Black Heart Gold Pants Ballot - Week 3
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida St. Seminoles |
 13 |
| 2 | Florida Gators |
8 |
| 3 | Arkansas Razorbacks |
6 |
| 4 | Illinois Fighting Illini | -- |
| 5 | Stanford Cardinal |
 -4 |
| 6 | Central Florida Knights |
-4 |
| 7 | Alabama Crimson Tide |
1 |
| 8 | Washington St. Cougars |
3 |
| 9 | Oklahoma Sooners |
8 |
| 10 | Temple Owls |
8 |
| 11 | Michigan St. Spartans | -- |
| 12 | West Virginia Mountaineers | -- |
| 13 | Texas A&M Aggies |
6 |
| 14 | Wisconsin Badgers |
2 |
| 15 | Texas Tech Red Raiders |
-2 |
| 16 | LSU Tigers | -- |
| 17 | Ohio St. Buckeyes |
-10 |
| 18 | Bowling Green Falcons | -- |
| 19 | Virginia Tech Hokies |
-14 |
| 20 | Ohio Bobcats | -- |
| 21 | South Florida Bulls | -- |
| 22 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys | -- |
| 23 | Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets |
-11 |
| 24 | Kentucky Wildcats | -- |
| 25 | Texas Longhorns | -- |
| Dropouts: Cincinnati Bearcats, Mississippi St. Bulldogs, Rutgers Scarlet Knights, Virginia Cavaliers, Penn St. Nittany Lions, Toledo Rockets, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Arizona St. Sun Devils, Connecticut Huskies, Eastern Michigan Eagles | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "
We are two weeks into the season, and there still isn't much stability in the poll. Things have gone south, though. Florida teams now inhabit the top two spots and three of the top six. Florida State benefits from both its complete dismantling of Charleston Southern over the weekend and former opponent Louisiana-Monroe's victory. Florida's opponents are winless, but at least Alabama-Birmingham and Florida Atlantic are FBS teams. Arkansas' path of destruction (combined 103-10 score in two wins), Illinois' suddenly potent offense (89 points in two games) and Stanford's continued beatdowns of FBS doormats (they've played San Jose St. and Duke so far) round out the top five.
Florida State isn't the only team benefiting from a former opponent's success. At this point in the season, just having a win over an opponent with a pulse can catapult a team. Illinois got their poll boost in large part because week one opponent Arkansas State was able to destroy Memphis this Saturday. The same goes for #12 West Virginia, which did not look good in a win over Richmond but received a bump due to Marshall's win over Southern Miss. Bowling Green holds the only win this season over Idaho, Ohio State the only win over Toledo, and LSU over Oregon. Obviously, we expect the Bayou Bengals' victory to mean more in the long run, but until evidence of Oregon's ability exists, that's mere speculation. Probably the best schedule to date belongs to Oklahoma State, who have two wins over 1-1 opponents (Louisiana-Lafayette and Arizona) to overcome their pedestrian (at least at this point) +50 margin of victory.
Yes, that is a pair of MAC teams in the bottom section of the poll. We've discussed Bowling Green already. Ohio also got the victorious opponent bounce when New Mexico State surprisingly defeated Minnesota. Eastern Michigan is on the outside looking in after dispatching of its second I-AA opponent in a row; Texas' results are simply better.
For those who are interested, Iowa came in at 60th.
BHGPoll Games of the Week:
#1 Florida State vs. #9 Oklahoma -- Obviously, this is the Game of the Week for everyone, regardless of polling method. The only difference here is in the rankings. FSU is at home with an extra game under their belts, but the differences between these two teams to date are minimal.
#2 Florida vs. Tennessee -- Will Muschamp has Florida's defense playing like a Will Muschamp defense, conceding just three points in the first two weeks of play. It gets its first real test this week, though, against a Tennessee team that is barely outside the poll (ranked #27 this week) and has scored 87 points in its first two games.
#4 Illinois vs. Arizona State -- The Sun Devils looked very good in a prime time win over Mizzou last week, and also barely missed this week's poll (ASU came in at #33). They travel to Champaign, though, where the Zookers have laid the smack down so far this year.