Each week, the Sports editorial team selects its Top 25 FBS college football teams for the Student Media Poll.
The SMP is a nationwide poll featuring 97 student journalists from schools all across the nation.
The Post Sports will break down its ballots each week. Here are the top five, those it kicked out of the Top 25 and those it added:
Robert Keegan III, Sports Editor
Top five:
Texas
Ohio State
Michigan
Georgia
Florida State
The big story from this past weekend in college football was, of course, Ohio State beating Notre Dame on a last-second touchdown. In that win, Ohio State proved itself as a true contender. A win against Notre Dame is plenty to warrant the Buckeyes making the jump from No. 4 to No. 2 for me, especially given how some other teams in my top five have struggled to get convincing victories against some nonconference opponents.
I am still not sold on Georgia. The official SMP has the Bulldogs at No. 1 but they do not look like the same team that won a national championship last season. Georgia’s national championship team was built on the best defense in the nation; this year, the team’s defense has far underperformed last year’s. Allowing 21 points to the University of Alabama at Birmingham is subpar for a potential No. 1 team.
Texas remains in the spot with the most impressive win in all of college football so far against Alabama. Quarterback Quinn Ewers is my front-runner for the Heisman this season. A win this coming weekend against undefeated Kansas will cement the Longhorns as the No. 1 team in the nation.
Who I added
Clemson, Kansas, Missouri
Clemson is coming off a loss to top-5 Florida State but the team performed well enough to find its way back into my top-25 for the week. While the Tigers suffered a bad loss to Duke in Week 1, Quarterback Cade Klubnik and the Clemson offense have done nothing but improve week by week. Clemson was one score away from getting a top-5 win that would have put them within the top 15 of nearly every poll in the nation.
Kansas and Missouri fall under the same category in my poll: undefeated teams that deserve national recognition. Kansas has a tough matchup this weekend at Texas where it will be a major underdog, but don’t be surprised if Kansas gives Texas one of its toughest battles of the season so far.
Who I dropped
Colorado, Florida, Texas Tech
As far as teams dropped out of the top 25, Colorado will headline most peoples’ lists. I was victim to the over-hyping of Deion Sanders to start the year but the Buffaloes, who won only three games last season, still have a long way to go before being in contention for a national championship. A 36-point loss to Oregon humbled Colorado who has a lot of work to do as a program to cement itself as a team that can have sustainable success.
Florida falls into the category of a team that has a big win at the start of the season but has just not looked like an unstoppable team since. Following a win against Tennessee, the Gators were only able to score 22 points against a Charlotte team that really should have been dominated by the Florida offense.
Texas Tech never should have been a top-25 team and it proved that this weekend against West Virginia. With three losses already, the Red Raiders have been by far one of the most underwhelming teams yet this season.
Bobby Gorbett, Sports Editor
Top Five:
Texas
Michigan
Ohio State
Georgia
Florida State
Texas’ 38-6 win over Baylor was enough to put them above Michigan, after its lukewarm performance against Rutgers. Ohio State’s last-second win against Notre Dame moves it to No. 3 on my list. Georgia still hasn’t looked like its dominant self since its national championship victory.
Florida State has two of the biggest wins of the season so far but could’ve easily lost to Clemson this weekend.
Who I added
Kansas, Syracuse, Maryland, Fresno State
Kansas is 4-0 after a two-possession win against previously undefeated BYU. It may be difficult to tell exactly what chances Kansas has of winning the Big 12, but the quality of the team will be on display against Texas this weekend.
Syracuse is another undefeated team that hasn’t played the most difficult competition. The Orange defeated Army by two scores after falling behind early in the game.
Maryland moved to 4-0 after its most dominant performance against Michigan State on Saturday. Maryland’s offense behind Taulia Tagovailoa continues to be the strength of the team.
Fresno State appears to be the best Group of Five schools in the country after dismantling Kent State 53-10. The Bulldogs additionally have multiple wins over Power Five opponents.
Who I dropped
Colorado, Kansas State, Clemson, UCLA
After Colorado’s ugly win against Colorado State in Week 3, Colorado’s 42-6 loss to Oregon was particularly alarming. Colorado simply has to pick up a win over USC to find its way back into the top 25.
Kansas State simply got passed up by some of the other undefeated teams in College Football even after a solid win against UCF.
Clemson is now a two-loss team. Despite a strong performance in the FSU game, Clemson still couldn’t find a way to win.
UCLA’s offense looked sluggish, to say the least, against Utah. UCLA wasn’t blown out by any means against Utah, but a poor offensive performance against a team without its starting quarterback has it out of the top 25.
