New AP Top 25 Rewards LSU for Tough Nonconference Schedule

LSU is the new king of the AP Top 25. After beating West Virginia 47-21 on Saturday, LSU moved ahead of Oklahoma.

In the week 5 poll, LSU received 42 of the 60 first-place votes. That was enough to pass by Oklahoma, which received 12 first-place votes. Oklahoma had an easy time beating Missouri on Saturday, but apparently the voters didn't think that the win was deserving of extra votes.

Oklahoma wasn't the only school that was punished despite winning, as Stanford also dropped. Stanford crushed Arizona on the road. That wasn't impressive to the voters as Oklahoma State was pushed up to No. 5. The top five is LSU, Oklahoma, Alabama, Boise State and Oklahoma State.

The poll looks odd after the first four weeks, and it's interesting to see voters are still discounting schools like Stanford. Maybe this will serve as extra motivation for quarterback Andrew Luck as he tries to the Cardinal to the first Pac-12 championship game.

Dropping Stanford out of the top five raises more questions about the voting process, but it has never been clear why most voters do what they do. Stanford is followed by Wisconsin, Nebraska, Oregon and South Carolina. What this sets up is an extremely competitive game between No. 8 Nebraska at No. 7 Wisconsin on Saturday.

Further down in the poll, Florida State is still ranked (No. 23) despite having two losses. That's a bit surprising, but again, it's the voters trying to show they knew what they were doing by ranking the Seminoles in the top five earlier this season. Texas A&M, which also lost on Saturday, is down to No. 14, and USC was the only team that felt out of the AP Top 25 after losing to Arizona State.

Taking its place back in the top 25 is Arizona State, which is 3-1.

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