Reaction to the Rankings, Week 1, 2010

The Brigham Young Cougars climbed into the USA Today Top 25 this week claiming the number 24 spot. Having been three spots outside the rankings in the preseason, BYU was poised to join the ranks after three teams dropped from the rankings. BYU has a fairly comfortable cushion on South Carolina (#25) with 23 points separating them, while only 15 points separate BYU and Arizona (#23). This ranking represents a lot of respect. Arizona and South Carolina won their games big (41-2 and 41-13, respectively), and South Carolina is an SEC team. True, their competition wasn't as good as Washington, but I still think it says a lot. They could have kept Pitt in the rankings (they lost to another ranked team) or voted another "name" team in (Notre Dame or Stanford).

The media (AP) poll didn't have the same movement. After starting the season with 19 points, the win over Washington helped BYU collect 30 points this week. The 30 points puts BYU in a tie with Arizona as the teams with the 32nd most points (BYU was 34th in the preseason). As I stated previously, the media is, historically, harder to impress (in this specific case, it makes me wonder how much they have bought in to the Locker for Heisman campaign). Of course, a few more wins and the media and coaches will probably be on the same page.

What is your reaction to the rankings?