Mississippi State got absolutely walloped by Alabama, a 56-23 blowout on Saturday, but somehow one AP Top 25 voter decided that was a reason to move them *up* eight spots in his ballot. Yeah, you read that right. After a game where traditional powerhouse Alabama and their surging Heisman contender quarterback, Keelon Russell, completely derailed the Bulldogs, most voters adjusted their rankings downwards. But not Greg Luca, a reporter from the San Antonio Express-News, who seemingly lives in a different reality.
What in the World Is Going On With This Ballot?
Look, after some early success behind quarterback Kamario Taylor, Mississippi State was actually the surprising talk of the SEC for a minute. That’s cool, you gotta respect it. But then you run into the Tide, you take a 33-point beatdown, and you expect to slide, right? Luca’s reasoning for this head-scratching move? He wrote in his column that “selecting the 25 best teams is an inexact science,” and voters get “wide latitude.” He also mentioned the “one exception” being to “pay attention to head-to-head results” and that “every week starts with a blank page.” Seriously? A “blank page” in Week 5 of the season, after a team just got outworked by a better conference opponent by over thirty points? That logic just doesn’t fly. It makes zero sense to take a team who got absolutely annihilated and then bump them up eight spots.
The Numbers Just Don’t Add Up
Luca’s entire ballot this week is full of wild differences from the final AP Poll, and it’s not just Mississippi State. He had the Bulldogs (4-1) at No. 10, while the AP ranked them No. 17. That’s a huge gap! He put Ole Miss (4-1) at No. 13, but the AP had them at No. 9, even though Ole Miss beat LSU, who Luca had *higher* at No. 8 compared to the AP’s No. 10. And don’t even get me started on Oregon (4-1), who he placed at No. 9 when the AP had them at No. 13.
But the biggest issues come when you look at how he tried to explain his head-to-head criteria. He brought up this whole “Arkansas beat Tulsa, who beat Oklahoma State, who beat Oregon” thing. First off, Oklahoma State was unranked on Luca’s ballot but No. 18 in the AP Poll. And nobody is calling for Arkansas to be a top-10 team because they’re 2-3 and just took a 33-point loss to No. 12 Utah! So if head-to-head really matters, why is undefeated Utah pushed back to No. 14 on his ballot, behind both Florida and Mississippi State, who just got absolutely blasted? This just screams inconsistency. Saying Mississippi State, Missouri, Florida and Ole Miss “aren’t that far apart” feels pretty disingenuous considering the actual results. Yeah, Mississippi State is a good team. But they ran into an elite one and got smoked. The ballot should reflect that.
This isn’t about one bad game for a good team; it’s about a voter’s ballot that seems to completely disregard the very results it’s supposed to be ranking. Moving forward, the polls need consistency, especially when actual game outcomes like a 33-point loss are on the table. Fans deserve better than this kind of baffling logic.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by The Sporting News.
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