RJ Young
National college football analyst at FOX Sports
Florida State’s upset loss to Boston College on Monday night capped off a first week of college football filled with upsets (no losses to Vanderbilt (more on that later)), surprises (Iowa scoring more points than… Oregon) and domination (hello, Georgia).
I released my first week’s college football rankings and it turns out that the Associated Press poll participants agree with me on who the top six teams in the country should be. After Georgia (1), Ohio State (2) and Texas (3), I had Ole Miss at No. 4, Alabama at No. 5 and Notre Dame at No. 6. The AP poll had No. 4 for the Crimson Tide, No. 5 for the Fighting Irish and No. 6 for the Lake Kiffin’s Rebels.
But after the AP Top 25 poll was released on Tuesday, three things in particular stood out to me:
(Related: College football rankings 2024: Georgia and Ohio State at the top; Nebraska makes it into the top 25)
1. Florida State is a mess
Boston College’s win over Florida State was the Eagles’ first victory over a top-10 team since 2014, when No. 9 BC beat USC. Boston College held the ball for 14 minutes in the first quarter and outscored FSU 102-4 in total yardage. And that was indicative of the flow of the game in BC’s 28-13 victory.
Florida State wasn’t in my final 25, nor was it in the AP Top 25 poll. In fact, not only do the Seminoles not appear in either poll, but the AP actually gave Vanderbilt more points than FSU.
Go to that retreat. Talk to the pastor. Remember Isaiah 40:31. I hope to see you at the service on Wednesday night.
2. It’s Georgia’s national title until someone beats them
Georgia held a top-25 team to three points. Ohio State trailed against a MAC team late in the first quarter.
At this stage, at this level, style matters. If the third-best SEC team in the country can put on a good performance against Furman, Ohio State can’t afford a slow start.
The standard for Ohio State is Georgia’s, and the Buckeyes haven’t met it.
Georgia has won 40 straight regular-season games and 43 of its last 45 games. After a convincing win over a top-25 team that has won as many national titles as the Dawgs in the CFP era, UGA has earned the right to be the top-ranked team in the country. Georgia is giving me what I asked for.
3. Is Oregon good?
Associated Press voters agreed with me, knocking Oregon out of the top tier of the rankings. The AP dropped the Ducks to No. 7, while I dropped them to No. 9 after their narrow win over FCS Idaho.
They were more disappointing than Sony’s launch of Concord.
Idaho did actually beat an FBS opponent last year, finishing 9-4. But that opponent was Nevada. Neither of the two teams that will play in the Big Ten title game later this year.
Nike Inc. once felt like the second-best team in the conference, but is now the fifth-best team, and there is no room in the playoffs for the fifth-best team in the Big Ten.
RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports and the host of the podcast “The number one college football show.“Follow him at @RJ_Young And Subscribe to “The RJ Young Show” on YouTube.
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