John Steppe’s AP ballot ahead of conference championships: Miami tumbles after another November loss

IOWA CITY — Miami (Fla.) experienced quite the reality check in the month of November.

The Hurricanes were widely considered one of the best teams in the country at the beginning of the month. In fact, I was an outlier when I had the Hurricanes at No. 7 four weeks ago. (All but three of my colleagues had Miami at No. 5 or higher, and the Hurricanes were ranked No. 4 that week.)

Now, Miami has lost two of its last three games. Both losses were to unranked teams, and Miami will not get much credit for beating four-win Wake Forest in between those losses.

The Hurricanes are now No. 15 on my ballot. I have three-loss Alabama, South Carolina and Ole Miss ahead of Miami; those teams at least have ranked wins. (Alabama has three ranked wins, and South Carolina has four.)

Speaking of teams suffering humbling losses, Ohio State fell four spots to No. 6 on my ballot after its unexpected home loss to Michigan. The Buckeyes have quality wins over Penn State and Indiana — two teams in the top 10 of my ballot this week — and came close to knocking off now-top-ranked Oregon earlier this year, which kept them from falling farther.

Tennessee is right behind Ohio State on my ballot at No. 7. The Volunteers have three wins against AP-ranked teams this year, but their wins over NC State and Oklahoma have lost luster since September.

South Carolina jumped four spots on my ballot after its 17-14 win over then-No. 12 Clemson. With four wins over AP-ranked teams and no unranked losses, the LaNorris Sellers-led Gamecocks could be on the edge of College Football Playoff contention.

Iowa State moved up three spots on my ballot to No. 16 after its win over Kansas State. The Cyclones have recovered nicely from their back-to-back losses, and a win in the Big 12 title game most likely would put them in the CFP field.

Texas A&M fell off my ballot after suffering its third straight SEC loss. A 10-point loss by itself to then-No. 3 Texas is not terrible. But looking at the Aggies’ month of November as a whole, it’s not pretty. They went 0-3 against SEC teams, and that includes a loss to Auburn (which previously only had one conference win).

John Steppe’s post-Week 14 AP ballot

Also warranting consideration: Texas A&M, Army

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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