One of college football’s greatest traditions got another entry on Sunday, as the week four edition of the AP Top 25 Poll was released to mostly bemused reactions from confused fans.
And if there was any doubt that the SEC continues to enjoy some, uh, questionable, benefits based on preseason polling and perceived strength, this week’s voting should put that to rest.
Unsurprisingly, one of the biggest gainers of the week was the Florida Gators, coming off an impressive 52-28 win over the Ole Miss Rebels. Florida racked up over 300 yards on the ground, forced two turnovers, and kept the ball away from Trinidad Chambliss and the powerful Ole Miss offense. After what could be a season-changing win, the Gators moved up a whopping 13 spots to No. 8, one spot ahead of the Rebels.
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The Oklahoma State Cowboys were another big mover, jumping 11 spots to No. 19, as their win over the Oregon Ducks looks even better after OU’s win over USC. UCLA , too, moved 14 spots into the top 25 at No. 23 thanks to a 54-3 obliteration of the Maryland Terrapins. Another surprise team through week four? The Mississippi State Bulldogs, who held on to beat Missouri and moved up eight spots to No. 16.
But speaking of Missouri, they exemplify the problem that the preseason poll and voters’ pre-conceived biases have with these rankings.
The Tigers entered the season as the No. 25 team in the preseason poll and proceeded to do literally nothing of importance in the first three weeks. A 54-21 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff, a 38-21 win over a bad Kansas team, and a surprisingly close 27-17 win over an atrocious Troy team.
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Their reward was to move up to No. 19 heading into the game against the Bulldogs, which resulted in the 31-24 loss. Somehow, after again, looking very unimpressive for the entirety of the season, Missouri sits at … No. 25 in the week four poll. That’s the exact type of SEC-specific outcome that fans from other conferences complain about. Look bad, do nothing, lose, stay right where you were. And then brag about the number of “ranked games” and “ranked wins.”
Meanwhile, Missouri has not beaten an SEC team that finished the season with a winning record since 2024 and their wins that season were over 7-6 Arkansas and 7-6 Vanderbilt.
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Meanwhile, Kentucky moved up three spots to No. 24, even though their win over Texas A&M looks far less impressive than it did a week ago, with the Aggies looking more like a top 50 team this year than top 25. But the Missouri ranking has immense value, as it means their upcoming game against Florida is yet another “ranked matchup in the SEC.”
Meanwhile, Iowa, who pulled up the upset win over Michigan with a last-second touchdown, moves up just three spots. Michigan went from No. 18 to unranked. Penn State dropped from No. 13 to unranked after losing to Wisconsin, who had a miraculous late touchdown pass of their own in Happy Valley, and USC fell six spots after losing to Oregon.
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Nebraska is unranked because they started the preseason unranked, while advanced metric systems put the Cornhuskers at No. 16 based on their actual performance. Wake Forest beat No. 16 Louisville on the road, and their one loss was to a top-five Miami team, but they’re unranked while Missouri is. There’s no logic or consistency to any of it, it’s just a grab bag based on eye test, preseason polls, conference affiliation, the size of a team’s stadium and whatever ESPN chooses to highlight.
Here’s the full poll:
Again, the upside is that the AP Poll at the end of the day doesn’t matter. The downside? There’s no doubt that these awful rankings are used to inform the College Football Playoff selection committee’s deliberations and provide fodder for “strength of schedule” and “strength of conference” and “resume wins” arguments and so on. Texas A&M, despite currently sitting at No. 39 in computer-based rankings, one spot ahead of UCF, will count as a “ranked win” for Kentucky and LSU, because preseason polls expected them to be good. They are not good.
With a full slate of big games in week five, expect more AP absurdity to come next week. After all, it’s one of the sport’s most cherished traditions.
