It’s been a while since anything called a “Poll Watch” would be necessary for USF. However, the team is 3-0 heading into a matchup with #13/14 Florida State this week. That puts the team into a position it hasn’t been in for quite some time. When the Big East collapsed and the
football programs reformed as the American Athletic Conference, they lost a lot of the attention of the national media. The Big East was an auto-bid holder to the old BCS playoff system, but the teams in the American had been placed into the so-called “group of five.” That group could just as easily be called the “have nots”, as the difference in revenue per year they are missing compared to their former auto-bid peers is in the tens of millions of dollars. So, when a high profile non-conference matchup with a ranked team happens against an undefeated USF team in Tampa, it’s obviously a big deal. The Poll Watch feature will be a weekly feature whenever it is relevant. Given the obstacles in place to getting USF ranked, that won’t be every week of every season. Take a look at the current rankings, where USF places, and add your thoughts about how they come together and whether or not you think that USF is one of the top 25 teams in the country.
The AP Poll is a media poll which allocates points of varying amounts to teams, totals the points, and ranks the teams. A vote for a team at number one awards that team 25 points and the team the voter picks at 25th is awarded one point. There are 61 writers in the pool, meaning a unanimous number one pick would have 1525 points. USF has not made the cut to join the top 25 in this poll, but they are receiving votes.
Rank Team Record Pts Last Week
1. Alabama (50) 3-0 1510 1
2. Ohio St. (4) 3-0 1442 3
3. Louisville (6) 3-0 1406 10
4. Michigan (1) 3-0 1277 4
5. Clemson 3-0 1258 5
6. Houston 3-0 1245 6
7. Stanford 2-0 1195 7
8. Michigan St. 2-0 1084 12
9. Washington 3-0 1040 8
10. Texas A&M 3-0 890 17
11. Wisconsin 3-0 828 9
12. Georgia 3-0 726 16
13. Florida St. 2-1 722 2
14. Tennessee 3-0 707 15
15. Miami (FL) 3-0 565 25
16. Baylor 3-0 529 21
17. Arkansas 3-0 528 24
18. LSU 2-1 517 20
19. Florida 3-0 479 23
20. Nebraska 3-0 420 NR
21. Texas 2-1 196 11
22. S. Diego St. 3-0 183 NR
23. Mississippi 1-2 172 19
24. Utah 3-0 154 NR
25. Oklahoma 1-2 139 14
Alabama is the AP number one pick this week, winning 1510 out of a possible 1525 votes. Oklahoma gets the final ranking position, despite being one of five teams with a loss and two teams with a losing record. USF takes seven vote points in the poll, which means that one person voted them to be around 19 or that several people voted for them to be somewhere in the 20s. Based on that score, they would unofficially be ranked 38th.
The USA Today Coach’s poll operates in a similar fashion, utilizing 64 randomly selected NCAA Division I head football coaches. Willie Taggart is not one of the voting coaches. Of the coaches in the state of Florida, Jimbo Fisher at FSU and Ron Turner of FIU are the only voters.
USA Today: Week 5
Records through Sat Sep 17, 2016 USA Today Ranking
Rank Team Record Pts Last Week
1. Alabama (59) 3-0 1571 1
2. Ohio St. (3) 3-0 1482 4
3. Clemson (1) 3-0 1405 3
4. Louisville 3-0 1331 10
5. Michigan 3-0 1302 5
6. Stanford 2-0 1273 6
7. Houston 3-0 1235 7
8. Michigan St. 2-0 1156 8
9. Washington 3-0 1065 9
10. Wisconsin 3-0 872 12
11. Georgia 3-0 847 13
12. Tennessee 3-0 805 15
13. Texas A&M 3-0 791 20
14. Florida St. 2-1 742 2
15. Baylor 3-0 658 19
16. Florida 3-0 598 23
17. LSU 2-1 522 22
18. Arkansas 3-0 500 24
19. Miami (FL) 3-0 441 25
20. Nebraska 3-0 373 NR
21. TCU 2-1 166 NR
21. Mississippi 1-2 166 17
23. Utah 3-0 155 NR
24. Texas 2-1 143 16
25. Iowa 2-1 140 11
Not surprisingly, Alabama is the top vote getter with 1571 of 1600 possible votes. The coaches don’t have any teams with losing records in their poll, but do have four one loss teams, of which Iowa is one. USF gets 34 points in this poll, which ranks them an unofficial 34.
