NMP Week 2
Texas
Ohio St
Georgia
Penn St
Oregon
Tennessee
Alabama
Clemson
Ole Miss
Miami
Notre Dame
LSU
Kansas St
USC
Iowa St
Boise St
Pittsburgh
Texas A&M
Missouri
Nebraska
Indiana
Utah
Oklahoma
SMU
Illinois
Others Getting Votes: BYU, Arizona St, Army, Navy
Added: Texas A&M, Nebraska, SMU
Dropped: Michigan, Louisville, Rutgers
Biggest Winners: Pittsburgh (8), Boise St (6), Iowa St (6)
Biggest Losers: Missouri (8), Alabama (6), Miami (5), USC (5)
What a weekend. Wow. On paper it was supposed to be a stinker, naturally, it wasn’t. Lots of movement this week with all the upsets, teams just outside the top 25 looking pretty good, and just an overall reevaluation with another game on tape in the first half of the season. Bama couldn’t stop a nose bleed, Tenn loses to a backup QB, RB, and Kicker, Miami gets bodied by Cal (I wrote this in the 3rd quarter), Mizzou gets bodied by TAMU, and USC and Michigan lose in close, cross country conference matchups. Welcome a new #1, Texas. Top 5 is pretty self explanatory. Alabama has one of the best wins of the year, but Tennessee is just a better team right now. Clemson continues to soar against a brain dead FSU, Ole Miss gets right vs SCAR. Miami escapes… Again. Notre Dame, LSU, and K St slide up on bye weeks. Iowa St is still very under the radar. Boise St at this rate will have a Heisman, and once again dominate, as they should. Shoutout Pitt and Eli Holstein, man. Highly impressed with Pitt and Eli this year, continue to win and Eli arguably the best ACC QB this season. TAMU soars after just utterly dominating a very poor Mizzou team. Nebraska and Indiana continue to play well and win. Utah, Oklahoma, and Illinois hold serve pretty much with bye weeks. SMU looked very shaky early on with a close win vs Nevada and loss to BYU, but both are proving to not be as bad as initially thought, with the win vs Louisville, welcome to the top 25.
Heisman race:
Ashton Jeanty, Boise St
Travis Hunter, Colorado
Jalen Milroe, Alabama
Eli Holstein, Pitt
Cam Ward, Miami
Key Games:
1 Texas vs 23 Oklahoma
4 Penn St @ 14 USC
Cal @ 17 Pitt
2 Ohio St @ 5 Oregon
9 Ole Miss @ 11 LSU
12 Kansas St @ Colorado
3rd Annual NMP Week 1 Release
Alabama
Texas
Tennessee
Ohio St
Miami
Georgia
Penn St
Oregon
USC
Clemson
Missouri
Ole Miss
Notre Dame
LSU
Louisville
Kansas St
Michigan
Utah
Oklahoma
Rutgers
Iowa st
Boise St
Illinois
Indiana
Pittsburgh
Others Getting Votes: BYU, Colorado, Arizona, Nebraska, UNLV, Texas A&M
Welcome to the 3rd year (1st year on the website) of the NMP. As usual, a few games have now been played, resumes are starting to take shape, fake teams have been exposed, looking at you Ole Miss, and we’re finally playing ball. Every week, normally on Sunday, I drop a new poll with my thoughts and explanations right after it. Will also have 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.
The top 8 are pretty clear in my mind, theres a decently large drop off from 8 to 9. Bama with a huge win, almost choke job, vs Georgia this weekend is enough for them to start off at #1. Texas is probably the most complete team I have seen so far, so we will see how long they stay at 2. I have been very very impressed with Tennessee this year, and not so much with Ohio St. OSU just can’t get fast starts and its led to these inferior teams hanging around for a lot longer than they should. Miami maybe should have lost, but, they didn’t so they debut at 5, just ahead of Georgia. Even with the loss, I still think the Georgia is just a better team than Penn St and Oregon. This Penn St does not look like PSU of the past. They have an offense this year that actually functions. Oregon has been sleep walking so far. Now, the fun begins. After Oregon, its really just whoever, I can see arguments for a lot of different lineups of teams. This USC team is similar to the PSU situation but with defense. Clemson figured something out finally and has been roaring back since getting bodied vs Georgia week 1. Ole Miss and Missouri are just untested, and when they were tested, they failed for the most part. (Kentucky and Vandy, respectively) Yes, I know Notre Dame lost to NIU, yes they may still be pretenders, but they have had really good results since the loss and have talent to actually be really good. LSU is pretty much last years team, so expect the same minus a Heisman winner. Louisville arguably should’ve won vs Notre Dame, but they didn’t. Did show a lot of fight and proved that they can overcome a talent gap. K St had a fluke loss to BYU, best Big 12 team as it stands. Michigan is a gross team, not good, Donovan Edwards needs to be the backup RB; worse offense than Iowa last year. Utah desperately needs Cam Rising back or else they will lose again. Also basically Iowa of last year without him. Oklahoma given all of their struggles and injuries put up a great defensive game vs Tennessee and came back to beat a very tough Auburn team, once healthy and the freshman QB gets more reps, they’ll be a really solid team. Rutgers, Indiana, and Pitt. I have been so impressed with them so far this year. Monangai and Holstein are absolute studs right now. Illinois and Iowa St are really well rounded teams that will be a tough out all year and really could be sneaky conference contenders. Boise St has a real good chance of winning out and snagging a playoff spot, keep feeding Jeanty. This season has been exciting so far, can’t wait to see what else it has in store. Oct 12 and 19 can’t come soon enough.
Heisman Race (no order):
Jalen Milroe, Alabama
Cam Ward, Miami
Travis Hunter, Colorado
Ashton Jeanty, Boise St
Key Games:
11 Missouri @ Tx A&M
SMU @ 15 Louisville
12 Ole Miss @ South Carolina
20 Rutgers @ Nebraska
2024 College Football Predictions
Conference Champs
Big 10- Ohio St beating Oregon
Big 12- Kansas St beating UCF
ACC- Miami beating NC State
SEC- Georgia beating Ole Miss
American- Memphis beating UTSA
MAC- Miami (OH) beating Bowling Green
C-USA- Liberty beating Jacksonville St
Mountain West- Boise St beating Fresno St
Sun Belt- James Madison beating App St
Playoffs
Byes: Ohio St, Georgia, Miami, Memphis
5 Oregon vs 12 Kansas St
6 Ole Miss vs 11 Alabama
7 Texas vs 10 Penn St
8 Notre Dame vs 9 Tennessee
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1 Ohio St vs 9 Tennessee
2 Georgia vs 7 Texas
3 Miami vs 11 Alabama
4 Memphis vs 5 Oregon
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1 Ohio St vs 5 Oregon
2 Georgia vs 11 Alabama
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2 Georgia vs 5 Oregon
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2 Georgia National Champs
Award Winners
Heisman- Cam Ward, Miami
Doak Walker- Devin Neal, Kansas
Biletnikoff- Isaiah Bond, Texas