Fan Pulse Top 25: Bama’s Back!

*Just a reminder that this is an SB Nation wide poll. The national top 25 poll is not Purduecentric but it is voted on by Hammer and Rails members. Underneath the national poll you will find more Purduecentric information. This has been a public service announcement, please proceed with you regularly scheduled activity.

National Top 25

The people have spoken, and The Alabama Crimson Tide have unofficially overtaken Clemson for the stop spot in the top 25 this week after Clemson’s narrow escape in Chapel Hill.

The voters were feeling frisky this week, as teams began to shift around at the top.

Ohio State moved from 6th to 4th on the strength of their dominating victory over Nebraska. The voters decided that the Buckeyes road win in Lincoln was more impressive than LSU’s road win in Austin....which is certainly an opinion....but probably has more to do with recency bias than anything else.

To make way for the O.S.U. jump, Oklahoma also go knocked down a peg, even after their demolition of Texas Tech. Beating Nebraska in Lincoln must count from more than I thought.

Boise State was a big mover, as they jumped from 19th to 15th this week after knocking off Air Force. This feels more like a cumulative body of work promotion than a comment on Saturday’s game.

It was an exciting weekend for West Coast football, with Washington joining Boise as a big mover. The Huskies jumped up 4 spots from 20 to 16 after they knocked off the USC Trojans.

Michigan dropped 2 more spaces, even after they took Rutgers out back and punished them for their own failings against Wisconsin. People are still trying to figure out just how bad the Michigan offense is against actual football teams.

Hammer and Rails Top 25

1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Georgia
4. Ohio State
5. LSU
6. Oklahoma
7. Auburn
8. Wisconsin
9. Florida
10. Notre Dame
11. Penn State
12. Texas
13. Iowa
14. Oregon
15. Boise State
16. Washington
17. Utah
18. Cal
19. Michigan
20. UCF
21. Virginia
22. Texas A&M
23. Michigan State
24. USC
25. Kansas State

You guys went with Bama over Clemson this week. I’m hurt, but I understand. Clemson’s offense is backfiring at weird times and teams are putting up points hand over fist on Bama, but it’s just tasters choice right now.

You also liked Ohio State at 4, which, again, there isn’t much separating the top undefeated teams, so it’s not a big deal. I think the Nebraska game was a little over hyped, and they’re probably a similar team to Purdue (with their actual team), but winning on the road is always tough, and the Buckeyes got the job done in emphatic fashion.

Other than that, you guys have the rest of it nailed down other than transposing a few teams. Although you let me down with Clemson, I appreciate the Kansas State love, even after they lost a tough one on the road in Stillwater this weekend.

Coach Fired First

The additional question this week regarding which program would fire their head coach first was answered in real life today as Chris Ash got the ax at Rutgers.

The Scarlet Knights were a slight favorite over Tennessee (who won’t be firing Pruit this year) and F.S.U. and Va Tech also made the top 4 (Taggart is safe unless it falls all the way apart, but Fuente might be a dead coach walking at Tech). Southern Cal, USF and Arkansas (Chad Morris isn’t going anywhere in year 2) rounded out the popular picks.

Confidence

Honestly, good for you guys. I’ll have some things to say about this year’s Purdue team tomorrow, but it’s not time to panic. Brohm’s still ahead of schedule with the rebuild, things are just, not so great at the moment. That was always a possibility going into year 3.

Keep the faith.