Week Four is Rough on Top Football Teams

Week Four in college football wasn’t pretty for the AP Top 25. The leaders – #1 Florida, #2 Texas, and #3 Alabama – held on strong, but that was about the only things that stayed the same between Week Three and Week Four. In fact, an astounding 15 teams moved at least three spots on the list, and pollsters reported that this was one of the hardest weeks to vote.

Here’s how the top 25 looks after Week Four. Their Week Three rankings are in parenthesis:

1. Florida (1)
   

   The big story of the week wasn't any of the games. It was Tim Tebow's concussion. Luckily, he's doing better and expected to play in the next Gator game. Image: Newscom

2. Texas (2)
3. Alabama (3)
4. LSU (7)
5. Boise State (8)
6. Virginia Tech (11)
7. USC (12)
8. Oklahoma (10)
9. Ohio State (13)
10. Cincinnati (14)
11. TCU (15)
12. Houston (17)
13. Iowa – not ranked
14. Oklahoma State (16)
15. Penn State (5)
16. Oregon – not ranked
17. Miami (9)
18. Kansas (20)
19. Georgia (21)
20. BYU (19)
21. Mississippi (4)
22. Michigan (23)
23. Nebraska (25)
24. California (6)
25. Georgia Tech – not ranked

Florida State (previously 18), North Carolina (previously 22), and Washington (previously 24) dropped from the list.

I’d venture to guess that this week wasn’t hard to vote because there were too many good teams. It was hard to vote because everyone is sucking it up this year. I mean, Virginia Tech, USC, Oklahoma, and Ohio State have all already dropped a game, yet these teams are numbers 6 throught 9. Following them are Cincinnati, TCU, Houston, and Iowa – four undefeated teams who rarely see their names on this list at all, let alone in the top 15.

LSU almost lost this weekend, so do they deserve the number 4 slot? And what about Michigan? They’re playing their asses off and are undefeated…and are just scratching the bottom of the pile at number 22.

Week Four wasn’t impressive. It was sloppy. Full review coming later tonight.