A week after entering the polls for the first time in 11 months, Iowa made sure they stayed around with a decisive 23-0 throttling of Maryland. Unfortunately, a win over the Terps doesn't move the needle a ton and there weren't too many losses by Top 25 teams yesterday, so the usual poll inertia prevented them from moving up much in the polls. Iowa moved up one spot from #19 to #18 in the AP poll and up four spots from #22 to #18 in the Coaches Poll.
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | PTS | 1st VOTES | PREV | CHANGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ALABAMA | 8-0 | 1525 | 61 | 1 | – |
| 2 | CLEMSON | 7-0 | 1454 | – | 3 | +1 |
| 3 | NOTRE DAME | 7-0 | 1400 | – | 4 | +1 |
| 4 | LOUISIANA STATE | 7-1 | 1327 | – | 5 | +1 |
| 5 | MICHIGAN | 7-1 | 1250 | – | 7 | +1 |
| 6 | TEXAS | 6-1 | 1186 | – | 6 | +1 |
| 7 | GEORGIA | 6-1 | 1136 | – | 8 | +1 |
| 8 | OKLAHOMA | 6-1 | 1065 | – | 9 | +1 |
| 9 | FLORIDA | 6-1 | 998 | – | 11 | +2 |
| 10 | CENTRAL FLORIDA | 7-0 | 996 | – | 10 | – |
| 11 | OHIO STATE | 7-1 | 985 | – | 2 | -9 |
| 12 | KENTUCKY | 6-1 | 754 | – | 14 | +2 |
| 13 | WEST VIRGINIA | 5-1 | 747 | – | 13 | – |
| 14 | WASHINGTON STATE | 6-1 | 692 | – | 25 | +11 |
| 15 | WASHINGTON | 6-2 | 677 | – | 15 | – |
| 16 | TEXAS A&M | 5-2 | 622 | – | 17 | +1 |
| 17 | PENN STATE | 5-2 | 528 | – | 18 | +1 |
| 18 | IOWA | 6-1 | 489 | – | 19 | +1 |
| 19 | OREGON | 5-2 | 450 | – | 12 | -7 |
| 20 | WISCONSIN | 5-2 | 357 | – | 23 | +3 |
| 21 | SOUTH FLORIDA | 7-0 | 291 | – | 21 | – |
| 22 | NC STATE | 5-1 | 186 | – | 16 | -6 |
| 23 | UTAH | 5-2 | 180 | – | 23 | – |
| 24 | STANFORD | 5-2 | 144 | – | 24 | – |
| 25 | APPALACHIAN STATE | 5-1 | 79 | – | NR | – |
Unsurprisingly, Ohio State was the biggest loser in this week's AP Poll, dropping 11 spots after they got thumped by Purdue on Saturday night. Washington State was the biggest gainer, moving up 11 spots after their upset win over Oregon on Saturday night. OSU's loss leaves the Big Ten with just one team in the Top Ten (Michigan at #5), though it has four teams between 11 and 20 (#11 Ohio State, #17 Penn State, #18 Iowa, and #20 Wisconsin).
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | PTS | 1st VOTES | PREV | CHANGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ALABAMA | 8-0 | 1548 | 60 | 1 | – |
| 2 | CLEMSON | 7-0 | 1488 | 2 | 3 | +1 |
| 3 | NOTRE DAME | 7-0 | 1409 | – | 4 | +1 |
| 4 | LOUISIANA STATE | 7-1 | 1352 | – | 5 | +1 |
| 5 | MICHIGAN | 7-1 | 1228 | – | 7 | +2 |
| 6 | GEORGIA | 6-1 | 1207 | – | 6 | – |
| 7 | TEXAS | 6-1 | 1146 | – | 8 | +1 |
| 8 | OKLAHOMA | 6-1 | 1075 | – | 10 | +2 |
| 9 | OHIO STATE | 7-1 | 1030 | – | 2 | -7 |
| 10 | CENTRAL FLORIDA | 7-0 | 1008 | – | 9 | -1 |
| 11 | FLORIDA | 6-1 | 968 | – | 12 | +1 |
| 12 | WEST VIRGINIA | 5-1 | 794 | – | 13 | +1 |
| 13 | WASHINGTON | 6-2 | 729 | – | 14 | +1 |
| 14 | KENTUCKY | 6-1 | 689 | – | 17 | +3 |
| 15 | WASHINGTON STATE | 6-1 | 633 | – | 23 | +8 |
| 16 | PENN STATE | 5-2 | 606 | – | 16 | – |
| 17 | TEXAS A&M | 5-2 | 583 | – | 18 | +1 |
| 18 | IOWA | 6-1 | 447 | – | 22 | +4 |
| 19 | WISCONSIN | 5-2 | 430 | – | 19 | – |
| 20 | SOUTH FLORIDA | 7-0 | 390 | – | 20 | – |
| 21 | OREGON | 5-2 | 383 | – | 11 | -10 |
| 22 | NC STATE | 5-1 | 222 | – | 15 | -7 |
| 23 | STANFORD | 5-2 | 180 | – | 24 | +1 |
| 24 | UTAH | 5-2 | 107 | – | NR | +9 |
| 25 | MIAMI | 5-2 | 95 | – | NR | +1 |
There's not much difference in the AP and Coaches Polls, although the coaches didn't dump Ohio State quite as far (down seven spots to #9). Washington State was the big positive mover, jumping eight spots to #15. OSU's softer landing in the Coaches Poll means the Big Ten retains two teams in the Top Ten (#5 Michigan and #9 OSU), while having three teams in the 11-20 range (#16 Penn State, #18 Iowa, #19 Wisconsin).
As was the case last week, many of the computers continue to like Iowa more than the human pollsters.
Iowa moves to #9 in Sagarin's computer ranking. Penn State is #10 https://t.co/bSYLWCUelU
— PlannedSickDays (@PlannedSickDays) October 21, 2018
Massey Ratings has Iowa #9, Penn State #17 https://t.co/CihGshicT9
— PlannedSickDays (@PlannedSickDays) October 21, 2018
Iowa #9 in the Massey Composite (43 rankings) https://t.co/e3R2MSLTRK
— PlannedSickDays (@PlannedSickDays) October 21, 2018
They're also #12 in ESPN's FPI and Bill Connelly's Resume S&P+, though just #21 in Bill's standard S&P+ rankings.
Should Iowa be ranked a bit higher than #18 in the traditional rankings? Probably. But if they keep winning things ought to take care of themselves on that front. Keep on trucking, Hawkeyes.
