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There’s not much of a change in the top of the ballot this week, save for Auburn dropping to #12 after losing to Florida. Ohio State swapped places with UGA, and Wisconsin, Florida, Notre Dame, Penn State, and Texas all stepped forward in line a spot.
Auburn is right about where I thought they would be, with most ballots placing us in the #11-#13 range. There is the curious case of the A Sea of Blue ballot though, which is about as pro-SEC as it can get. Cats fans have Alabama, Georgia, and LSU as their #1-#3, Auburn at #6(?), Florida at #11 (which is Florida’s lowest vote), and Texas A&M at #22. They’re also REALLY high on SMU for reasons I can’t explain, ranking them #16.
After the top 15, the bottom of the poll gets a little wonky. Washington only fell two spots to #18 after losing to Stanford late Saturday night. Arizona State, through the virtue of not playing, jumped up from #25 to #19. UCF is still getting love after losing another game, this time to Cincinnati, but hangs on at #23. And perhaps the weirdest of all, Oklahoma State actually moved INTO the Top 25 after losing to Texas Tech Saturday, giving them their second loss. I know there’s been some discussion about some of the built-in biases of the polling method, and perhaps that’s what causing the wonkiness here. Trust me, we’re working on it.
Week 6 Fan Pulse Data
| Rank | Team | Last Week | Low | High | College & Mag |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Team | Last Week | Low | High | College & Mag |
| 1 | Alabama (42) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Clemson (5) | 2 | 5 | 1 | 2 |
| 3 | Ohio State (3) | 4 | 5 | 1 | 4 |
| 4 | Georgia | 3 | 8 | 2 | 3 |
| 5 | LSU | 5 | 6 | 3 | 5 |
| 6 | Oklahoma | 6 | 7 | 3 | 6 |
| 7 | Wisconsin | 8 | 9 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | Florida | 9 | 11 | 7 | 8 |
| 9 | Notre Dame | 10 | 11 | 8 | 9 |
| 10 | Penn State | 11 | 13 | 9 | 11 |
| 11 | Texas | 12 | 13 | 9 | 10 |
| 12 | Auburn | 7 | 13 | 6 | 12 |
| 13 | Oregon | 13 | 14 | 11 | 13 |
| 14 | Boise State | 15 | 16 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | Utah | 17 | 19 | 14 | 15 |
| 16 | Michigan | 20 | 19 | 14 | 16 |
| 17 | Iowa | 14 | 19 | 14 | 17 |
| 18 | Washington | 16 | 22 | 14 | 18 |
| 19 | Arizona State | 25 | 21 | 16 | 19 |
| 20 | Wake Forest | NR | 24 | 18 | 20 |
| 21 | Virginia | 19 | 25 | 19 | 21 |
| 22 | SMU | NR | 24 | 16 | 22 |
| 23 | UCF | 21 | 25 | 17 | 23 |
| 24 | Oklahoma State | NR | 25 | 21 | 24 |
| 25 | Texas A&M | 22 | 25 | 22 | 25 |
As promised, I included the breakdown of #1 votes this week. Alabama took home the top spot on 42 of the 50 ballots. Clemson earned five #1 votes from Tomahawk Nation (FSU), Card Chronicle (Louisville), State of the U (Miami), Frogs O’ War (TCU), and Gobbler Country (Virginia Tech). Ohio State picked up three #1’s, including The Only Colors (Michigan State), Corn Nation (Nebraska), and Land Grant Holy Land (Ohio State).
The College & Mag ballot was pretty vanilla this week, with the only differences from the national ballot being swapping Ohio State and UGA and swapping Penn State and Texas. We need a good blood week to shake things up.
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I had a feeling the confidence poll would look a bit like this. After reaching close to 95% last week, only about 63% of the College and Mag readership is on board with the direction of the program. Obviously I get being disappointed, but I’m not sure why the offense being dysfunctional in one game swayed 30% of y’all away from Gus. There are valid concerns about this team and about the direction of the program, but I don’t think Saturday taught us anything we didn’t already know. I’ll be interested to see how this changes after the next two weeks. After an off week and road trip to Arkansas which Auburn should win handily, I wouldn’t think it would sway anyone back to being confident. But football fans are a fickle bunch.
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The question of the week was with regards to which Week 7 game fans were most excited about. This weekend has a nice slate of games, with Red River and Florida/LSU headlining the afternoon. Penn State/Iowa and Alabama/A&M are also ranked matchups, meaning there are four ranked vs ranked games to keep an eye on. With Auburn on a bye this week, they’ll be in good position to move back up to around #10 with teams above them assuredly losing.