K-State stays at 15 in AP poll

This weekend, the only loss suffered by a team in top 18 was #3 Alabama’s 34-24 loss to #11 Texas, so it will be no surprise to learn that there was very little movement above Kansas State in the week three poll. The wildcats remain esconced in 15th place; by points, they’re exactly in between #14 LSU and #16 Oregon State, who also didn’t move.

The highest ballot submitted for K-State again comes from Greg Madia of the Daily Progress in Charlottesville, VA, who has the Cats at 8. The low spot last week was Colten Bartholomew of the Wisconsin State Journal, who inexplicably left K-State off entirely; this week, the dishonor goes to Scoops McMurphy, who only has the Cats at #24.

The only shakeups in the top two-thirds this week were a result of the surprise in Tuscaloosa, Tennessee’s lethargic 30-13 win over FCS Austin Peay, and North Carolina’s seemingly annual narrow escape from Appalachian State (a 40-34 win). Georgia and Michigan remain 1-2, while Florida State moved up into Alabama’s spot. Texas vaulted to #4, while USC and Ohio State swapped places, now 5-6 instead of 6-5 but only separated by four points.

Penn State and Washington remain at 7-8, while Notre Dame was the final beneficiary of Alabama’s loss, sliding up a spot to 9. Alabama fell to 10, and Tennessee fell to 11. Utah and Oregon remain 12-13.

Behind Oregon State, Mississippi jumped three spots to 17 after a 37-20 win over #24 Tulane, who dropped out; Colorado rose four spots to 18 after trucking Nebraska. Oklahoma slid back a spot to 19 after a lukewarm 28-11 win over SMU, while the Tar Heels fell to 20.

After that, things got wild. #19 Wisconsin lost to Washington State 31-22, dropping the Badgers out of the poll and moving the Cougars in at 23. That’s right, the entire Pac-2 is now ranked. Duke stayed at 21, while Miami (FL) moved in at 22 after knocking off #23 Texas A&M, who also left the poll. UCLA and Iowa, the first two teams out last week, moved in at 24-25. Clemson, who had been #21, dropped out despite a 66-17 win over FCS Charleston Southern, and it wasn’t particularly close either; the Tigers only received 86 points, while Iowa had 106.

Receiving votes last week, and also this week: Tulane and Wisconsin still got votes despite dropping out, as well as Arkansas, TCU, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Minnesota, Fresno State, Wyoming, and James Madison.

Teams which received votes last week and did not this week: Pitt (lost to Cincinnati), North Carolina State (lost to the Irish), Troy (duh), Auburn (struggled to a 14-10 win at California), Texas State (lost to UTSA), Iowa State (lost El Assico), Texas Tech (lost to Oregon), Central Florida (won 18-16 at Boise State), Illinois (lost to Kansas), Houston (lost to grain food), and Louisville (despite shelling FCS Murray State 56-0).

Now getting votes: Kansas, Cincinnati, Oklahoma State (who won 27-15 at Arizona State), and Maryland (38-20 winners over Charlotte).

The single #25 vote crowd is Maryland, Oklahoma State, and Wyoming; Maryland is courtesy of Kirk Bohls, which he seems to do on a regular basis. The brown Cowboy vote came from Rece Davis, and the orange Cowboy vote was submitted by Kirk Kenney of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The most extreme ballot this week came from Mike Niziolek of the Bloomington (IN) Herald-Times, who only had Texas at 10, dropped Alabama all the way to 16, put North Carolina at 13, Oregon State down at 21, and thinks Arkansas is #17. Niziolek beat out McMurphy, whose nine-spot snub of K-State was only prevented from being the most off-kilter ranking of the week by Randy Johnson of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune ranking LSU 25th.