AP Top 25 Poll Offers Clear Evidence of College Football's Current Parity - Call It Musical Chairs

Ed's Sports Corner:

Copyright © 2007 Ed Bagley

If you wanted clear evidence that college football's current parity is real, you have only to study the AP Top 25 Poll during the 2007 regular season. I charted the AP Poll of sports writers and broadcasters for 14 consecutive weeks and discovered some amazing facts.

Here are some eye-openers that give every college football team in America hope that next year could be their breakout year, and give you some conversation tools to impress your friends while tipping a brew at the local pub:

1) Only 10 teams that started out the 1st week were able to remain in the AP Top 25 Poll all 14 weeks. Here they are with where they started the 1st week and finished the 14th week:

Southern California (1st to 6th), Louisiana State (2nd to 2nd), West Virginia (3rd to 11th), Florida (4th to 9th), Oklahoma (5th to 3rd), Texas (7th to 17th), Virginia Tech (9th to 5th), Georgia (11th to 4th), Ohio State (12th to 1st) and Hawaii (20th to 10th).

2) Only 5 teams moved into the Poll after the 1st week and were able to stay in the Poll through the 14th and final week. Here they are with the week they started, their place and where they finished:

Boston College the 2nd week (21st to 14th), Missouri the 3rd week (25th to 7th), Arizona State the 4th week (23rd to 12th), Kansas the 6th week (20th to 8th) and Brigham Young the 12th week (23rd to 19th).

3) Three teams rose to the No. 1 spot in the AP Poll before losing—Louisiana State, Missouri and Ohio State. Only the Ohio State re-gained the No. 1 spot, and that happened on the 14th and final week of the regular season when the Buckeyes were idle.

4) No less than 6 teams rose to the No. 2 spot in the Poll before losing—West Virginia, California, Oregon, Boston College, South Florida and Kansas.

5) No less than 45 teams among the 119 Division 1A schools made it into the Top 25 during the 14-week regular season. The 45 teams represent more than one-third (37%) of the 119 schools.

6) Only 6 of the 45 teams were in and out of the poll twice (in, out, in and then out again)—California, Penn State, Rutgers, Alabama, Kentucky and Kansas State.

7) Only 2 of the 45 teams were in and out of the poll three times (in, out, in, out and then in again)—Auburn and Tennessee.

8) Only 4 of the 45 teams became what I would call one-week wonders, they appeared in the Top 25 for one week and then vanished, never to return. They were Purdue, Florida State, Texas Tech and Wake Forest.

Here is the final AP Top 25 Poll following the 14th and final week of regular season play: 1 Ohio State, 2 Louisiana State, 3 Oklahoma, 4 Georgia, 5 Virginia Tech, 6 Southern California, 7 Missouri, 8 Kansas, 9 Florida, 10 Hawaii, 11 West Virginia, 12 Arizona State, 13 Illinois, 14 Boston College, 15 Clemson, 16 Tennessee, 17 Texas, 18 Wisconsin, 19 Brigham Young, 20 Cincinnati, 21 Virginia, 22 Auburn, 23 South Florida, 24 Boise State and 25 Arkansas.

The best state for football in 2007? Clearly Virginia, with Virginia Tech finishing 5th, West Virginia 11th and Virginia 21st. No other state had 3 teams in the Top 25.

The upcoming 32 bowl games can and will change the final AP Top 25 standings when the holiday season is over.

Editor's Note: Read my articles on "How to Predict When Teams Are Overrated and Due for an Unexpected Loss" and "The Sagarin Ratings: What They Are, How to Read Them and What to Do With Them".

Editor's Note: Explore my main blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
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