NMP 5th Annual Week 1 Release

1 Texas

2 Georgia

3 Miami

4 Alabama

5 Ohio St

6 Indiana

7 Notre Dame

8 BYU

9 Ole Miss

10 LSU

11 Utah

12 Mississippi St

13 Missouri

14 Florida

15 Texas Tech

16 Oregon

17 Iowa

18 UCLA

19 USC

20 Oklahoma St

21 Boise St

22 Pittsburgh

23 Arizona

24 Northwestern

25 Nebraska

Others receiving votes: Wake Forest, Kentucky, Houston, SMU, Tennessee

Welcome to year 5! Time has flown by! Refresher: weekly rankings coming out every Sunday or Monday until playoffs begin. I go by eye test, resume, and ultimately who do I just think is better. We are finally a full month into the season so now its time to start ranking!

A pretty hard ranking to do this week honestly. Lots of teams who look good one week then bad the next, but I think there’s a few groupings of teams and there is separation between the groups. This year’s first #1 is Texas. Georgia I think is better than Texas but it’s just too hard to ignore the comeback win over Ohio St, which edges them to #1. Georgia looks as dominant as ever against lesser competition. Miami also looks dominant, which great teams need to do. Bama slides in at 4, they had a couple of halves vs Kentucky and Florida St where they looked vulnerable, but quickly put those thoughts to bed. Keelon Russell looks great now that he has confidence. Ohio St looks like Ohio St, just slipped up vs Texas. Indiana and Notre Dame both really haven’t played anyone, but they are for the most part making the games no-doubters, Indiana just slightly more. BYU undefeated and a win over Arizona keeps them ahead of Ole Miss. Ole Miss with the head to head over LSU makes this selection easy, even with the blowout loss to Florida. Utah looks good, getting a 2 QB system to work. MS St beat Mizzou who beat Florida, they all 3 have looked dominant, even against solid teams, but have all taken a loss and in this case, I’ll honor the head to head results. Texas Tech I have not been impressed with this year so far, but they do have a win over a solid Houston team. Oregon I also have not been impressed with, close win over Boise, loss to OK St, then they get a much needed over USC. Iowa looks like Iowa but looks more competent on offense this year, but a softer defense than normal. UCLA smokes Maryland on the road and is undefeated, huge test against Oregon this week. USC beats Rutgers by 7, fights with Oregon in a loss, then struggles with Washington. A confusing team right now. Speaking of confusing, Oklahoma St. Massive win over Oregon… after getting manhandled by Tulsa. Not really sure what to make of them right now but that Oregon win is huge currently. Boise is currently on track to be in the playoffs. Tight loss to Oregon, throttles Memphis, an aspiring playoff contender, and smacks a then undefeated, yes undefeated, WMU. Pitt gets a huge Friday night win over Va Tech, but unfortunately loses a great QB in Heintschel for the season. Noah Fifita is still doing it for Arizona, looking good and has a pretty good defense with him this year too. And now we have an NMP debut, Northwestern! Fought very hard vs Indiana, runs it up on Penn St in the first game in the new stadium, and their offense is really fun to watch. And rounding it out is undefeated Nebraska, controls the games they’re supposed to control, look out Indiana, they aren’t slouches this year.

Heisman Race (no order):

Kamario Taylor, Mississippi St

Keelon Russell, Alabama

Jeremiah Smith, Ohio St

Trinidad Chambliss, Ole Miss

Key Games:

2 Georgia @ 4 Alabama

6 Indiana @ 25 Nebraska

18 UCLA @ 16 Oregon

17 Iowa @ Washington

North Dakota St @ UNLV

21 Boise St @ Fresno St