NCAA Football Rankings 2015: Predicting Week 5 AP Poll Post-Week 4 Results
Week 4 of the college football season represented a chance for some of the nation's biggest programs to steady the ship and develop some rhythm entering October, and several teams capitalized on golden opportunities Saturday.
So with a month's worth of play in the books and conference play ready to heat up, here's a look at how the Associated Press Top 25 Poll could shake out entering Week 5:
| 1 | Ohio State | 4-0 |
| 2 | Michigan State | 4-0 |
| 3 | TCU | 4-0 |
| 4 | Ole Miss | 4-0 |
| 5 | Baylor | 3-0 |
| 6 | Notre Dame | 4-0 |
| 7 | Georgia | 4-0 |
| 8 | LSU | 3-0 |
| 9 | UCLA | 4-0 |
| 10 | Utah | 4-0 |
| 11 | Florida State | 3-0 |
| 12 | Clemson | 3-0 |
| 13 | Alabama | 3-1 |
| 14 | Texas A&M | 4-0 |
| 15 | Oklahoma | 3-0 |
| 16 | Northwestern | 4-0 |
| 17 | Stanford | 3-1 |
| 18 | USC | 3-1 |
| 19 | Oklahoma State | 4-0 |
| 20 | Wisconsin | 3-1 |
| 21 | Arizona | 3-1 |
| 22 | Michigan | 3-1 |
| 23 | Mississippi State | 3-1 |
| 24 | West Virginia | 3-0 |
| 25 | Duke | 3-1 |
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Notable Week 4 Performers
Stock Up: Michigan Wolverines
There's a reason it's dangerous to overreact to Week 1 results, and Michigan has proved that throughout its past three games.
After falling to Utah, 24-17, on the road in their season opener, the Wolverines have rebounded with consecutive wins over Oregon State, UNLV and BYU.
But they haven't just been run-of-the-mill victories. Rather, Jim Harbaugh's defense has emerged as a true force as it's dominated the line of scrimmage and handled the opposition. Following a 31-0 win over BYU on Saturday, Michigan has defeated its last three opponents by a combined score of 94-14.
Saturday, Michigan outgained BYU, 448-105, as the Cougars looked positively overwhelmed at the Big House.
"I'm starting to know my team, and I'm liking what I'm knowing," Harbaugh told reporters after the win, per the New York Times' John U. Bacon.
With a Week 5 tilt against an underwhelming Maryland team on deck, the Wolverines should be licking their chops at the prospects of a 4-1 start.
Holding Steady: LSU Tigers
Les Miles' LSU Tigers were pushed on the road at Syracuse, but Leonard Fournette wasn't going to let his side drop its first game of the season against an unranked Orange team.
As ESPN Stats & Info noted, a loss would have been quite uncharacteristic:
In the 34-24 win, Fournette ran for 244 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries. Those numbers pushed his season-long rushing average to 210.3 yards per game and 8.6 yards per carry. According to ESPN, Fournette's 631 rushing yards are the most by an FBS player through three games over the past 15 years.
That's what a Heisman Trophy candidate looks like.
LSU's next showdown will be against an Eastern Michigan team that has been an absolute sieve in run defense. To wit: Old Dominion's Ray Lawry ran for 223 yards and four touchdowns against the Eagles in Week 1, and running backs for Wyoming and Ball State each topped 100 yards in their meetings with EMU.
Expect Fournette to add to his ridiculous resume as the Tigers seek to remain undefeated.
Stock Down: Georgia Tech
The last two weeks haven't been kind to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, who are now officially spinning their tires after entering Saturday ranked 20th in the Associated Press Top 25.
While a slip-up against Notre Dame was expected, getting trounced by an unranked Duke team wasn't.
Blue Devils running back Shaquille Powell needed just 14 carries to tally 88 yards and three touchdowns, but Georgia Tech couldn't boast similarly impressive figures. Despite toting the rock 60 times as a team, the Yellow Jackets mustered 2.9 yards per carry while quarterback Justin Thomas completed six of 21 passes.
"Once again Thomas seemed unsure of himself," the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Michael Cunningham wrote. "The read and keep/pitch routine didn’t go so well for Thomas and neither did ball security."
Back-to-back blowouts over Alcorn State and Tulane to open their schedule had the Yellow Jackets trending in a positive direction, but these past couple of weeks have been eye-opening.
"I told you two weeks ago," Tech head coach Paul Johnson said, per Cunningham. "You guys might be shocked, but I’m not. I’m disappointed we didn’t play better but we weren’t playing great the first two weeks. We just had people over matched."
A return home for a Week 5 meeting with North Carolina will give Georgia Tech a nice opportunity to rebound, but a trip to Clemson on Oct. 10 is looming large as the Yellow Jackets flirt with dropping out of the Top 25.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
