My ballot for the AP Top 25 – If they let me have one

I have some short explanations for my picks in groups of 5 from 1 to 25. Then, at the bottom, I have the top 25 all in one list with the AP rankings in parentheses. I’m closer to the AP than I expected, but there are still a couple of major disagreements between our lists. 

Top 5

1 – Michigan
2 – Washington
T-3 – Penn State
T-3 – Ohio State
5 – Georgia

Michigan is the only team that has blown out every single opponent they’ve played. Their schedule is hot garbage, but they’ve done what good teams do to bad schedules: dominate.

Washington has the new “best win in the country” designation. And outside of a pesky Arizona game, they’ve been as dominant as Michigan against their schedule.

Penn State looks like the better team to me, but Ohio State has the better resume (the Notre Dame win on the road). I couldn’t decide, and they play this week. I’ll sort it out then.

Georgia has looked good exactly once: the destruction of Kentucky. Every other game they’ve started slow, had running game issues, or both. But they’re Georgia, so 5th sounds good to me. 

6-10

6 – Oklahoma
7 – Florida State
8 – North Carolina
9 – Texas
10 – Oregon

Oklahoma’s win over Texas is better than FSU’s over LSU. 

UNC might deserve to 6th, but they don’t have a marquee win like the teams above them.

I think Washington over Oregon is a better win than Oklahoma over Texas, BUT, Texas has a better resume than Oregon right now. So that’s why Texas is higher.

11-15

11 – Alabama
12 – Oregon State
13 – Ole Miss
14 – Notre Dame
15 – Duke

I’m just waiting for Alabama to drop another game. I don’t think they should be 11th, but they keep winning.

Oregon State has multiple quality wins, UCLA and Utah; their only loss is a road game (WSU). 

Ole Miss’s best wins are Tulane and LSU, Tulane was missing their QB and that win wasn’t as good as it may appear. That’s why Ole Miss is below Oregon State.

Notre Dame is the best 2 loss team, and I’ll honor their head-to-head win over Duke… for now. 

16-20

16 – Utah
T-17 – Iowa
T-17 – USC
19 – LSU
20 – Air Force

Utah keeps winning. So 16th it is. I don’t expect this to last

Iowa and USC are opposite sides of the same coin. USC doesn’t play defense; Iowa doesn’t play offense. Both teams have lost to really good teams; neither has beaten a “good” team yet. The public likes USC more because good offense is more entertaining, but in reality, these teams are the same. 

Both of LSU’s losses are to teams above them. They don’t have any big wins yet though. 

Air Force is the best G5. They are undefeated in the best G5 league: the Mountain West.

21-25

21 – Louisville
22 – Missouri
23 – Kentucky
24 – Florida
25 – Tennessee

Louisville has a good win, a bad loss, and a soft schedule otherwise. I don’t know man, how about 21st?

22-25 is a bunch of SEC teams. The middle of the SEC is… solid? I have them in head-to-head order for now. It doesn’t bother me that Tennessee is at the bottom of the 4 teams listed, they have had the easiest schedule. 

Top 25

All in one list, just for you. The numbers in parentheses are where the AP poll has that team ranked. 

1 – Michigan (2)
2 – Washington (5)
T-3 – Penn State (7)
T-3 – Ohio State (3)
5 – Georgia (1)
6 – Oklahoma (6)
7 – Florida State (4)
8 – North Carolina (10)
9 – Texas (8)
10 – Oregon (9)
11 – Alabama (11)
12 – Oregon State (12)
13 – Ole Miss (13) 
14 – Notre Dame (15) 
15 – Duke (16)
16 – Utah (14)
T-17 – Iowa (24) 
T-17 – USC (18)
19 – LSU (19)
20 – Air Force (22)
21 – Louisville (21)
22 – Missouri (20)
23 – Kentucky (NR)
24 – Florida (NR)
25 – Tennessee (17)

Biggest discrepancies:

AP Too High – Georgia and Tennessee
AP Too Low – Iowa and Kentucky

Want more Walk On Fan? 

Check out our preseason projection for the top games of week 8.

Follow us on Twitter (or X) @here.

This article was written by Cole Tollison and edited by Hayden Breene