Steppe’s Week 13 AP ballot: Oregon remains No. 1 despite scare against Wisconsin

IOWA CITY — The 70,000-plus people at Camp Randall Stadium had plenty to jubilantly jump around about at the end of the third quarter as unranked Wisconsin had a lead over No. 1 Oregon with one quarter to go.

Oregon — which joined in on one of the more famous Big Ten stadium traditions — ended up being the ones having something to jump around about at the end of the game, however, as the Ducks escaped with a 16-13 win.

The Ducks also escaped with the No. 1 spot on my AP ballot again this week. Oregon’s performance against a struggling Wisconsin team was not particularly impressive, but the Ducks still have a stronger case to make for the top spot than the alternatives.

No. 2 Ohio State lost to Oregon earlier this year. No. 3 Texas’ resume has an obvious blemish with last month’s 30-15 loss to Georgia. Tennessee, No. 4 on my ballot last week, lost this week. Undefeated Indiana, No. 5, has played a much weaker schedule than Oregon has.

Tennessee fell from No. 4 to No. 10 after suffering its second loss of the season to Georgia, but the Volunteers remain ahead of one-loss Miami (Fla.) on my ballot. I’m not going to penalize the Vols for playing a challenging schedule while the Hurricanes have yet to play a ranked team.

BYU, meanwhile, fell from No. 8 to No. 13 — one spot behind Boise State — after losing to unranked Kansas.

Boise State did not always look impressive in its win over San Jose State, but the Broncos’ one loss at Oregon looks a lot better than BYU’s one loss to Kansas. (That’s also why SMU counterintuitively fell back a spot despite winning this week. BYU has the head-to-head win over SMU.)

Several teams fell off my ballot entirely after suffering losses this week — Washington State, Kansas State, LSU and Louisville. Missouri remained on my ballot, though, after its narrow, 34-30, loss to South Carolina. The Tigers are 7-3, with all three losses coming against ranked teams.

Iowa State, Tulane, UNLV and Illinois entered (or reentered) my ballot this week. I suspect I might be in the minority for having Iowa State ahead of Tulane, but the Cyclones’ two-loss resume looks better than Tulane’s two-loss resume.

I also might be in the minority of voters who continue to have two-loss Colorado and Clemson ahead of undefeated Army. But Army’s best win is arguably against East Carolina — far from a football powerhouse. The Black Knights will have an opportunity to prove me wrong next week against Notre Dame.

John Steppe’s Week 13 AP ballot

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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