
In college football, there are many polls and rankings to determine the best teams in the country. Though, there is one in particular that seems to favor a particular conference. This seems to be by the Associated Press poll and its obvious infatuation with the South Eastern Conference (SEC) especially the west division.
After TCU beat a ranked West Virginia team, Oregon earning another victory, and Alabama having a bye week, one would assume the latter two would move up, but not in the AP poll.
The AP poll would not let Alabama leave the top 10 in the latest rankings, even though the best win they have is against that same West Virginia. Alabama has also lost to an Ole Miss team that has two losses already.
Mississippi State, who almost lost to Arkansas, stays at No. 1 in the rankings. Though, Florida State, who caught flack for not playing tough opponents, have just beaten the fourth best team on its schedule and stays at No. 2, almost no matter what they do.
Teams like Kansas State, Michigan State, and Baylor look like it will never advance from the latter half of the top 10 or higher half of the top 20. Look at one case, Alabama blows out Texas A&M and moves back up high, while TCU dominates Texas Tech and remains stationary.
It feels like as long as you’re in the SEC west division, you can play the softest out of conference schedule and still make the playoffs, according to the AP polls. This is not to take away from a SEC west team like Auburn, who beat a high out of conference opponent.
The AP might as well just change its rankings to the SEC West standings.