The week 3 college football polls released today have the Cougars falling to 19th in the AP and 20th in the USA Today Coaches' poll. BYU should consider themselves lucky to have not fallen further. After losing by 26 points on their home field, giving up over 300 yards rushing (over 500 total) and committing five turnovers - all against an unranked team, the Cougars could have dropped more.
This is yet another demonstration of how insignificant the ranking system is during at least the first four or five weeks of the season. As I wrote last night, the Seminoles were ranked 18th just 15 days ago, the Cougars 20th. Today, the schools are almost exactly back to those positions. What I don't understand is that the Seminoles are ranked below the Cougars - 25th - in the Coaches'. Florida State is certainly a Top 20 team - probably a Top 15 team easy. No team comes into Provo and achieves those kind of results without being a very good team. Not to mention, the Seminoles nearly beat Miami who is now ranked 9th overall.
Polls after the jump...
| AP Top 25 | |||
| RK | TEAM | RECORD | PTS |
| 1 | Florida (55) | 3-0 | 1488 |
| 2 | Texas (2) | 3-0 | 1428 |
| 3 | Alabama (3) | 3-0 | 1390 |
| 4 | Mississippi | 2-0 | 1213 |
| 5 | Penn State | 3-0 | 1212 |
| 6 | California | 3-0 | 1169 |
| 7 | LSU | 3-0 | 1120 |
| 8 | Boise State | 3-0 | 1038 |
| 9 | Miami (FL) | 2-0 | 920 |
| 10 | Oklahoma | 2-1 | 862 |
| 11 | Virginia Tech | 2-1 | 852 |
| 12 | USC | 2-1 | 825 |
| 13 | Ohio State | 2-1 | 810 |
| 14 | Cincinnati | 3-0 | 739 |
| 15 | TCU | 2-0 | 674 |
| 16 | Oklahoma State | 2-1 | 478 |
| 17 | Houston | 2-0 | 455 |
| 18 | Florida State | 2-1 | 363 |
| 19 | Brigham Young | 2-1 | 349 |
| 20 | Kansas | 3-0 | 347 |
| 21 | Georgia | 2-1 | 318 |
| 22 | North Carolina | 3-0 | 271 |
| 23 | Michigan | 3-0 | 247 |
| 24 | Washington | 2-1 | 194 |
| 25 | Nebraska | 2-1 | 132 |
| USA Today Poll | |||
| RK | TEAM | RECORD | PTS |
| 1 | Florida (59) | 3-0 | 1475 |
| 2 | Texas | 3-0 | 1412 |
| 3 | Alabama | 3-0 | 1355 |
| 4 | Penn State | 3-0 | 1274 |
| 5 | Mississippi | 2-0 | 1182 |
| 6 | California | 3-0 | 1149 |
| 7 | LSU | 3-0 | 1122 |
| 8 | Boise State | 3-0 | 976 |
| 9 | Oklahoma | 2-1 | 917 |
| 10 | USC | 2-1 | 905 |
| 11 | Ohio State | 2-1 | 900 |
| 12 | Virginia Tech | 2-1 | 853 |
| 13 | Miami (FL) | 2-0 | 724 |
| 14 | TCU | 2-0 | 701 |
| 15 | Cincinnati | 3-0 | 580 |
| 16 | Oklahoma State | 2-1 | 576 |
| 17 | Georgia | 2-1 | 457 |
| 18 | North Carolina | 3-0 | 445 |
| 19 | Kansas | 3-0 | 381 |
| 20 | Brigham Young | 2-1 | 279 |
| 21 | Missouri | 3-0 | 214 |
| 22 | Michigan | 3-0 | 205 |
| 23 | Houston | 2-0 | 160 |
| 24 | Nebraska | 2-1 | 158 |
| 25 | Florida State | 2-1 | 154 |