Clemson held on to its lead in this week’s college football polls, but not by much as No. 2 Alabama made big gains.
In the Associated Press poll, Clemson was awarded 33 of the possible 62 first place votes, 19 fewer than a week ago. Alabama got the remaining 29 first place votes and trails Clemson by only two weeks.
In the Coaches Poll, Alabama stayed second, but cut its deficit in half. Trailing by 47 points last week, this week the Tide is 24 points behind Clemson. Bama picked up and the Tigers lost 9 first place votes from last week, Clemson dropping from 52 to 43, Bama increasing from 8 to 17. Two firsts still go to No. 3 Ohio State.
A primary cause of the Clemson drop and Alabama rise almost certainly was the absence of Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who sat out last week and is likely to miss this week’s game at No. 4 Notre Dame. But also taken into account, perhaps, is the weakness of the Atlantic Coast Conference and yet Coach Dabo Swinney’s Tigers barely escaping against Boston College.
Meanwhile, Alabama was dominating in its 41-0 win over Mississippi State, the first shutout every in Coach Mike Leach’s career.
The top five stayed the same as last week. Following Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State, and Notre Dame was Georgia.
In addition to Alabama and Georgia, the the Southeastern Conference are Texas A&M at No. 7, Florida at No. 8, and Auburn, which reentered the polls after a two-week absence at 21 in the Coaches Poll and No. 24 in the AP rankings.
An interesting drop out was Penn State, which is 0-2 with losses to Indiana and Ohio State. The Nittany Lions had been ranked in the AP poll in 63 straight polls in which they were eligible (because of not playing during early COVID-19). Alabama is first with 205 consecutive AP polls being ranked, followed by Ohio State 138 and Clemson, 94.
ASSOCIATED PRESS POLL
Here is this week’s Associated Press poll of sports reporters and broadcast personalities with first place votes in parenthesis, record, and points based on 25 points for a first place vote, 24 for a second, etc.
- Clemson (33) 7-0 1515
- Alabama (29) 6-0 1513
- Ohio State 2-0 1430
- Notre Dame 6-0 1351
- Georgia 4-1 1289
- Cincinnati 5-0 1199
- Texas A&M 4-1 1156
- Florida 3-1 1066
- BYU 7-0 1014
- Wisconsin 1-0 985
- Miami 5-1 946
- Oregon 0-0 831
- Indiana 2-0 765
- Oklahoma State 4-1 760
- Coastal Carolina 6-0 527
- Marshall 5-0 523
- Iowa State 4-2 427
- SMU 6-1 420
- Oklahoma 4-2 405
- Southern Cal 0-0 354
- Boise State 2-0 336
- Texas 4-2 190
- Michigan 1-1 151
- Auburn 4-2 144
- Liberty 6-0 118
Schools dropped out: North Carolina (15), Kansas State (16), Penn State (18),
Others receiving votes: Northwestern 106, Louisiana-Lafayette 101, North Carolina 92, Penn State 87, Tulsa 73, Army 57, Kansas State 51, West Virginia 44, Utah 44, Washington 21, Purdue 15, Virginia Tech 11, San Diego State 8, Arizona State 7, Appalachian State 6, Wake Forest 5, Michigan State 4, California 3
COACHES POLL
Here is this week’s Coaches Poll with first place votes in parenthesis, record, and points based on 25 points for a first place vote, 24 for a second, etc.
- Clemson (43) 7-0 1527
- Alabama (17) 6-0 1503
- Ohio State (2) 2-0 1407
- Notre dame 6-0 1358
- Georgia 4-1 1304
- Cincinnati 5-0 1157
- Texas A&M 4-1 1154
- Florida 3-1 1101
- BYU 7-0 1025
- Miami 5-1 964
- Wisconsin 1-0 908
- Oklahoma State 4-1 783
- Indiana 2-0 730
- Oregon 0-0 725
- Marshall 5-0 473
- Coastal Carolina 6-0 464
- Iowa State 4-2 433
- SMU 6-1 421
- Oklahoma 4-2 413
- Southern Cal 0-0 365
- Auburn 4-2 246
- Army 6-1 208
- Boise State 2-0 204
- North Carolina 4-2 192
- Michigan 1-1 141
Schools dropped out: No. 16 Kansas State; No. 17 Penn State.
Others receiving votes: Texas 115; Northwestern 112; Liberty 92; UL Lafayette 90; Kansas State 64; Utah 57; Penn State 56; Purdue 55; West Virginia 49; Virginia Tech 37; Appalachian State 32; Tulsa 29; Missouri 23; Boston College 20; NC State 16; Kentucky 13; Memphis 12; Wake Forest 11; Tennessee 11; Arizona State 11; Michigan State 9; California 9; South Carolina 8; Arkansas 8; Nevada 3; San Diego State 1; Central Florida 1.