AP Poll, September 13th: UGA 7th, GT 14th

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The September 13th, Week 3 Edition of the AP Top 25 Poll has both of our region’s Power 5 teams moving up. Georgia improves to 7th and Georgia Tech rises to 14th.

There were a lot of shake ups in this weeks AP Poll.  Auburn suffers a near embarrassment at home to FCS Jacksonville State at home and plummets for 6th to 18th.  Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi State all lose and fall out of the Top 25.  Michigan State looks very impressive after beaten Oregon at home.  BYU could end up winning the Non-Power 5 At-Large Bid in the New Years’ Six, even without QB Taysom Hill.

-= Related: Georgia Tech Clobbers Tulane 65-10 =-

In the Top 5 this week of the AP Poll, Ohio State, Alabama, and TCU remain one, two, three.  Michigan State moves up one spot to 4th and Baylor drops a spot to 5th.  Baylor will have a bye this week and Alabama will host Ole Miss in an SEC battle of ranked teams.  I don’t really have any complaints about the Top 5 and their positioning this week.

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Georgia finds itself 7th after a 31-14 victory over Vanderbilt.  UGA climbs up three slots from 10th in this most recent poll.  Southern Cal moves up to 6th and Notre Dame, Florida State, and UCLA each improve to round out the Top 10 8 through 10.  Neither FSU or UND looked great in Week 2, with FSU letting South Florida hang around and Notre Dame barely beating Virginia.  UCLA and true freshman QB Josh Rosen could be the real deal in the Pac-12 South this year.

I’m a little surprised UGA jumped up three spots despite not putting away Vanderbilt early, but I’ll take the bump graciously as a proud member of Dawg Nation.  Perhaps it makes up for them dropping a spot in the Week 2 AP Poll despite clobbering ULM 51-14 in a shortened game nonetheless.

Georgia Tech is inside the Top 15 again in this week’s AP Poll, sitting at a cool 14th, following a beatdown of Tulane 65-10.  The Jackets have a very tough road game next week when Paul Johnson and GT travel to South Bend, Indiana to take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Clemson moves up to 11th, Oregon falls to 12th after their loss at Michigan, and LSU moves up one after beating Mississippi State in Starkville. A very good Ole Miss Rebels team sits dangerously at 15th, eyeing back to back victories over the Alabama Crimson Tide, this time in Tuscaloosa.

16 through 20 are as follows: Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Auburn, BYU and Arizona.  Auburn has major concerns with their new starting quarterback in Jeremy Johnson and the run defense of new OC Will Muschamp.  The Tigers will have to travel Death Valley and if they loss to LSU, Auburn could fall out of the Top 25 all together.

21 through 25 are Utah, Missouri, Northwestern, Wisconsin and Oklahoma State.  Northwestern is a bit of a surprise here, but I get it after knocking off Stanford in Week 1 and shutting out Eastern Illinois 41-0 in Week 2.  Perhaps the Wildcats are the team to beat in the Big Ten West?

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Overall, I don’t have too many complaints about the 3rd Week of the AP Poll.  If anybody got too much love this week, I’d have to say it might be Georgia.  Though we looked good at times, I’m not certain that we’re the 7th best team in the country.  A loss to South Carolina next weekend would be absolutely devastating.  Coach Richt cannot let that happen, since USC could almost be 0-2 entering our annual matchup.

I think UCLA could be 8, since the Bruins looked better than both Notre Dame and FSU in their Week 2 Non-Conference games.  Tech could be 13th or so, but who would they be ahead of at this point?  A road victory in South Bend might get the Yellow Jackets into the Top 10 or at worst 12th in the country.  Week 3 is when the intensity starts to amp up in College Football.  Expect next week’s AP Poll to look totally different from today’s release.

Next: Georgia Bulldogs: RBs and D the Key Against Vandy, Win 31-14

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