2013 Week 7 NCAA Football Top 25: The Tailgater Poll

Upsets finally reared their ugly heads this week, as six teams from last week’s Tailgater poll fell by the wayside on Saturday. Four of those teams — #3 Stanford, #14 Oklahoma, #19 Michigan, and #21 Northwestern — all fell to teams that were unranked at the start of the weekend. After the upsets, only two of those teams remain in the Week 7 rankings.

But perhaps the biggest shake-up came in Athens, where conventional wisdom about the SEC East was turned on its head. Between the hedges at Sanford Stadium, SEC neophyte Missouri improved to 6-0 as they dealt a banged-up Georgia team its second defeat of the year. The result shuffled the stack yet again in the SEC’s weaker division; coupled with Florida’s loss to LSU, the victory puts Mizzou at the top of the East halfway through the season.

How did all of this affect the poll this week? Before we go any further, here’s how our ballots combined to form the Week 7 poll after the conclusion of the first month of the 2013 regular season:

 

RANK	TEAM	POINTS	LAST WK
1	Alabama (2)	74	1
2	Oregon (1)	73	2
3	Clemson	69	4
4	Florida State	64	5
5	Ohio State	63	6
6	UCLA	60	8
7	Baylor	55	8
8	Louisville	52	7
9	Miami (FL)	51	10
10	LSU	50	10
11	Texas A&M	47	13
12	Stanford	43	3
13	Texas Tech	36	16
13	Missouri	36	22
15	South Carolina	33	17
16	Fresno State	30	18
17	Georgia	20	10
18	Virginia Tech	19	24
19	Northern Illinois	18	23
20	Oklahoma	17	14
21	Wisconsin	14	NR
22	Michigan State	11	25
23	Nebraska	8	NR
24	Florida	7	19
25	Oklahoma State	6	26
25	Houston	6	27

ALSO RECEIVING VOTES: Washington (5), UCF (5), Auburn (2), Oregon State (1)

 

Missouri is under the radar no longer. After pulling off the nominal upset in Athens, the Tigers have propelled up the poll from 22nd last week to 13th this week; their nine-spot climb proving the largest leap of the weekend. We also saw big gains by Virginia Tech (from 24th to 18th), Northern Illinois (from 23rd to 19th), and Wisconsin (unranked last week, 21st this week).

The largest plummet belongs to Stanford, which fell nine spots after its upset loss to unranked Utah. Michigan and Northwestern fell completely out of the poll after losing to Penn State and Wisconsin respectively. Georgia would fall seven spots from 10th to 17th, while Oklahoma’s loss in the Red River Shootout to a Jekyll-and-Hyde Texas team dropped them six spots to 20th.

That said, you’ve probably got a different opinion than us. With the spirit of contention in mind, you will find our individual ballots below. Leave your personal picks, acrimonious invective, base insults, insulting suggestions, or belligerent rants down  in the comments below. You’re also always welcome to hit up any of us on Twitter to offer a piece of your mind…

 

ZACH BIGALKE @zbigalke	MATT STROBL @mmstrobl	JOHN MITCHELL @jlmitchell93
Oregon Alabama Clemson Florida State Baylor UCLA Ohio State Louisville Miami (FL) LSU Stanford Texas A&M Fresno State Texas Tech Missouri Georgia South Carolina Northern Illinois Oklahoma Houston Virginia Tech Washington Wisconsin UCF Oregon State	Alabama Oregon Clemson Ohio State Florida State UCLA Miami (FL) Louisville Baylor LSU Stanford Texas A&M Texas Tech South Carolina Missouri Oklahoma Fresno State Wisconsin Michigan State Oklahoma State Virginia Tech Northern Illinois Nebraska Auburn UCF	Alabama Oregon Clemson Ohio State Florida State UCLA Texas A&M LSU Baylor Louisville Miami (FL) Missouri Stanford South Carolina Texas Tech Georgia Virginia Tech Fresno State Florida Northern Illinois Nebraska Michigan State Wisconsin UCF Washington