Locked In: Auburn Still #7 in Fan Pulse After Domination of Mississippi State

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Another week another win for Auburn. Like we said last week, the top six are somewhat impenetrable until they lose, so even though the Tigers whooped a top 30 SP+ team, they weren’t able to jump into the top tier.

Auburn is actually the second most agreed upon team in the entire pill, with all but four ballots sliding us in at #7. From the Rumble Seat (Georgia Tech), Inside NU (Northwestern), and College and Mag were the only ballots with Auburn at #6. I guess the blowout of State impressed A Sea of Blue (Kentucky) after State handled them easily two weeks ago, because the fellow basketball school voters put us at #5, ahead of both Ohio State and Oklahoma.

We do have a new #1, unfortunately, as Alabama topped Clemson after the Purple Tigers’ near miss in Chapel Hill. As a matter of fact, what was once a rok solid 1/2 with Clemson and Alabama has become more open this week. Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State all received #1 votes, while UGA and LSU received some #2 votes. And aside from Alabama, each of the top six teams received votes at #5 or lower.

Five other teams were in the “Also Receiving Votes” category, including Kansas State, Wake Forest, SMU, Oklahoma State, and Army. Funnily enough, SMU even received a #20 vote. Who from? Cross-metroplex rival Frogs O’ War (TCU), who SMU won the Iron Skillet from two weeks ago. I guess the strategy is to downplay the succes of your rival, until they beat you. Then, talk them up like they’re the best thing since sliced bread.

There are a few results that seem... nonsensical in the bottom half of these rankings. For example, previously ranked #25 Cal lost to Arizona State last Friday night. This week, they... moved up to #18? Likewise, Virginia got beat pretty handily by Notre Dame, 35-20. Obviously, the Irish were the btter tea, so no need to punish the Hoo’s for not beating them. But, Virginia moved up from #24 to to #19. On the flip side, Utah, Michigan, and Michigan State all fell in the rankings, despite winning. Strange things are afoot on the Fan Pulse ballot.

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Our voters’ confidence in the Tigers continue to creep up, now sitting around 95%. This makes sense, as I figure about 5% (a very loud 5%) of Auburn fans won’t be happy with Gus at the helm unless he banks some wins against LSU/UGA/Bama.

Only one school is sitting at 0% approval, and that’s Rule of Tree (Stanford). I don’t blame them - after stealing a win against Oregon State, they will likely be underdogs in every remaining game on the schedule. 2-10 or 3-9 is a real possibility.

Another fun trend I’ve noticed from other schools is looking at how they’ve reacted to losing to Auburn this season. After Week 1, Addicted to Quack’s approval sat at 88%, the lowest of the season (there was no preseason benchmark). For our friends at Good Bull Hunting (Texas A&M), their approval tanked from 100% to 52%. And with the biggest drop of them all, For Whom the Cowbell Tolls is just done with Moorhead - after sitting at 91% going into last weekend, their approval rating is now sitting at just 20%. Yikes.

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This week’s Question of the Week was with regards to which coach was going to be dumped first, kicking off silly season. Jeremy Pruitt and Tennessee just edged out Chris Ash and Rutgers, but right around the time most people were voting on this poll Sunday, Rutgers fired the struggling Ash.

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Remember, you can still sign up if you want to be a part of fan pulse! Just click on the link here, and you’ll receive an email next Sunday asking for your vote!

from College and Magnolia - All Posts https://www.collegeandmagnolia.com/2019/10/1/20893321/locked-in-auburn-still-7-in-fan-pulse-after-domination-of-mississippi-state