At the conclusion of each week’s games, the staff at the Student Section will team with writers from other Bloguin sites to publish a top 25 poll. Here’s the latest installment, with some notes and analysis about our panel’s choices after a very exciting week 13.
| Rank | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clemson (7) | 175 |
| 2 | Alabama | 161 |
| 3 | Oklahoma | 158 |
| 4 | Iowa | 155 |
| 5 | Michigan State | 154 |
| 6 | Ohio State | 137 |
| 7 | Stanford | 131 |
| 8 | North Carolina | 126 |
| 9 | Notre Dame | 111 |
| 10 | Florida State | 109 |
| 11 | Baylor | 95 |
| 12 | Northwestern | 93 |
| Tie | TCU | 93 |
| 14 | Oklahoma State | 86 |
| 15 | Houston | 71 |
| 16 | Michigan | 64 |
| 17 | Florida | 61 |
| 18 | Oregon | 60 |
| 19 | Mississippi | 48 |
| 20 | Utah | 42 |
| 21 | USC | 33 |
| 22 | Navy | 31 |
| 23 | Temple | 29 |
| 24 | Wisconsin | 14 |
| 25 | LSU | 8 |
| Others receiving votes: Toledo 6, San Diego State 6,Arkansas State 5, Georgia 4, Washington State 4, South Florida 2, Western Kentucky 2, Brigham Young 1, Tennessee 1, Western Michigan 1 | ||
| Voters: Ryan Palencer, Joe Dexter, Kevin Causey, Bart Doan, Allen Kenney, Matt Zemek, Terry Johnson | ||
Top 25 Notes and Observations
- Clemson was the unanimous team in this week’s poll, receiving all seven first place votes.
- Yet, our panel was split on teams 2 through 5. Sure, Alabama’s 7-point lead looks imposing, but it’s worth noting that three of our voters placed the Crimson Tide outside of the top four. I’m sure Paul Finebaum will invite them to discuss the matter on his radio show.
- It’s evident from the rankings that our voters examined each team’s entire body of work rather than the outcome of a single game. That’s why some teams are rated higher than the others despite losing a head-to-head matchup.
- Houston is the most polarizing team in the rankings, listed as high as No. 10 on some ballots and as low as No. 20 on others.
- Unlike most polls, our voters chose to reward “mid major” conference leaders this week, as San Diego State (MWC), Arkansas State (Sun Belt), and Western Kentucky (C-USA) getting votes this week. It’ll be interesting to see if any of these teams can break into the rankings with a “W” this weekend.
