MARLER: Penn State Overrated, Missouri Snubbed in AP Top 25

Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

By Chris Marler

The initial AP Top 25 poll was released Monday morning with few surprises. The SEC led all conferences with 10 teams ranked. The top 10 closely mirrored the Coaches Poll, with only spots four through six appearing in a different order.

Team That’s Too High – Penn Sate

The No. 2 ranking is absurd to start the year. Penn State will be very good, and there’s absolutely something to be said for ranking teams based off this year alone. That said, ranking Penn State ahead of Ohio State is hard to justify. Voters ranking Penn State ahead of a team that won the national title last season and holds a 10-1 record in their last 11 head-to-head matchups could be considered egregious.

Biggest Snub – Missouri

You could also make the case for Auburn given the level of talent they have acquired on this year’s roster. However, Missouri comes into 2025 off back-to-back ten win seasons. They also come into 2025 with one of the best transfer portal classes in the country where they got better across the board at several key positions.

They brought in a 1,400 yard running back, the SEC’s returning leader in receptions and receiving yards and added a former five star EDGE rusher from Georgia. The biggest gripe is that their schedule is so generous that they are almost certainly going to be ranked by week two or three at the latest.

Top Ten Team That Will Finish Unranked – Miami

For 21 consecutive years a team in the initial AP Top 10 has finished the season unranked. Who’s the best candidate this year to keep that streak alive? Miami.

Not because Miami is expected to be a bad football team, though. That was the case last year when Michigan extended the streak to 21 consecutive seasons. That team had a new head coach, half the coaching staff was brand new and it lost double digit players to the NFL.

That’s not the case with Miami. The schedule is just brutal. They play Notre Dame and Florida in their non-conference games. They avoid Clemson on their ACC schedule but still face the other two 10-win teams from last season, Syracuse and SMU, and close the year with three road games in November.