4th Annual NMP Week 1 Release
1 Miami
2 Ole Miss
3 Oregon
4 Ohio St
5 Texas A&M
6 Oklahoma
7 Alabama
8 Georgia
9 Texas
10 Texas Tech
11 Missouri
12 Penn St
13 Florida St
14 Vanderbilt
15 Tennessee
16 Indiana
17 LSU
18 Arizona St
19 Iowa St
20 Georgia Tech
21 Michigan
22 Mississippi St
23 Memphis
24 Virginia
25 Utah
Others getting votes: Illinois, Washington, USC
Welcome to the 4th year (2nd year on the website) of the NMP. First month of ball is now in the books, so now its time to finally get a ranking out. As a refresher, every week, normally on Sunday or Monday, I drop a new poll with my thoughts and explanations right after it. There will also be a Heisman race tracker and games to look out for for the upcoming week following the explanation. As for the Others Getting Votes teams, those are teams who I was considering and evaluating to put in the top 25, but just missed out. Just like other polls out there. Now that the refresher is done with, lets get into some football.
Lots of great games this week. The 2 big ones, Bama vs UGA and PSU vs Oregon definitely did not disappoint. Miami has been the best all around team so far to me and they also have a solid resume. Ole Miss I had to see a little more from Trinidad to really believe in them, after beating up on LSU, I’m a believer. Oregon rounds out a pretty clear cut top 3 for me. Ohio St has the win over Texas but they’ve had slow starts in every game this year, which takes them below Oregon. TAMU and Oklahoma have both been really solid this year, I’m giving A&M the nod simply because Mateer is out for about a month. Bama, I had a tonnnn of doubt after the FSU loss, now after what I have seen vs a poor, but defensively solid Wisco team and @ Georgia, they’ve gotten rid of most of that doubt… will they continue it or will it be a repeat of last year? UGA and Texas are basically the same, I’ve just seen a pulse on offense from Georgia so they get the edge. Very impressed with Mizzou and Ahmad Hardy this year, huge game vs Bama after the bye week. Penn St took a loss to Oregon in OT, otherwise, just not impressed at all with them, and they’ve played no one this year so far. Florida St gets upset by Virginia on Friday night. Vandy and Tennessee are both really solid. Indiana beat what I think to be a poor Illinois team and struggled vs Iowa. LSU has no offense right now, but have a great defense. AZ St and Iowa St, going through the Big 12 gauntlet right now, even with the loss, I think Arizona St is just better. GT avoids a scare, and their Clemson win is getting weaker by the week. Mississippi St stays in even with the OT loss to TN this week, they might be cooking something this year… good luck with the schedule the rest of the year. Memphis is best GO5 team I’ve watched this year. Legit shot of a playoff run this year. UVA sneaks in after the FSU upset. Utah gets in, the Texas Tech score is not indicative of how close that game was, still a very tough out in the Big 12 this year.
Heisman Race (no order):
Ahmad Hardy, Missouri
Trinidad Chambliss, Ole Miss
Carson Beck, Miami
Ty Simpson, Alabama
Key Games:
14 Vandy @ 7 Bama
1 Miami @ 13 FSU
22 Miss St @ 5 TAMU
9 Texas @ Florida