Amway Coaches Poll stock watch: Michigan drops after Ohio State loss
If the Amway Coaches Poll presages the College Football Playoff selection committee’s rankings, championship week is going to produce a bit of a quandary. About the only thing everyone will agree upon is the top seed.
Alabama remains the unanimous No. 1 team in the poll after handling rival Auburn. Ohio State, which outlasted Michigan in double overtime, holds on at No. 2, though the Buckeyes will not be able to play for the Big Ten championship next week. What the committee does with them might well hinge on how the game itself transpires, as in whether Wisconsin, whom the Buckeyes defeated, or Penn State, which beat OSU, emerges victorious.
Clemson and Washington hold down the all-important third and fourth positions in the coaches poll after decisive wins in their own rivalry games.
TOP 25: Amway Coaches Poll
Stock up: Wisconsin. The Badgers rallied to beat Minnesota to win the Big Ten West outright and climb a notch to enter the top five.
Stock down: Michigan. The Wolverines’ fall only to No. 6, down two places, but their loss in Columbus all but doomed their playoff chances. A major bowl invitation should still be in the offing.
Stock up: West Virginia. The Mountaineers can’t win the Big 12 outright, but they do pick up four positions to check in at No. 14 after a win at Iowa State.
Stock down: Louisville. The Cardinals are perhaps fortunate to slide only four places to No. 15 after a mistake-filled loss to Kentucky.
The bowl eligibility picture is almost complete
Stock up: Western Michigan. The Broncos gain four spots to No. 14, their highest ranking of the season, after a huge win against Toledo clinched their place in the Mid-American Conference title game. A win there against Ohio might mean a New Year’s Six bowl bid.
Stock down: Nebraska. The Cornhuskers take a seven-place hit to No. 22 after closing the regular season with a loss at Iowa.
New kids on the block: No. 17 Stanford, No. 18 Virginia Tech, No. 20 Navy, No. 21 LSU, No. 23 South Florida, No. 25 Iowa.
College dropouts: Boise State, Houston, Texas A&M, Washington State, Tennessee, North Carolina.