Following Saturday’s wild game on The Farm, I was curious to see how the AP Top 25 Poll and USA TODAY Coaches Poll would treat both Oregon and Stanford. Oregon came into the game ranked #3 in the country while Stanford came in non-ranked, though they have received some votes in both polls earlier this year. My expectation was that Oregon would fall outside of the top ten and Stanford would receive some votes with an outside chance of being ranked. I thought there was enough of a chance that I checked shortly after both polls came out.
In the AP Poll, Oregon fell to #8 behind Ohio State (#7) who they actually beat earlier in the year and ahead of Michigan (#9) who is 5-0. Stanford is not ranked, though they did receive 11 points in the poll, meaning they received at least a couple of votes.
In the Coaches Poll, Oregon fell to #9, behind both Ohio State (#7) and Michigan (#8) and ahead of BYU (#10). BYU is also ranked #10 in the AP Poll. Stanford is once again not ranked, but unlike the AP Poll, they did not receive any votes.
Touching quickly on Oregon, I’m surprised they didn’t fall outside of the top ten. Just because they had that close win over Fresno State at the beginning of the year. I’m also confused how Ohio State is ranked higher than Oregon considering that Oregon beat Ohio State on the road earlier this year. Logically, it doesn’t make much sense.
Moving on to Stanford and their case for being ranked, if Oregon didn’t fall too much after losing to them, that must mean they’re a pretty good team. And yet, they didn’t receive much love in either poll. Why? On the surface it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. If after losing to them, Oregon is still a top ten team, that means Stanford beat a top ten team on Saturday. And if you beat a top ten team, even if it’s at home, doesn’t that mean there should be room for you in the top 25 in one of the two polls? To help break this down, I’ll provide reasons for why Stanford should be ranked and reasons for why they shouldn’t. At the end, I’ll reach my own conclusions and you of course as a reader will be free to make your own conclusions as well. Let’s dive in!
Reasons why Stanford should be ranked: First of all, Stanford has wins over two teams who were ranked at the time of their matchup. When Stanford beat USC on the road, USC was ranked #14. When Stanford beat Oregon at home on Saturday, Oregon was #3. That’s two wins over top 15 teams.
While it is true that USC is no longer ranked and have since fallen off the map, Stanford still deserves some credit for being the team that exposed USC and brought them down. Especially with the game being on the road. All you can do is beat who is in front of you and if a team is ranked really high when you beat them, that shouldn’t be overlooked.
As for the Oregon win, I already made this point earlier. If Oregon is still considered a top ten team even after losing to Stanford, then that means Stanford beat a top ten team on Saturday. If you beat a team that everyone agrees is one of the top ten teams in the nation, that by extension should at a minimum make you a top 25 team.
Another reason I have for why Stanford should be ranked is the fact that when they’ve been at full strength and had all their pieces, they’re 3-0. In their opening loss to Kansas State, Tanner McKee wasn’t yet the starting quarterback. Stanford was giving both McKee and Jack West equal snaps, which affected the offensive flow and put Stanford at a bit of a disadvantage. I’m not saying Stanford would have won that game had McKee started, but I think a lot of Stanford fans would like to see what would have happened had he started the entire game.
In the UCLA game, Stanford was without a slew of guys due to injury: Austin Jones, Ben Yurosek, Casey Filkins, E.J. Smith, and others. Against Oregon, they got a good chunk of those guys back in Jones, Yurosek, and Filkins. As a result, they were deeper and had more weapons, which played a key role in their victory.
Finally, Stanford beat Oregon without being at full strength. Running back E.J. Smith wasn’t available, guard Branson Bragg was out, and cornerback Ethan Bonner was also out. On top of that, they lost wide receiver Brycen Tremayne for most of the game (and possibly the season) and they’re still waiting on their top receiver Michael Wilson to make his season debut. Stanford has shown that even without being at full strength, they’re still capable of beating a top ten team. I know other teams have injuries to deal with as well, but that notwithstanding, the way Stanford has battled through their injuries and absences is a big plus in their resume.
Reasons why Stanford shouldn’t be ranked: Right off the bat, Stanford does have two losses. The only team ranked in the AP Top 25 Poll with two losses is #20/18 Florida, who lost to now #14/16 Kentucky on Saturday and #1 Alabama two weeks prior. In the Coaches Poll, #21 Clemson joins Florida as the second team with two losses in the top 25 as they lost to #2 Georgia in their first game and #23/22 NC State in double overtime one week ago.
Stanford’s losses aren’t as strong: Kansas State isn’t ranked and UCLA is no longer ranked following their loss to now #22/#25 Arizona State (who Stanford will face on Friday night in Tempe).
The fact that Stanford has two losses, even though they did lose those games without having all their present pieces, is a pretty compelling reason in and of itself to keep them out. Plus, their win over Vanderbilt doesn’t do much to boost their resume, though it is of course good that they won that game.
Conclusion: When looking at Stanford’s resume to be ranked, I think it’s clear that them not being ranked is totally ok. They have the two losses and they’ve been kind of an up and down team all year. One week they look like a ranked team, the next week they don’t. And hey, everyone has injuries and absences that they can use as excuses, too.
That all said, it is a little surprising that the aren’t at least getting more love in the polls after beating Oregon. 11 points in the AP Poll isn’t a whole lot and the Coaches Poll gave them zero votes. I would expect them to be higher on the AP Poll list of teams that received votes and certainly have at least one vote from the Coaches Poll.
The good news for Stanford is that rankings don’t matter at this stage. There’s still plenty of football to be played and Friday’s game at Arizona State will give them another opportunity to show that they are worthy of being ranked. If they beat the Sun Devils in Tempe and are still struggling to get respect from these polls, you might see a fiery article on here next week.
