Urban Meyer, a superstar head coach and a national figure in college football, spoke at Big Ten Media Days on Monday in Chicago. Big Ten Network did not provide live coverage of his session with the media. ESPN deserves plenty of criticism for how it elevates the SEC and undercuts the levels of exposure it gives to conferences such as the ACC and Big 12. However, when BTN can’t provide live coverage of Meyer, Mark Dantonio, and the coaches of its other big-name programs, the collection of factors that feed into conference bias becomes a lot more complicated. It’s not just about ESPN loving the SEC too much; it’s about BTN and Pac-12 Networks being markedly inadequate when covering their own conferences. Conference bias is, in other words, a two-way street and a multi-source problem. ESPN’s competitors have to do a better job.

TSS Top 25 Poll After Week 5

Posted by on Oct 5, 2015 10:47

At the conclusion of each week’s games, the staff at the Student Section will team with writers from other Bloguin sites to publish a Top 25 poll. Here’s this week’s edition, which looks much different than it did last Monday.

Rank Team Points
1 Ohio State (6) 186
2 Utah (2) 176
3 Texas Christian 161
Tie Michigan State 161
5 Clemson 160
Tie Baylor 160
7 Texas A&M 142
8 Louisiana State 138
9 Oklahoma 132
10 Florida 127
11 Northwestern 121
12 Alabama 115
13 Florida State 113
14 Mississippi 81
15 Stanford 76
16 Notre Dame 70
17 Southern California 65
18 Oklahoma State 56
19 UCLA 52
20 California 51
21 Michigan 49
22 Iowa 48
23 Toledo 40
24 Georgia 33
25 Houston 28
Others receiving votes: Temple 22, Memphis 14, Navy 12, Boise State 9, Duke 2
Voters: Ryan Palencer, Joe Dexter, Kevin Causey, Kevin McGuire, Bart Doan, Allen Kenney, Phil Harrison, Terry Johnson

Notes and Observations

  • Managing Editor Matt Zemek is a voter in the poll, but will not cast a ballot until November.
  • Ohio State moves back to No. 1 this week after Mississippi’s 38-10 loss to Florida. The Buckeyes have occupied the top spot in four of our five polls.
  • Our voters remain impressed by Utah’s body of work so far, ranking the Utes in front of Michigan State, Baylor, TCU, and LSU, which all received first place votes in the Coaches’ Poll.
  • On the other hand, we all disagree on teams 3 through 6, with one point separating TCU, Michigan State, Clemson, and Baylor.
  • By virtue of its impressive 38-10 victory over Ole Miss, Florida made the biggest jump in this week’s poll, moving from No. 21 to No. 10.
  • Iowa was the most polarizing team in this edition of the rankings, being listed as high No. 8, while being left off two ballots completely.
  • After losing 38-10 to Alabama, Georgia suffered the biggest drop in the poll, falling from 8 to 24.
  • Wisconsin and West Virginia fell out of the rankings, and failed to receive a vote this week.
  • Toledo continues to make an impression on our voters, who put the Rockets in front of Houston — which posted an impressive win over Tulsa this weekend — in this week’s poll.

About Terry P. Johnson

Terry Johnson is the Associate Editor for The Student Section. He is a member of the Football Writers Association of America and the National Football Foundation.

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