AP College Football Poll: Week 1 produces little movement

For the Top 25, it was a relatively unremarkable first week. Of course there was Jalen Hurts’ superb performance (508 yards of offense, three touchdowns passing and three MORE rushing) as No. 4 Oklahoma beat Houston 49-31 on Sunday. Only time will tell if the Alabama transfer can become the third consecutive Sooners quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy after Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray.

After the first week, Hawaii’s Cedric Byrd is flying above the rest, with his 224 receiving yards from Week Zero still atop the stats. Reggie Roberson Jr. of SMU is next with 180. Jonathan Taylor (Wisconsin), Omar Bayless (Arkansas State), Isaih Pacheco (Rutgers) are tied with Byrd for most touchdowns at four. Bayless’ like Byrd’s, are all from receiving, Taylor’s are all by rushing and Pacheco has two from each.

In the only game last week matching Top 25 teams, Auburn came back to knock off Oregon. So Auburn moves up from No. 16 in the preseason to No. 10 in the poll released after Week One, and Oregon drops to 16 from 11.

Nothing much else has changed at the top. It’s still Clemson, Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma and Ohio State, in that order, for the entire body of voters; my only deviation is Georgia and Alabama switching places.

On the border, though, Boise State and UCF jump in for me at 22 and 24. All of the voters combined actually dropped UCF a spot to No. 18 and introduce Boise State at No. 24.

While a win at Florida State isn’t what it used to be just a couple of years ago, it’s still a big deal. And — especially if the Seminoles recover and have a good season — it’s a feather in the cap for the Broncos, as well as the entire Mountain West.

Can anyone remember a better opening week for the Mountain?

Air Force, New Mexico, Wyoming, Nevada, San Jose State, San Diego State and UNLV all join Boise State as Week One winners, keeping the momentum going started by Hawaii with its Week Zero upset of Arizona.

That’s 9-3, for a nifty .750 winning percentage. Most years, the Mountain West is more likely to start out 3-9 instead of 9-3. And one of the three Week One losses was a field goal away from being tied: Wake Forest 38, Utah State 35. Fresno State wasn’t far behind in a 31-23 loss to USC.

This week, Boise State is an 11-point favorite against Marshall, despite Marshall piling up 56 points against VMI in its opener.

Games involving two Top 25 teams have LSU at Texas and Texas A&M at Clemson. So, there will likely be movement near the top in next week’s poll.

Closer to home, Hawaii is favored by 5 1/2 (more in some places) as it hosts Oregon State. That sounds about right. Would a 2-0 Hawaii team get votes in the poll? I’ve been asked that a lot since the Warriors beat Arizona 10 days ago, even more in recent days. This sounds like a cop out for sure; but it really does depend on what else happens along with a Hawaii win in Week Two.

Here’s the entire AP poll, followed by my ballot:
1. Clemson (54 first-place votes)
2. Alabama (8)
3. Georgia
4. Oklahoma
5. Ohio State
6. LSU
7. Michigan
8. Notre Dame (9th last week)
9. Texas (10th)
10. Auburn (16th)
11. Florida (8th)
12. Texas A&M
13. Utah (14th)
14. Washington (13th)
15. Penn State
16. Oregon (11th)
17. Wisconsin (19th)
18. UCF (17th)
19. Michigan State (18th)
20. Iowa
21. Syracuse (22nd)
22. Washington State (23rd)
23. Stanford (25th)
24. Boise State (NR)
T25. Iowa State (21st)
T25. Nebraska (24th)

Here’s the ballot I submitted:
1. Clemson
2. Georgia
3. Alabama
4. Oklahoma
5. Florida
6. Ohio State
7. Texas A&M
8. LSU
9. Texas (11th last week)
10. Michigan (9th)
11. Auburn (15th)
12. Notre Dame
13. Michigan State
14. Washington
15. Wisconsin (18th)
16. Utah (17th)
17. Iowa (16th)
18. Oregon (10th)
19. TCU
20. Penn State (21st)
21. Syracuse (22nd)
22. Boise State (NR)
23. Washington State (24th)
24. UCF (NR)
25. Virginia