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Derek Redd reveals his AP Top 25 ballot, Part 1

Hello? Anyone there?

I know we’ve been away for a little while, but we’re back with some minor housekeeping moves (check the new name of the blog), and I figured what better way to reemerge than find a way for you all to possibly mock me?

So here is my AP football ballot after the first full(-ish) week of games this season. It’s a weird one, considering that, as of right now, no teams who aren’t playing aren’t eligible. So there are a ton of old reliables who aren’t on the board.

My picks:

1. Clemson
2. Alabama
3. Oklahoma
4. Georgia
5. LSU
6. Florida
7. Notre Dame
8. Auburn
9. Texas A&M
10. Texas
11. Oklahoma State
12. North Carolina
13. Cincinnati
14 UCF
15. Miami (FL)
16. Memphis
17. Louisville
18. Army
19. Tennessee
20. Kentucky
21. Louisiana-Lafayette
22. Brigham Young
23. Appalachian State
24. Pittsburgh
25. Baylor

As you can see, it’s not too far off of what you saw with the full AP poll from Sunday. I guess that’s to be expected. The folks at College Poll Tracker named boring, vanilla ol’ me the third least extreme ballot among the pollsters.

This one wasn’t easy. I had to replace about 10 teams from my preseason ballot due to conferences not playing, and the field to replace them wasn’t ridiculously deep. There were a few big wins by teams that still left me skeptical (more on that in a second). In the end, the teams I voted for in the preseason that were eligible this week moved up into empty spots, mostly in order. That allowed a ton of Group of 5 teams to earn spots on the bottom end.

Army and Louisiana both earned their spots. Louisiana trounced Iowa State (which was 18 on my preseason ballot and fell off my 25 this week, and Army is now 2-0. BYU had a nice opening win, but I’ll keep an eye on them because they already moved what would have been a slam-bang game Sept. 19 versus Army due to COVID-19 issues.

And I know what you’re thinking: why no WVU or Marshall? I thought about it, then decided against it. You can thank Eastern Kentucky for that.

For the Mountaineers and Thundering Herd, the Colonels were just what the doctor ordered, a warmup game that got each team ready for a tougher rest of the schedule. For me the voter, EKU was such an awful team, it didn’t give me enough of a good idea of where WVU and Marshall really stand. Next game for both — at Oklahoma State for WVU and hosting Appalachian State for Marshall — will be a much better barometer. So I’ll reserve my opinion until then.

Welp, there you go. Flame away.