BARELY …
Clemson University‘s football team is still the No. 2 program in the country, according to both the Associated Press and Amway Coaches’ polls.
Head coach Dabo Swinney‘s team held on to its lofty national ranking despite a less-than-convincing victory over unranked Auburn on the road last week. However, the Tigers did see their standing slip a bit.
In the preseason AP poll, Clemson received sixteen first place votes and was 91 points ahead of the No. 3 team in the poll. This week, the Tigers received only two first place votes and were just three points ahead of third-ranked Florida State.
In the preseason coaches’ poll, Clemson received seven first place votes and was 126 points ahead of the third-ranked team. This week the Tigers got just two first place votes and saw their margin over No. 3 sliced to 59 points.
Bad news? Not really. Clemson used its dominating defense to secure a road win over an SEC heavyweight. That’s nothing to shake a stick at. Our expectation is the Tigers (1-0, 0-0 ACC) will settle down on offense and prove worthy of their preseason accolades.
Having said that, we were surprised Florida State didn’t overtake Clemson on the strength of its come-from-behind win against No. 11 Ole Miss.
In other poll-related news, Wisconsin stormed into the survey at No. 10 – followed by Texas at No. 11. Neither team was ranked in the preseason, but big season-opening victories have catapulted them into positions of prominence.
Wisconsin upset LSU – which plunged from No. 5 to No. 21 in the AP poll and from No. 6 to No. 22 in the coaches poll. Meanwhile Notre Dame – which lost to Texas in a thrilling double overtime game – fell from No. 9 to No. 21 in the coaches’ poll and from No. 10 to No. 18 in the AP poll.
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2016 ASSOCIATED PRESS POLL
1. Alabama (54) 1-0, 1518
2. Clemson (2) 1-0, 1416
3. Florida State (4) 1-0, 1413
4. Ohio State 1-0, 1324
5. Michigan(1) 1-0, 1261
6. Houston 1-0, 1243
7. Stanford 1-0, 1140
8. Washington 1-0, 884
9. Georgia 1-0, 877
10. Wisconsin 1-0, 759
11. Texas 1-0, 743
12. Michigan State 1-0, 722
13. Louisville 1-0, 686
14. Oklahoma 0-1, 664
15. TCU 1-0, 635
16. Iowa 1-0, 588
17. Tennessee 1-0, 573
18. Notre Dame 0-1, 528
19. Ole Miss 0-1, 493
20. Texas A&M 1-0, 477
21. LSU 0-1, 423
22. Oklahoma State 1-0, 409
23. Baylor 1-0, 296
24. Oregon 1-0, 242
25. Miami 1-0, 137
Dropped from rankings: UCLA 16, USC 20, North Carolina 22, Florida 25.
Others receiving votes: Florida 117, UCLA 62, Boise State 50, Utah 43, San Diego State 37, North Carolina 23, Nebraska 13, Auburn 13, Pittsburgh 7, BYU 5, Navy 2, West Virginia 1, Colorado 1.
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2016 AMWAY COACHES’ POLL
1. Alabama(62) 1-0, 1598
2. Clemson(2) 1-0, 1513
3. Florida State 1-0, 1454
4. Ohio State 1-0, 1424
5. Stanford 1-0, 1284
6. Michigan 1-0, 1261
7. Houston 1-0, 1213
8. Michigan State 1-0, 1027
9. Georgia 1-0, 934
10. Iowa 1-0, 797
11. Washington 1-0, 782
12. TCU 1-0, 719
13. Oklahoma 0-1, 707
14. Tennessee 1-0, 657
15. Louisville 1-0, 635
16. Wisconsin 1-0, 583
17. Oklahoma State 1-0, 555
18. Ole Miss 0-1, 534
19. Baylor 1-0, 481
20. Texas 1-0, 439
21. Notre Dame 0-1, 426
22. LSU 0-1, 418
23. Oregon 1-0, 385
24. Texas A&M 1-0, 302
25. Florida 1-0, 182
Dropped from rankings: USC 17, North Carolina 20, UCLA 24.
Others receiving votes: Miami 108, North Carolina 62, Utah 61, Boise State 52, UCLA 38, Nebraska 37, Arkansas 21, Auburn 16, BYU 15, San Diego State 12, Western Kentucky 11, Navy 10, Pittsburgh 9, West Virginia 8, NC State 7, USC 6, South Florida 5, Duke 4, South Alabama 3, Southern Mississippi 2, Toledo 1, Colorado 1, Appalachian State 1.
(Banner image via Travis Bell Photography)