Bob Asmussen's Polling Place Big Ten gets its football comeuppance
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Sep. 14—Illinois beat writer and AP Top 25 voter Bob Asmussen checks in with an update on the latest poll:
Who's up
The land of Matthew McConaughey. Not just the "Dazed and Confused" actor's beloved Texas Longhorns, who stunned No. 1 Ohio State on Saturday night to move to the top of the poll. But four other teams from the Lone Star State are currently ranked in the Top 22 (I'm making that a thing) in No. 9 Texas A&M, No. 13 Texas Tech, No. 16 SMU and No. 22 Houston. Alright, alright, alright. As for the best McConaughey movie, a case can be made for "A Time to Kill" and "The Lincoln Lawyer," but "Tropic Thunder" is a gem.
Who's down
That would be you Ohio State, Oklahoma and Oregon, which all managed to lose on Saturday. The Buckeyes' failure to close the deal at Texas was about bad luck (at least two Texas fumbles bounced back into the Longhorns' hands) and game plan. Why doesn't every pass go to Jeremiah Smith? The Ducks' loss at Oklahoma State is the most mind-numbing of the three. The Cowboys dropper their opener to Tulsa and are playing with a new coach and quarterback. Although Drew Mestemaker did throw for 317 yards and ran for another 109. So, that is an upgrade. Oregon beat Oklahoma State last year by 66 points. On to the Sooners, apparently they were convinced they got to play the Michigan team that struggled against Western Michigan, not the fired-up Wolverines who heard all week how bad they are. Not great coaching by Oklahoma boss Brent Venables.
Who to watch
No. 7 LSU at No. 8 Mississippi (6:30 p.m. Saturday, ABC). It is not hard to imagine the reaction from jilted Rebels' fans toward LSU coach Lane Kiffin. He took another job in the middle of a run toward the College Football Playoff. Who does that other than clueless Kiffin? Even worse, he thought the school would allow him to stay on as coach during the postseason. Let's assume those in Oxford are fully ready to wholeheartedly boo Kiffin. And the signs you see in the building figure to reach a new level of creativity and vulgarity. I encourage the former and discourage the latter. Maybe we can make an exception for Kiffin.
The Top 25 teams in The Associated Press (college football) poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote, and previous ranking:
Rk., Team Record Pts. Prev.
1. Texas (56) 2-0 1678 NR
2. Georgia (3) 2-0 1551 2
3. Notre Dame (1) 2-0 1531 3
4. Indiana (3) 2-0 1466 3
5. Miami (4) 2-0 1452 3
6. Ohio State 1-1 1407 11
7. LSU (1) 2-0 1334 6
8. Mississippi 2-0 1216 7
9. Texas A&M 2-0 1165 8
10. Alabama 2-0 1068 8
11. BYU 2-0 966 7
12. Southern Cal 3-0 944 10
13. Texas Tech 2-0 910 13
14. Penn State 2-0 692 12
15. Tennessee 2-0 676 12
16. SMU 2-0 636 15
17. Utah 2-0 558 14
18. Iowa 2-0 391 15
19. Michigan 2-0 382 10
20. Missouri 2-0 344 17
21. Oregon 1-1 324 36
22. Houston 2-0 292 22
23. Louisville 1-1 244 22
24. Oklahoma 1-1 222 37
25. Virginia 2-0 182 25
Others receiving votes: Washington 172, Florida 83, Boise State 57, Oklahoma State 36, Western Michigan 35, Tulsa 18, Mississippi State 17, South Carolina 15, Virginia Tech 11, UCLA 9, James Madison 6, Arizona 5, North Dakota State 3, Pittsburgh 1, Kansas State 1.
Illinois beat writer Bob Asmussen with The News-Gazette has served as an Associated Press Top 25 college football voter since 2009. Here is his third ballot of the 2026 season:
RK., TEAM PREV.
1. Indiana 1
2. Texas 3
3. Notre Dame 4
4. Miami 6
5. Georgia 7
6. Ohio State 2
7. Mississippi 9
8. Texas A&M 10
9. BYU 11
10. LSU 12
11. Oregon 5
12. Michigan NR
13. Southern Cal 13
14. Oklahoma 8
15. Alabama 15
16. Houston 16
17. Missouri 18
18. Penn State 17
19. Texas Tech 19
20. Washington 14
21. Utah 20
22. SMU 21
23. Iowa 23
24. Louisville 22
25. Tennessee 24
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