT, 35-30 in Lincoln last year.
Out: ECU (20), Oregon (25)
Next five: UNC, Baylor, Kansas, Notre Dame, Southern Miss
Comments
I hate to say I told you so...
Tue, 09/15/2009 - 22:33 — pjtarheel....ok, I don't really hate to. Not that having pointed out the obvious is anything much to brag about. ECU Top 25 - that there was funny.....
"ECU #20????
Thu, 09/10/2009 - 10:38 — pjtarheel
"I'm the only voter with ECU in the top 25; will have company in two more weeks."
Absolutely, once you have joined everyone else by removing ECU from your top 25. Ridiculous.
Give the man a
Wed, 09/16/2009 - 11:54 — mad_maxGive the man a break...nobody get's 'em all right. On a different note, do you and your Tar Heel brethren still think UConn and ECU are tougher games than SC and Pitt? Can't have it both ways.
Too early to tell. Do you
Wed, 09/16/2009 - 13:03 — Heels20Too early to tell. Do you and your Wolfpack brethren think 1-1 speaks louder than 2-0?
Too early to tell
Wed, 09/16/2009 - 18:10 — mad_maxNo. But I never said I did. As you said, it's too early to tell. In fact, you could say that about everything being discussed here: who is better, NCSU/UNC; is playing ECU and UConn tougher than SC and Pitt; is ECU going to end up being a top 25 team. I was simply pointing out the unfair nature of pjtarheel's post. It seemed he was alright with ECU being in people's top 25 as long as he could use it in his OOC schedule argument.
So yes, I agree, it's too early to tell. And while 1-1 doesn't speak louder than 2-0, I also don't think UNC's 2-0 record speaks louder than State's 1-1 record.
Ohio State.
Mon, 09/14/2009 - 20:04 — JPDOhioUnless Tressel can get the Ohio State Medical School staff to transplant some leadership qualities into Terrelle Pryor, the only place he will lead the Buckeyes to is oblivion.
Tressel
Mon, 09/14/2009 - 20:18 — gvillegatrsome are saying it is time for him to go. I'd suggest he open up his play book before more people strat to get retless in Colomb(ia)us.
True enough
Mon, 09/14/2009 - 21:48 — JPDOhioBuckeye fans have less patience than many in Wolfpack Nation, if you can believe that. I don't think it is time for Tressel to go yet, but I have been disappointed with the way he has handled Pryor. The guy who left YSU had more integrity than what he is showing now.
couldn't agree more
Mon, 09/14/2009 - 22:27 — gvillegatrhis handling of TP has been simply atrocious. the guy is a beast if nothing else. he ought to be out there running the ball more on his roll outs instead of making 2 or 3 reads. he's simply not smart enough to to this. TP is a one read fella, tuck and run. they'd a won by DD's against SC the other night if so.
Oh how dangerous he would be had he gone with RichRod and Mishitigan.
I do not understand??
Mon, 09/14/2009 - 19:00 — gvillegatrBy your usual assertions, UNC should be ranked ahead of Nebraska. They have played FAU and Ark St at home. two crappy teams. UNC plays a crappy team at home and goes on the road to a BCS team and guts out a win. mind you the line opened at 3 so it was supposed to be tough.
UNC ought to be higher than Nebraska according to the way you have always done polls.
Michigan in at #18 is a joke. Sure, they are playing well but who have they beat and where were they on the radar prior to the season starting?? They were on no ones radar and are being treated as if they have gone on the road and beat a top 10 team and beat a solid team at home.
In reality they drubbed a directional school in-state at home and beat an ALWAYS overrated ND team at home in the waning seconds.
I dont care so much you have UNC on the outside looking in as I am about those two teams ahead of them. I could argue Pitt as well but i'll leave it as is.
Michigan
Mon, 09/14/2009 - 20:01 — JPDOhioProbably right about Michigan, although Notre Dame looks better this year so far than they have in a while. Michigan's QB looks like the real deal to me, but it's a long season and it will be interesting to see how he holds up. I'll be in South Bend for the ND-Michigan State game this weekend, so I'll get to see first hand how much improved they are.
I saw a little bit of the Pitt-Buffalo game last Saturday. At this point Pitt may be a legit top 25, but they still have to prove to me that they can be consistently good all season. If they can keep it up, they will test the Pack when they go to Raleigh in a couple of weeks.
Show them some love
Mon, 09/14/2009 - 11:29 — heelsno1The "ACC Now" writers did nothing but "bad-mouth" the ACC teams throughout the first weekend. I do not recall a series of write-ups promoting the huge success of the FSU-Miami game. Not only was this event a major success from the standpoint of its national audience rating, the game was befitting of these two long-standing rivals whose programs include multiple national titles.
This thriller was better than most of the major bowl games last year. It had huge play after huge play covering all aspects of the game. Except for frequent miscues by the defensive secondaries, this one was a classic! The contest does not have to occur in Raleigh for it to be a source of pride for the ACC.