Greg McElroy’s latest Top 15 comes with the kind of shakeup the college football season has earned at the midway point. The AP Top 25 and McElroy’s list line up near the top, but once you get past the first few spots, the ESPN analyst starts making his own calls - including a UCLA team that has crashed the top 10.
At No. 1, McElroy sticks with Georgia, and it’s hard to argue after the Bulldogs went on the road and beat Alabama in one of the season’s biggest results so far. That win pushed Georgia to the top nationally, and it also gave the Bulldogs the AP’s top spot by a wide margin.
Indiana lands at No. 2 after opening 6-0, extending what McElroy described as a long stretch without a loss under Curt Cignetti. The Hoosiers haven’t been quite as overwhelming as they were deep into last year, but they keep finding a way, and Josh Hoover has settled in well after arriving from TCU. The next checkpoint is a major one against Ohio State.
Miami sits third, rewarded for a start that includes a win over Wake Forest, which McElroy pointed to as one of the ACC’s better teams. The Hurricanes’ offense has been explosive, and they’ll get Florida State this weekend. McElroy’s bigger question is whether the defense keeps progressing enough to turn Miami into a truly complete team.
Notre Dame checks in at No. 4 after surviving the early-season issues that have tripped up Marcus Freeman teams in the past. Road wins at North Carolina and against Wisconsin have gained value, and the schedule gets serious now: a trip to unbeaten BYU this weekend, then Miami visiting on Nov.
- Those games could go a long way in shaping the Irish’s playoff path.
Alabama falls to No. 5 after the loss to Georgia, but McElroy’s view is that the season is far from slipping away. The Crimson Tide are still alive in the SEC title picture and the playoff race, with a trip to Tennessee next and LSU standing out as the other major hurdle in the back half of the schedule.
Texas comes in at No. 6 after its first loss, a setback to Oklahoma that left plenty of “what if” attached to the result. Arch Manning’s two interceptions were part of the story, and McElroy also noted the difficulty of what’s ahead: Ole Miss, Mississippi State, at Missouri, and at LSU over the next four games.
Ohio State is right behind at No. 7, with its lone loss coming in a road game at Texas - a result that still looks respectable, even more so if the Longhorns keep falling into tougher spots. But the Buckeyes’ margin has tightened, and the trip to Indiana this weekend is now a major swing game for how the rest of the season gets judged.
UCLA arrives at No. 8, the surprise of McElroy’s rankings. Bob Chesney has been compared to Curt Cignetti for how quickly he’s changed the program’s fortunes, and the Oregon win last week gave the Bruins a major boost in credibility. The schedule still has some tests - Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, and USC - but McElroy clearly thinks UCLA has earned its place in the top 10.
Utah is No. 9 after storming through the first half of the season with every win coming by at least two touchdowns. Even when the Utes have been a little messy, the final score has usually looked dominant. Houston and BYU both remain on the slate, though both are at home, and there are still four road games left.
BYU rounds out McElroy’s top 10. The Cougars are 5-0, with only one single-digit finish so far, a 17-10 win over TCU. Notre Dame comes to town this week in a huge measuring stick, and McElroy’s ranking suggests he believes BYU belongs in the conversation even before that result is in.
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For a program that always draws attention to who is walking through the door, this is the kind of move that blends experience with a little nostalgia. Aboya adds international and developmental background to the bench, and Pelphreys return gives Big Blue Nation another link to the past while the Wildcats continue building out a staff meant to support the current roster. [Read more 🡒]