SB Nation BlogPoll Top 25: Week 2

by Scipio Tex on Sep 11, 2025 3:28 AM CDT in Texas Longhorns and Other Football

The poll and some thoughts after the jump:

Barking Carnival Ballot - Week 2

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama Crimson Tide	2
2	USC Trojans	-1
3	Florida St. Seminoles	-1
4	LSU Tigers	2
5	Ohio St. Buckeyes	--
6	Oregon Ducks	-2
7	Georgia Bulldogs	1
8	Texas Longhorns	-1
9	Oklahoma Sooners	--
10	West Virginia Mountaineers	--
11	Kansas St. Wildcats	12
12	Michigan St. Spartans	--
13	Louisville Cardinals	-2
14	South Carolina Gamecocks	5
15	Clemson Tigers	-1
16	Tennessee Volunteers	8
17	Florida Gators	5
18	Mississippi St. Bulldogs	--
19	UCLA Bruins	--
20	Central Florida Knights	-3
21	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	--
22	TCU Horned Frogs	--
23	Virginia Tech Hokies	2
24	Oregon St. Beavers	--
25	Michigan Wolverines	-5
Dropouts: Utah Utes, Wisconsin Badgers, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Arkansas Razorbacks

SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "

Aside from Utah's black eye on my predictions, events are unfolding favorably for some of my early season bets:

Arkansas proved to be as implodey as I thought though I can't say I saw THAT coming
Ohio State looks to be the class of the Big 10 and I no longer have them ranked the highest of any balloter
Texas will be moving up as well
My underrating of most Big 10 teams is being borne out : Wiscy goes down to Oregon State (and fired their OL coach after the game - not kidding), Michigan struggles with Air Force, Iowa loses at home to Iowa State (the Greg Davis box scores of the last two weeks have been classic), Illinois is hammered on the road by a weak Arizona State team, Penn State is on a quick train to 3-9, UCLA drops 653 yards on Nebraska in a 36-30 win...conference play can't start soon enough for these teams
Oklahoma State. Never ranked 'em. Blogpoll and AP had them firmly in the Top 20. Bye
I jumped Bama to #1 after USC's somewhat uneven win over Syracuse. I still believe Bama is vulnerable to a legitimate passing team, but they're getting up to speed quickly and Arkansas - the team I thought had a real shot at upsetting them - is now a windshield stain. And Bama is kind of well coached
KSU got my irrational exuberance jump after watching them dismantle Miami throwing the ball. I understand Miami is both dumb and down, but it was still pretty damn impressive
Upsets and new blood make the middle to bottom of my Top 25 unreliable and treacherous and prone to high beta, but what are you gonna do?

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Comments

The Purple Wizard and Satan

The best coaches in America in that order.
I would love to say something witty here, but I haven’t the wit to do it.

by lurkerinthedark on Sep 11, 2025 6:19 AM CDT reply actions

There’s no need to nit your wit.

by Rio Lobo on Sep 11, 2025 7:06 AM CDT up reply actions

Those Iowa box scores, by the way

Against Iowa St. last week:
Total Yards – 304
Passing – 20/42 for 236 yards, 5.6 YPA
Rushing – 28 carries for 68 yards, 2.4 YPA

Against Northern Illinois in week 1:
Total Yards – 268
Passing – 21/33 for 129 yards, 3.9 YPA (That’s 6 yards per completion)
Rushing – 49 carries for 139 yards, 2.8 YPA

by tronaldinho on Sep 11, 2025 7:36 AM CDT reply actions

But you left out what I consider the best part.

Tenn-Martin vs N. ILL:
Total yards – 346
Passing – 20-36 for 283, 7.9 ypa

Tenn-Martin’s passing offense against the same N. ILL defense a week later doubled the yards and ypa. They are not in the FBS, in case you were wondering.

by UT_BKC on Sep 11, 2025 9:45 AM CDT up reply actions

Haha, thanks

You’re right – that is a handy piece of supplemental info.

Anybody checked on echeese lately? I imagine he might be taking this pretty hard.

by tronaldinho on Sep 11, 2025 10:48 AM CDT up reply actions

I’m not as sold on Florida State as most, talent not withstanding . . . I liked what Kansas State did to Miami for no other reason than I can say “it’s not just us” after their win over Texas in December . . . This Saturday promises the most interesting Florida-Tennessee game in several years. Not sure who I like there.

by Cirque Du Salado on Sep 11, 2025 7:43 AM CDT reply actions

FSU at Number 2

Wow. Well I can’t wait for them to choke

by armsch on Sep 11, 2025 8:26 AM CDT reply actions

I meant they were at number 2

That’s just insane to me honestly

by armsch on Sep 11, 2025 8:28 AM CDT up reply actions

They have a defense to compete with anyone.

Their offense is certainly dominating over weak competition early this year, as it should with an offensive line almost completely a year older with basically everyone who played last year coming back. I thought they were rather underrated at a 7 spot.

All that said, yeah, number 2 is a bit high at this point. I want to see the ‘Noles’ offense play a decent to good defense before putting them in the title picture.

TEXAS FIGHT

by Darklust on Sep 11, 2025 3:30 PM CDT up reply actions

Only two weeks of data in Sagarin’s computers, but beginning to get some connections now. Surprised to see that the Big 12 has nine of the ten teams in the Top 25.

PAC 12 has six and SEC has four.

I don’t disagree with your top seven. After that we’d diverge.

by Cimarrones on Sep 11, 2025 8:52 AM CDT reply actions

I almost think the subtitle for this should be "well if not them then?"

Not sold on FSU, but not sure who would take their place and that is the way I find myself thinking about much of the poll.

Wynn giving up football might send Utah into a freefall this year or a chance to build around a quarterback they know can last 4 quarters. No knock on him, but he hasn’t been the same since 2009 when he took a terrible beating.

by davey o'brien on Sep 11, 2025 9:07 AM CDT reply actions

Well, LSU would take their place, obviously.

Unless you don’t agree with that ranking, either. I think one of the fundamental disconnects between folks who rank teams, and those of us (myself included) who read them and argue, is that we (readers) have a built-in, arbitrary definition of what a particular rank means. In other words, we can’t tell you precisely who the fourth-best team in the country is, but we know what a #4 -ranked team looks like. Ditto #1, #10, etc.

So, we look at the ranking above and say, “Shit, no way is FSU #3,” when what we really mean is, “FSU does not stand up to the criteria for what makes a 3rd-ranked team.” Make sense?

OTOH, the pollster has to put them in some kind of order. Alabama seems like a clear #1 in the sense that they are both the highest-ranked team, and the only team that passes the “#1 ranking” smell test. So ’Bama gets to be #1. After that it becomes “well, would team A beat team B on a neutral field? If so, then team A goes next in line; if not, team B goes next in line.” And so on and so forth down the line. I think it becomes nebulous pretty quick. Would USC beat FSU? I cannot answer that with any level of confidence whatsoever. Ditto USC/LSU or FSU/LSU. Would all of the top four beat tOSU? I would say yes without hesitation.

I don’t think tOSU would beat any of #6-10 above…but I don’t get a vote. However, I can say with certainty that tOSU doesn’t pass the smell-test for a #5-ranked team.

To err is human...but humans have such low standards.

by adt2 on Sep 11, 2025 9:39 AM CDT up reply actions

Very good post.

That’s exactly correct. We have an idea of what a Top 5 team should look like because, in certain years, being the #4 team in the country meant you were pretty badass. But the quality of college football year to year isn’t constant. Ranking the teams in any given years means literally ranking those teams – not honoring some notion of historical Top 5ness.

by Scipio Tex on Sep 11, 2025 11:30 AM CDT up reply actions

I almost always have that same conversation with myself when looking at polls.

When we were all saying that OU didn’t deserve to start the season #4, I agreed. I just couldn’t make a strong argument that any of the teams 5-14 were any better. (Partially that was due to the vestigial B1G love that polluted most of the preseason polls.)

Outside of Scipio’s top four, it gets pretty squishy for me. And I don’t entirely trust FSU to not go pseudo-Clemson and blow a game or two they shouldn’t.

by Flipteach on Sep 11, 2025 1:28 PM CDT up reply actions

FSU's game blowiness ratio is high

But that schedule is so enticing.

by Scipio Tex on Sep 11, 2025 2:30 PM CDT up reply actions

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA... See You Saturday!

Follow @BarkingCarnival

by Sailor Ripley on Sep 11, 2025 6:21 PM CDT up reply actions

It seems like we are in another one of those years where we don’t have 2-4 really obviously dominant teams that will sort themselves out and lead to no brainer picks for the NC game. Even Bama, who does appear to be pretty dominant doesn’t look to me quite like they did last year or 3 years ago.

Not to accidently derail the thread, but this year seems to be shaping up to be the type of year where a playoff is needed. I think like last year we’ll end up with several 1 loss teams that all have equally valid arguments as to why they should be included in the NC game.

by UT_BKC on Sep 11, 2025 9:52 AM CDT up reply actions

Is that sarcasm?

“Even Bama, who does appear to be pretty dominant doesn’t look to me quite like they did last year or 3 years ago.”

--- All roads to the Big-XII Championship lead through OU/RRS. It's not just another game! We're all about championships here. ---

by HornChamps on Sep 11, 2025 10:32 AM CDT up reply actions

No, its not. Just kind of a gut reaction based on them playing only 2 games against inferior opponents (Michigan is not a top 10 opponent, maybe not top 20). That’s really all any poll is this early in the year.

by UT_BKC on Sep 11, 2025 11:31 AM CDT up reply actions 1 recs

Yeah, the Jordan Wynn thing really screwed me.

Oh well.

by Scipio Tex on Sep 11, 2025 11:23 AM CDT up reply actions

Oklahoma State's DC .......

…..Bill Young was forced to miss both of their first two games due to illness. Arizona doesn’t put 22 4th quarter points on the board with Bill Young on the job. While they had 4 TOs, they also had 636 total yards. When they are 6-1 and traveling to KansasSt., you’ll have them on your board.

--- All roads to the Big-XII Championship lead through OU/RRS. It's not just another game! We're all about championships here. ---

by HornChamps on Sep 11, 2025 10:31 AM CDT reply actions

OK

I’ll be sure to put that on my calendar.

by Scipio Tex on Sep 11, 2025 11:31 AM CDT up reply actions

Right, because the Defensive Coordinator will fix the

Four turnovers OSU’s offense gave away.

by texitect on Sep 11, 2025 11:49 AM CDT up reply actions

the Deion Sanders style tackling

will be a big hit at K St.

by 55f100tx on Sep 11, 2025 7:47 PM CDT up reply actions

Oklahoma State won't make it to 6-1

We play them in week 5 (after a bye for both teams in week 4). They’ll be 5-2 at best.

by Texas Hedge on Sep 11, 2025 11:14 AM CDT reply actions

I like it

I spend far too much time on the pros vs. college to be terribly informed here, but I didn’t see any obvious WTFs. Florida’s presence at #17 speaks volumes about the quality of play we’ve seen this year. I’ve got a sneaking suscpicion that despite their offseason struggles we’ll see TCU continue to ascend this list.

Looking at the landscape, I’m also feeling reeeaaalllly good about my Matt Barkley +400 Heisman bet. Montee Ball is out of there, ’Bama’s backfield is a committee, EJ Manuel doesn’t capture the imagination, Braxton Miller could run wild and still not win it on a proby team, the Ducks spread it around too much, Landry Jones gets a full on ha! ha! ha! ha! and Manny Diaz should put a crimp in Geno Smith’s chances (I hedged with him at +1800 anyway). My only worries are if LeVeon Bell or Jonathan Franklin top 2000 yards or if Collin Klein starts circumcising infants on-camera.

The Horns: www.barkingcarnival.com
The Boys: www.bloggingtheboys.com
The Tweetz: @KnowTheGame60

by nobis60 on Sep 11, 2025 11:42 AM CDT reply actions

Yeah, the circumcision

is always good for a few Heisman votes. Even if it has been proven to be a bad idea.

But, as we know, Heisman voters aren’t the brightest bulbs in the chandelier.

Everybody's got to believe in something. I believe I'll have another beer.

by Longhorn in Canada on Sep 11, 2025 7:48 PM CDT up reply actions

Poor Collin Klein

I’m not usually one to go for media bias ranting, but… KState will probably not get the respect that they deserve, and Klein’s importance will be undervalued. They aren’t a sexy team, they don’t live in a major media market, and I think they drop two games in conference play. They’ll also probably destroy their bowl opponent. Being the best player for the third best team in the Big 12 won’t get him the attention to be a serious Heisman contender (circumcising or no). Which is too bad, because third in the Big 12 will be better that first or second in most other leagues, and he is easily a legitimate part of the MVP discussion. But the Heisman isn’t an MVP award.

Your Barkley bet seems safe to me.

by Flipteach on Sep 11, 2025 10:00 PM CDT up reply actions

I beg to differ

“They’ll also probably destroy their bowl opponent.”

Didn’t they lose their last two bowl games with Snyder/Klein? And as I recall, they weren’t even close against Arkansas last year, despite what the final score might say. Like the academy teams, given a month to prepare for a bowl game, you can solve the K-State offense, and their recent bowl outcomes have proven that.

by iamjackburton on Sep 11, 2025 11:42 PM CDT up reply actions

Prep time

Good point about teams being able to get ready for their O with a month to prepare.

I was anticipating that they’d match up well based on bowl tie-in. If they finish 3 or 4 in the Big 12, they will likely go to either:

The Alamo Bowl against Pac-12 #2. This will probably actually be the third best team from the Pac, as either USC or Oregon goes to a BCS bowl. I also think that West Virginia is more likely to get the slot for the Big 12 (as the bowl folks will want the ratings that scoring 800+ points would bring).

The “Valley of the Sun Bowl” (?!?) against the B1G #4 or 5 – that’s the one I see them dominating.

I will confess to forgetting their performance in last years bowl, and probably being wrong on how the bowl assignments work out.

My general point about Klein is that I think he gets overlooked in spite of being an important player for his (kinda boring) team.

by Flipteach on Sep 12, 2025 12:52 AM CDT up reply actions