The top eight are relatively unchanged, but nobody can figure out the bottom of this poll each week…
QnD Analysis.
- Undefeateds remain atop poll. No surprise at which two teams are once again sitting at the top two spots in our poll — Texas and Kentucky. Both dodged upset bids from Texas A&M and Auburn, respectively, this Saturday. Kansas stays at #3 and Villanova also remains in last week’s spot at #4. In fact, no team in our top eight moved more than one spot since last week.
- In n’ Out. Moving into the poll are four new teams with Ohio State on the back of a sweep of Purdue and Wisconsin this week and Northern Iowa finally gaining the respect of three of our pollsters. New Mexico (16-3) and UAB (15-2) carry stellar records and enough quality wins to earn spots at #24 and #25. Dropping all the way from #12 to unranked on the heels of a blowout loss at Clemson and a home defeat at the hands of Georgia Tech is defending national champion North Carolina. Joining UNC is another preseason top-15 team in Connecticut, who lost twice this week to Pittsburgh and Michigan. Miami (now 1-3 in the ACC) and Baylor (slipped up at Colorado) also drop out.
- Variance. Once again, BYU showed plenty of variance amongst our pollsters with the Cougars ranked anywhere from #10 to #19. Wisconsin came in from #15 to #22 likely depending on how bad each individual voter penalized the Badgers for losing at Ohio State without Jon Leuer. Speaking of the Buckeyes, they were ranked from #15 to NR. Clemson made the biggest jump (+7 spots) while Purdue took the biggest nosedive (-8 spots).
- Conference Call. Big East (5), Big 10 (4), SEC (4), Big 12 (3), ACC (3), MWC (2), A-10 (1), WCC (1), CUSA (1), MVC (1).