AP Top 25: The Impact of Notre Dame Beating Clemson
Here is the latest edition of the AP Top 25 college football poll:
1. Alabama
2. Notre Dame
3. Ohio State
4. Clemson
5. Texas A&M
6. Florida
7. Cincinnati
8. BYU
9. Miami
10. Indiana
11. Oregon
12. Georgia
13. Wisconsin
14. Oklahoma State
15. Coastal Carolina
16. Marshall
17. Iowa State
18. Oklahoma
19. SMU
20. USC
21. Texas
22. Liberty
23. Northwestern
24. Auburn
25. Louisiana-Lafayette
Some notes:
1) Obviously, with no. 4 Notre Dame defeating no. 1 Clemson, there was going to be movement at the top -- even if Clemson was missing Trevor Lawrence. Notre Dame not only leapfrogged Clemson, but also jumped ahead of Ohio State. Nonetheless, it seems likely we will get a rematch between Notre Dame and Clemson in the ACC title game that will go a long way towards telling the story of the College Football Playoff.
2) The SEC has three teams in the top six, with Texas A&M and Florida jumping up in the rankings this week (A&M was no. 7 last week and Florida was no. 8).
3) Cincinnati, Coastal Carolina, Marshall, and Liberty continue to be interesting stories of undefeated teams that we don't normally see in the top 25.
4) Wisconsin dropped from no. 10 to no. 13 after not playing the last two weeks, and it's hard to argue with the idea of vaulting teams that played and won ahead of them.
In this truncated season, we're already well on the march to conference title games and the College Football Playoff. I