Clear tiers in the minds of fans There is now a coalescence around a select group of teams at the top. At this early point in the season, these tend to be the teams that fans feel have a reasonable shot at making The Playoff as contenders for the CFP Championship. Tiers of teams in this poll are reflective of a consensus, and there’s now strong agreement among fans that seven teams in two tiers are true contenders: Tier I: Alabama and Clemson

Tier II: Georgia, LSU, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin. After these seven teams, there is a major drop off in the MaxDiff rankings. In other words, fans have begun to form a clear picture in terms of who matters in the College Football Playoff picture and who is less relevant.

Auburn is the wild card Auburn falls just outside of Tier II. The Tigers from the Plains are more or less in a tier of their own due to the fact that their MaxDiff score puts them statistically above the other Tier III teams but below Tier II. Auburn arguably has the most impressive pair of victories of any resume thus far: a neutral site win over Oregon and this past Saturday’s road win over Texas A&M at Kyle Field. I think it is reasonable to think that fans are still factoring in Auburn’s placement in the very stacked SEC. Does Auburn belong in the top tier of the conference? They’ll have a chance to make their case in the upcoming weeks as their insanely difficult schedule includes tilts versus Florida, LSU, Georgia, and Alabama.

Wisconsin rises to Tier II Wisconsin enters Tier II this week after an epic dismantling of the Michigan Wolverines in Madison. This is beginning to look like the classic Badger teams of years past featuring the holy trinity of Wisconsin football: excellent offensive line play, an elite running back, and a stingy, physical defense. Vintage Wisconsin was on display this past Saturday as the Badgers’ bell cow – Heisman candidate Jonathan Taylor – lumbered for 203 yards on 23 carries. The Wisconsin defense also held up its end of the bargain by fully neutralizing the anemic Wolverines offense. The Badgers have now outscored their opponents 145 – 14 so far this season. Assuming Wisconsin does not hit unexpected turbulence versus Northwestern and Kent State, the next true test won’t be until Week 7 versus the very solid Michigan State defense.

Michigan free falls Michigan took a beating on the field and in the polls this week. In the AP, Michigan fell from #13 to #20, but fans felt the Wolverines should have fallen even further. In the MaxDiff Poll, Michigan fell all the way to #25, which actually makes them one of this week’s most overrated teams in the AP in the minds of fans. Fans felt Michigan was slightly overrated in last week’s poll, but they have now sold all of their Wolverines stock as a result of last Saturday’s outcome. The most troubling aspect to Saturday’s loss was the play of the Michigan offensive line. The Wolverine o-line was absolutely bullied by the Badgers on Saturday. Shea Patterson hasn’t exactly wowed with his quarterback play, but it is difficult to be efficient in the pocket when you are greeted to a barrage of white helmets on every pass attempt. Things are not going to get any easier moving forward as the Wolverines have upcoming October tilts versus Iowa, Penn State, and Notre Dame.

Fans are still high on Oklahoma State and Texas A&M despite losses I’ve noticed over the past few seasons that compared to other fan polls and the AP, the MaxDiff Poll tends to more drastically punish and reward teams for “ugly wins” and “quality losses.” The rankings of Texas A&M and Oklahoma State as this week’s two most underrated teams in the AP demonstrate this. The Aggies have now picked up two losses to top ten teams, but have looked reasonably competitive in each. Oklahoma State also suffered a “quality loss” this week to a top-15 Texas in a competitive back-and-forth game in which the Cowboys came up short by less than a touchdown. The MaxDiff Poll rankings suggest fans feel that both the Aggies and Cowboys are perhaps better than their current records suggest. Both teams will have ample opportunities versus solid competition to prove if this perception is warranted. The Cowboys’ quest to get back into the AP top 25 begins this weekend as they host the ranked Kansas State Wildcats, a team fans feel is slightly overrated.