2017 College Football Polls: Week 2

Man, that loss sure sucked, didn’t it? That means we may have to put the brakes on our expectations going into the rest of the season and the Cardinal’s place in the rankings going forward. Of course, a single loss doesn’t mean you’re out of the playoff hunt (maybe even 2 losses doesn’t mean you’re out) but with how they looked against a top tier opponent, maybe it’s time to rein in expectations and not frame the season in terms of the playoffs. Anyways, let’s take a look at the rankings for this week!

The biggest fallers were Ohio State and Stanford, with TCU gaining the most ground (albeit from 26 to 20). Clemson and Oklahoma are a single point apart and after last night’s performance I’d agree that both look extremely good. Surprised Georgia didn’t jump a bit more but that’s just a minor quibble. I would’ve liked to see Auburn drop below Stanford (they did next to nothing on offense). Beyond that, nothing too shocking in this poll. It’s still early goings, so preseason polls are still going to be a large factor here.

Once again, Stanford and Ohio State are the biggest droppers in the AP Poll. The sportswriters switched out UCLA for Utah, and swapped places for Clemson and Oklahoma (the difference between them in the Coaches Poll was negligible but AP Poll voters were more impressed with Oklahoma’s win). Strangely Auburn only dropped 2 spots. I had only a slight issue with Auburn being ahead of Stanford in the Coaches Poll but I do think it’s a bit weirder that Auburn remains so much higher than Stanford in the AP Poll. Sure, Auburn’s loss came against a higher ranked team (though not by much; Clemson is #3 and USC is #4) and their offense was dreadful, so not sure why that performance warrants only a drop in 2 spots while Stanford getting shellacked on defense warrants a drop in 5 spots.

Well, see you all next week and let’s hope Shaw and the Cardinal pick up the pieces against San Diego State!