(Submit Articles) Things are mixing up quite nicely atop the NCAA football season AP ranks. And this week was certainly key in the changes that have now sent the Ohio State Buckeyes a top of the charts. Let’s start with the Alabama Crimson Tide. They had been atop the rankings for quite a while now, but the team’s lost to South Carolina, this Saturday, has certainly hurt their rank.
Here is the thing, not only did South Carolina pulled an dramatic upset against the Crimson Tide, (let’s not forget that the Crimson Tide was giving up to -7 points against the spread) but finished with Alabama’s 19-game winning streak. This is the first time that Alabama’s losses a game since the 2009 Sugar Bowl. And despite head coach Saban’s talent, the great performance that Mark Ingram had last week against Florida, and the solid defense that had been characteristic of the Tide, South Carolina won on fair grounds 35-21 on Saturday.
The AP polls kept on rolling as Ohio State received 34 first place votes. While Alabama’ lost its streak, Ohio State was sweeping Indiana 38-10, keeping up with their 6-0 overall and 2-0 in conference play, as they are the dominating team not only in the Big Ten conference, but in the Nation.
Oregon, received 15 first-place votes and Boise State got 8. Texax Christian University, TCU, received one vote, and despite not playing this weekend, the Oklahoma Sooners received two votes. Now, this is quite a change, because once you do the numbers, you come to realize that Ohio State is now No.1, followed by Oregon, Boise State and TCU. Now, for the first time in a long while, let’s call it a decade, it seems that No. 5 Nebraska is actually could be in their way to actually putting on a fight for the National Championship.
If you are into NCAA football you might have noticed that this Top-5 AP poll is missing something: The SEC teams. This is the first time since November 2nd, 2008, that neither Florida nor Alabama, are taking the No.1 spot in the rankings. The Southeastern Conference had dominated the AP polls during 29 consecutive weeks. Now, giving Florida’s under-par performance, and Alabama’s first lost of the season, Auburn is not the highest rated SEC team in the nation.
This is certainly a refreshing change of pace for the Buckeyes. The Buckeyes had not been this high in the AP polls since the 2007 final regular season poll. At the end, LSU went on to defeat the Buckeyes in the BCS National Championship Bowl game. This was not only a bit unexpected, but you must take into account that this was the first time a team won the National Championship with two losses in the regular season.
Now, may the Buckeyes keep up with their good work and, they could very well be on their way to yet another BCS National Championship. Now, we are going to keep an eye out, as Oklahoma is expected to have one heck of a game against Iowa State. Here is the thing. Oklahoma is now 5-0, and may they defeat Iowa State who is 3-3 so far into the season. A win here might kept on pushing the lines up, and launch Oklahoma into the top 3.
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