Jeff Gravley
WRAL anchor Jeff Gravley is from Oxford and has covered sports in the Triangle since 1985.
By Jeff Gravley
Nov 2, 2009
Florida and Alabama were the only two teams that I had ranked number 1 in the AP football poll.
That is until Halloween.
This week I have the burnt orange of Texas at the top of my AP poll. With three quality wins over Oklahoma, Missouri and Oklahoma State, all on the road, Texas deserves to make a move to the revolving #1 ranking.
Prior to last Saturday, I ranked Alabama number one followed by Florida then Texas. It's hard to move undefeated teams down but I give a big bonus to teams that win on the road. Even more credit for road wins over ranked teams. Right now, Texas is playing as well as it has all season long.
So what does the future hold?
There are 7 undefeated teams ranked in the top 10. Either Florida or Alabama will have at least one loss because they will likely play in the SEC championship game.
The Gators have South Carolina, FIU and Florida State left on their regular season schedule. Bama closes out the season at Mississippi
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By Jeff Gravley
Oct 26, 2009
The block party thrown by Alabama's Terrence Cody kept the Tide undefeated and they remain the top team in my AP football poll.
Cody blocked a pair of Tennessee field goals in the 12-10 Alabama win. Florida won by 10 on the road at Mississippi State and Texas steamrolled Missouri 41-7.
The Longhorns game at Missouri could have been a trap game after Texas beat rival Oklahoma. Colt McCoy was "the Colt of old" according to his coach Mack Brown. McCoy hit 26 of 31 passes for 269 yards and 3 scores.
Texas, Florida and Alabama are the 3 teams that I gave consideration to the #1 ranking but again, it came down to the body of work done by all three teams.
Texas has beaten 1 ranked team, Oklahoma. Florida has a win at LSU and Alabama has beaten three ranked teams, Virginia Tech, Mississippi and South Carolina.
Another formula I used to judge the three teams was the combined record of their opponents. Bama's opponents are 28-29, Florida's is 26-24 and the
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By Jeff Gravley
Oct 19, 2009
Like 29 other voters in the AP football poll, I decided this week to change my vote for the top team in college football. Alabama leapfrogs Florida as the #1 team but my reasoning was not confined to just what happened on Saturday.
When comparing undefeated teams, I look at the body of work. So I compared Alabama, Florida and Texas--then made my decision.
The Tide has beaten 3 teams that were ranked at the time they played. Bama by 10 over Virginia Tech, by 19 at Mississippi and by 2 touchdowns over South Carolina.
Florida's signature win is at LSU. Common opponents between the Gators and Tide are Kentucky and Arkansas. Florida whipped the Cats 41-7. Bama topped the Cats by 18. Both played Arkansas at home with Alabama winning 35-7 and Florida getting by the Hogs on a last second field goal.
Then there's Texas and I've had the Longhorns at #2 since the preseason. Nice win over Texas Tech, who is now ranked 21st, but weren't in September when they
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By Jeff Gravley
Oct 12, 2009
It wasn't too long after I hit the send button on my computer that I wish I had a mulligan in my AP football poll.
I should have put Alabama 2nd in my poll instead of 3rd. The Tide rolled Ole Miss and have a win over 4th ranked Virginia Tech.
Instead, I have Texas at number 2 even though they don't have a win over a ranked team. The Longhorns schedule is about to toughen up with games vs. Oklahoma, at Missouri and at Oklahoma State. In that same span, Alabama will host South Carolina, Tennessee and LSU.
A gentleman e-mailed me asking how could I rank Penn State higher than Iowa when the Hawkeyes pancaked the Nittany Lions in Happy Valley?
It's a rise and fall deal.
Penn State was 4th in my poll when they lost to unranked Iowa. I dropped the Lions to 12th and brought the Hawkeyes in at 18. Last week Penn State was 11th in my poll and I kept them there again this week. Iowa on the other hand is 13th in my latest poll. The Hawkeyes continue to climb and
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By Jeff Gravley
Oct 5, 2009
Oklahoma, Georgia and Cal suffered their 2nd loss of the season and dropped out of my AP football poll. There are too many 5-0 teams that needed to get in to justify having a 2-2 Sooners team or 3-2 Georgia or Cal in my top 25.
My top 4 remain the same with Florida, Texas, Alabama and LSU, but you know that will change this weekend with the Gators playing in Baton Rouge.
There was some movement in my 5 through 10. USC moved up to 5th after it's win at Cal. Virginia Tech slipped a spot after an 8 point win at Duke. 3-1 Miami moves back into my top 10 at number 8. 4 games against 4 ranked teams (FSU was ranked at the time) and to come out 3-1 deserves a top ten ranking.
Oregon is back in my poll with undefeated Auburn and South Florida taking the 15th and 17th spot respectively.
So with that, here is my week 5 AP poll....
1-FLORIDA
2-TEXAS
3-ALABAMA
4-LSU
5-USC
6-VIRGINIA TECH
7-BOISE STATE
8-MIAMI
9-CINCINNATI
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By Jeff Gravley
Oct 1, 2009
How many out there thought that in 2009, Greg Paulus would have more career passing yards in college than his brother Mike? Be honest now...Me either.
Greg has passed for 888 yards in 4 games at Syracuse. He is hitting 68% of his passes with 6 touchdowns and 4 picks. In the win over Northwestern, the former Duke point guard passed for 346 yards. This is a guy who hasn't played football in 4-years!
The 2-year career stats of his brother Mike at North Carolina are 4 of 13 for 33 yards, 0 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.
Earlier this year, Mike wasn't even the 2nd quarterback out of the bullpen against the Citadel. Braden Hanson was. Mike committed to UNC the summer before John Bunting was fired and kept his word when Butch Davis was hired in November 2007.
Now his basketball playing brother is playing more football than he is.
We thought we had seen the last of Greg Paulus' college athletic endeavors and then he runs the ultimate trick play, returning to football.
I
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By Jeff Gravley
Sep 28, 2009
The Associated Press sent an e-mail to the football poll voters asking, "Aside from the top 3, have you taken a start all over approach, " to voting?
I didn't start from scratch but with 4 of my top 10 teams losing, it was close. Three of those losses (Cal, Ole Miss and Miami) were on the road.
The 4 losses by top 10 teams, meant 4 new tenants were moving into the upper 10. Virginia Tech was already in my top 10 before beating Miami. Newcomers to my top 10 are Oklahoma, USC, Cincinnati and Ohio State.
Exiting my poll are North Carolina, Florida State and Utah. Three new teams in are Houston, Iowa and Nebraska.
So after 3-4 games we are beginning to see who some of the better teams are....then they go lose unexpectedly. Crazy man, crazy--but very interesting to follow.
So here is my AP poll...
1-FLORIDA
2-TEXAS
3-ALABAMA
4-LSU
5-VA TECH
6-BOISE STATE
7-OKLAHOMA
8-USC
9-CINCINNATI
10-OHIO STATE
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By Jeff Gravley
Sep 21, 2009
Five ACC teams remain in my AP Top 25 poll with Miami leading the way at number 9. I had the Canes 17th last week but they deserve to be in the top 10 the way they have played so far. What a contest we have this week with Miami playing at Virginia Tech. I have the Hokies ranked 10th.
Florida State is back in my poll after shellacking previous top ten BYU. That's the Cougars first loss at home in 3 years. The 54-28 score looked like what we would see in the 90's from the Seminoles. But no, the 2009 Noles are no where close to the teams they had in the late 1990's.
North Carolina's offense had their most impressive performance against an ECU defense that was supposed to be a good one. Early in the game, the Carolina offense went to a quicker tempo of calling and running plays. Butch Davis said after the game that the staff decided that instead of taking a lot of time at the line of scrimmage before running a play, they wanted make the defense adjust
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By Jeff Gravley
Sep 14, 2009
Southern Cal's win at Ohio State was enough for me to put the Trojans ahead of Alabama, who beat FIU 40-14.
How impressive was USC, freshman quarterback Matt Barkley on that final drive? Buckeye coach Jim Tressel had the situation he wanted...a 4th quarter lead at home with a freshman quarterback that needed 86 yards to the end zone.
Houston went to Oklahoma State and knocked the Cowboys out of the top ten. Having watched the Cougars play ECU in Conference USA, should we really be that surprised? Houston can flat put up some points.
Two teams that were punted out of my poll...Notre Dame and Oregon. New entries this week include Georgia and Missouri.
North Carolina falls one spot after their unusual win at UCONN. Offensive holding by the Huskies in the end zone wins it? That on the same weekend that Serena Williams loses her match by blasting the line judge with a rated R tirade.
With that, here is my week 2 AP football poll.
1-FLORIDA
2-TEXAS
3-USC
4-ALABAMA
5-PENN
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By Jeff Gravley
Sep 8, 2009
For the first few weeks of college football you will see large leaps and sudden falls in the AP football poll.
The preseason poll is based on speculation.
The first week is based on results plus speculation.
Some teams open with cupcakes and win big. Some teams begin the season playing a legitimate opponent. I don't have a problem ranking an 0-1 team if they played a ranked team or against a good team on the road.
I don't think we get a good grasp on a true top 25 poll until 4 games into the season.
I did not have North Carolina in my preseason poll but I have them ranked 21st now. I watched them at field level Saturday night against the Citadel. The Heels defense is fast, active and they tackle well. What impressed me was how they defended Citadel receiver Andre Roberts, who was a 2nd team all-american last year. Roberts caught 10 short passes for 30 yards. I ranked UNC because of their defensive talent level, not because of who they beat.
After
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