NCAA Football Rankings 2016: Hits and Misses from Week 6 Polls
With three clashes between Top 10 schools and plenty of ranked teams playing (and losing) on the road, this past weekend of college football had a major impact on the Associated Press Top 25 and Amway Coaches polls. But not always in the way you'd expect.
Since these rankings are based on the the votes of dozens of media members or coaches, depending on the poll, opinions will vary, so some teams will rise or fall more or less than expected. There are also several new teams making appearances this week—some for the first time this season and others popping back in after previously falling out.
Where did the polls get it right, and where did they miss badly? Follow along as we break them down.
Hit: Louisville, Wisconsin Not Heavily Punished for Close Losses
1 of 6
How voters react to a ranked team losing is often more noticeable than what they do to those that pick up big wins. And with three matchups of Top 10 teams on the Week 5 slate, we were destined to see some movement in the top tier of the polls; we just didn't know how much.
Thankfully, both the Associated Press and Amway voters didn't penalize Louisville and Wisconsin for falling at Clemson and Michigan by one score apiece.
Louisville fell to seventh in the AP poll and eighth in the coaches rankings—down from third and fourth, respectively—while Wisconsin slipped to 11th and 13th, respectively, after being eighth in both polls heading into Ann Arbor. These minor drops are evidence that the voters paid close attention to those games and recognized that Louisville and Wisconsin both had chances to win and are still strong teams despite the losses.
Stanford, on the other hand, wasn't as fortunate. And deservedly so, as the Cardinal lost 44-6 at Washington and dropped to 15th in both polls. Stanford was sixth in the coaches poll and seventh in the AP before Friday's blowout.
Miss: Arkansas Rewarded for Pummeling FCS School
2 of 6
Ten teams that were ranked in one or both polls entering this weekend ended up losing, and when there's that much turmoil, some ranked schools end up making big jumps seemingly by default. This week's example is Arkansas, which rose from 20th in the AP and 22nd in the coaches poll to 16th and 17th, respectively.
For beating FCS school Alcorn State 52-10.
Sure, the Razorbacks looked good pummeling the Braves, racking up 353 rushing yards and forcing four turnovers, but is that worthy of a sizable boost in the rankings?
Amway voters thought Arkansas' performance was more valuable than Florida's 13-6 win at Vanderbilt, an SEC contest, as the Gators rose from 21st to 18th in that poll but were passed by the Hogs along the way.
Hit: Fresh Blood in the Polls
3 of 6
The massive amount of casualties among ranked teams, particularly those in the bottom half of the polls, opened the door for several new teams to jump into the rankings.
Colorado, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Virginia Tech and West Virginia moved into the AP rankings, while the Amway newcomers included Boise State, Colorado, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Western Michigan. UNC made the biggest rise, sitting at 17th in the AP and 16th (up from 23rd) in the coaches rankings after its 37-35 win at Florida State.
For Colorado, it's the first time since November 2005 that it has appeared in the AP rankings, ending a streak of 173 unranked weeks, per College Poll Archive. At 4-1, the Buffaloes—who are 21st in the AP and 23rd in the Amway—have already matched last season's win total, and their 2-0 record in Pac-12 play is good enough for first place in the South Division.
Western Michigan is unofficially 26th in the AP poll, nine votes shy of being ranked for the first time in program history. The Broncos are 5-0 and have wins at Big Ten schools Illinois and Northwestern.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Miss: Too Many Ranked Two-Loss Teams
4 of 6
Five weeks into the 2016 season, 16 schools are still unbeaten and another 27 have only lost once. So why are there still three teams with two losses in each poll?
Florida State (3-2), Oklahoma (2-2) and Ole Miss (3-2) are taking up spots that could easily go to unranked and unbeaten schools Air Force and Maryland (as well as Western Michigan in the AP) or some strong one-loss teams that have been on the rise after early setbacks. Then again, that's a big reason why Oklahoma and Ole Miss are ranked. They lost tough games early on but have looked better since then, with the Sooners moving back into both polls this week after winning at TCU.
But Florida State? That's a different story. The Seminoles are 23rd in the AP and 21st in the Amway, falling 12 spots in each poll after their last-second home loss to North Carolina on Saturday. That's their second loss in three games—the other was by 43 at Louisville in Week 3. In between, they won at South Florida but looked shaky on defense.
To put things in perspective, at this point last season, there were zero two-loss teams in the AP poll. Oregon was the closest as the top vote-getting team outside the Top 25.
Hit: Now-Power Schools Dominate the 'Others Receiving Votes' Category
5 of 6
With 61 AP voters and 64 coaches participating in the Amway poll, the likelihood of varying differences in how each ballot looks is huge. A byproduct of that is the number of overall teams that end up receiving votes, even more than the 44 schools that were considered for Bleacher Report's Top 25.
A lot of those teams that end up in the "Others Receiving Votes" section of the poll are usually no better than 24th or 25th on a handful of ballots, which isn't a big deal for most schools. But for schools outside of the power conferences, this is a huge deal.
A slew of lesser known programs earned votes in the Amway poll, including Troy (3), South Alabama (2), Southern Mississippi (2), Eastern Michigan (1) and Middle Tennessee (1). That group is a collective 19-6 this season, with South Alabama having just beat previously ranked San Diego State, Southern Miss winning at Kentucky in Week 1 and Troy falling by only six at Clemson in Week 2.
Sure, in some cases, these teams might have earned votes because their coaches are voters—Eastern Michigan's Chris Creighton, South Alabama's Joey Jones and Middle Tennessee's Rick Stockstill cast ballots this season—but that doesn't take away from the prestige (albeit minor) of being included.
Considering that Eastern Michigan is 4-1 after having won only seven games the previous four seasons combined, there's no taking away this moment for the Eagles.
Miss: Clemson Doesn't Pick Up Many of Louisville's First-Place Votes
6 of 6
Louisville was ranked first on six of 61 AP ballots last week—and deservedly so. Had the Cardinals managed to get that extra yard at the end of their 42-36 loss at Clemson, they might have picked up a few more. Instead, they don't have any first-place votes in either poll, but they are still highly ranked.
So, too, is Clemson, sitting third in both polls, but only with a combined three first-place votes. The Tigers were tops on one AP ballot and two in the Amway poll. Compare that to zero and one the week before, respectively.
AP voters who had Louisville first last week apparently didn't think Clemson's victory warranted giving it those first-place votes this time around. Instead, top-ranked Alabama was the biggest overall beneficiary by adding three more AP first-place votes (up to 53) after its 34-6 win over Kentucky, and Ohio State's 58-0 win over Rutgers saw its first-place tally rise from four to six.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
