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Northwestern college football rankings: So beating Western Michigan drops you in the polls

Damn, voters, why you gotta hate on the Broncos?

By Rodger Sherman
David Banks

Northwestern went out and, despite a shaky first quarter, beat Western Michigan 38-17... and went from being ranked No. 17 in the AP Poll to No. 18? And the team that passed them is Washington, who beat ILLINOIS by just ten points?

First off, apologies to Western Michigan, that their reasonable valiance in a three-touchdown defeat leads to questions about how good the team they lost to by three touchdowns is.

Secondly, I don't have much of a qualm with this, because it's kind of just an example of early season poll silliness. the Huskies probably deserve to be higher than NU on account of murdering Boise State.

And thirdly: I'd rather beat Western Michigan by 21 than beat Akron by four, if you catch my drift.

Some people have been parsing the rankings religiously as if it has any factor in whether or not Northwestern hosts College GameDay in a few weeks. (We all are getting really, really, really excited about this!) Personally, I'm going to trust Inside NU when they said (and I can't find the link) that GameDay will come to NU if the Cats and Buckeyes are undefeated. If that's the case, all we have to worry about are those damn Black Bears of Maine next week, and then we can sit and watch Ohio State uphold their end of the deal. (Don't sleep on Maine! They're roughly as good as Western Michigan.)

We're 3-0 guys, and that's more than over half of our conference can say.

Here's a look at the rankings:

Rank Team Record Votes Previous
1 Alabama (59) 2-0 1,499 1
2 Oregon (1) 3-0 1,413 2
3 Clemson 2-0 1,347 3
4 Ohio State 3-0 1,330 4
5 Stanford 2-0 1,241 5
6 LSU 3-0 1,134 8
7 Louisville 3-0 1,092 7
8 Florida State 2-0 1,058 10
9 Georgia 1-1 1,051 9
10 Texas A&M 2-1 1,001 6
11 Oklahoma State 3-0 848 12
12 South Carolina 2-1 821 13
13 UCLA 2-0 757 16
14 Oklahoma 3-0 692 14
15 Michigan 3-0 672 11
16 Miami (FL) 2-0 641 15
17 Washington 2-0 496 19
18 Northwestern 3-0 487 17
19 Florida 1-1 412 18
20 Baylor 2-0 355 22
21 Mississippi 3-0 300 25
22 Notre Dame 2-1 277 21
23 Arizona State 2-0 229 NR
24 Wisconsin 2-1 87 20
25 Texas Tech 3-0 60 NR
Others Receiving Votes: Michigan State 59, Fresno State 27, UCF25, Northern Illinois 24, Georgia Tech 17, Nebraska 15, Arizona 11, Auburn 9, Boise State 4, Virginia Tech 3, TCU 3, Arkansas 2, Navy 1

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