Groupthink. Herd mentality. Cultlike behavior. Call it what you will, but 56 of the 68 voters in the AP Poll, whoever they may be, voted to make former No. 4 Texas the new No. 1 team, even though the Longhorns trailed former No. 1 Ohio State for three quarters last night, falling as many as 20 points behind. True, they came back and scored 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, but was that truly Longhorn prowess or just an epic collapse by the Buckeye defense?
Three voters apparently thought the latter and voted for the No. 2 Georgia Bulldogs (2-0) to be the new No. 1 team instead. That's three more first-place votes than the Dawgs got last week. Apparently, at least some of the other voters have loose screws in their head, as one voted for LSU to be No. 1, another one for Notre Dame, three voted for Indiana, and four voted for Miami. Don't ask me, I can't figure it out either.
But anyway, if you haven't heard, Texas came back last night from a 23-3 deficit at the start of the fourth quarter and scored 21 unanswered points to beat Ohio State, 24-23. The obedient AP voters elected the Longhorns as the new No. 1 team, leapfrogging over Georgia and Notre Dame, and dropped Ohio State to No. 6.
Georgia and Notre Dame remained at No. 2 and 3, and Indiana and Miami are the new No. 4 and 5.
The SEC rounds out the rest of the top ten with No. 7 LSU and No. 8 Ole Miss, Georgia's Week 10 opponent. Texas A&M is No. 9 and Alabama, Georgia's Week 6 opponent, is No. 10 to make it six SEC teams in the top ten.
Hilariously, Oregon lost to unranked Oklahoma State yesterday and fell 15 places in the poll all the way down to No. 21. Meanwhile, Oklahoma, Georgia's Week 4 opponent, lost to unranked Michigan, 17-10, and fell from No 11 down to No. 24, while Michigan debuted in the poll at No. 19.
The Missouri Tigers, who the Bulldogs play in Week 11, rose to No. 20 in the poll by beating Kansas (like that's hard?).
Although I don't agree, I'm not surprised that the AP made Texas No. 1 and kept Georgia at No. 2. Last week, Georgia didn't get a single first place vote, while then-No. 4 Texas, fresh off their triumph over unranked Texas State, got two first-place votes. That's a large part of the reason I hate Texas football - the teams mostly play other, generally unranked, Texas teams, and think they're hot shit until they cross the Red River and get the snot beat out of them by non-Texas teams (anyone remember TCU?). Next week, the Longhorns play another one of those unranked Texas teams, the UTSA Roadrunners, so their reign in first place is secure at last until they start their SEC schedule with the No. 18 Volunteers the following week in Tennessee.
Georgia's next opponent are the unranked Arkansas Razorbacks (1-1) in Little Rock on Saturday (12:00). The Dawgs are 24½-point favorites. After two games, Georgia leads the NCAA in points per game (66.5) and are fourth in yards per game (576.5), behind Miami, Mississippi State, and LSU.
It's going to be a rough day for Arkansas.
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