Frogs and AP Voters: Edition No. 2

Week 1 of the 2018 college football season is in the history books, and the Horned Frogs have stayed put right at No. 16 in latest AP Top 25 poll after taking business vs. Southern on Saturday in a 55-7 victory.

Even with some teams originally ahead of the Horned Frogs slipping up this weekend — some in top 25 showdowns and others in what were supposed to be “cupcakes” — it’s not exactly a surprise that TCU didn’t budge one bit. After all, a 48-point victory is what should be expected against an FCS opponent.

If you want a more interesting perspective on things, however, look no further than the individual ballots — brought to you by our dear friends at CollegePollTracker.com.

So who had the Horned Frogs surprisingly high, and who had them surprisingly low, you ask? Let’s go ahead and find out.

Highest vote: No. 9 (Matt Brown, The Athletic; Sam McKewon, Omaha World-Herald (Omaha, Neb.); Jim Alexander; The Press-Enterprise)

Maybe it’s virtue of other teams rising after impressive wins, but the Horned Frogs’ highest vote this week is at No. 9 after Brown had TCU up a spot at No. 8 in his preseason poll. Nonetheless, the Horned Frogs now have three top 10 votes opposed to just one, and that’s something for fans to smile about.

Brown’s ballot, for one, is no knock against the Horned Frogs. Rather, Oklahoma, Auburn and Ohio State all jumped TCU on his ballot after impressive and/or lopsided victories this past Saturday. And there’s nothing the Horned Frogs can do to stop that from happening, for now. As for the other two, McKewon has TCU up 4 spots after inserting the Horned Frogs at No. 13 in his preseason ballot, while Alexander bumped TCU just two spots from No. 11. Nonetheless, the Horned Frogs are slowly starting to gain some believers with the first week of action now in the rear view mirror.

Most common vote: No. 17 (10 voters)

The biggest party of them all as the Horned Frogs just one spot below their actual ranking. Ohio State beat writer Bill Landis (Cleveland Plain Dealer) was among the voters who put TCU at No. 17 on their ballot. Alas, it’s only Week 2, so don’t put too much stock into this one. One thing is for sure, and that is that there will be a lot more solid opinions formed on TCU in the polls after they face Ohio State in Week 3. Whether those opinions are good or bad will be determined on the playing field.

Lowest vote: Unranked (John Clay, Lexington Herald-Leader)

Like we said, it’s not worth putting much stock in the early AP top 25 polls, but John Clay still isn’t a fan of the Horned Frogs after leaving TCU unranked for the second consecutive time on his ballot.

Granted, Clay’s ballot is.....well....questionable in several capacities to say the least. For starters, Clay still has Washington — despite a Week 1 loss to Auburn — at No. 5 on his ballot. That’s the highest any voter had the Huskies on Tuesday, in case you were wondering.

And the real kicker: North Carolina State and Kansas State — teams that both struggled to put away FCS opponents in Week 1 — are ranked at No. 19 and No. 24 on his ballot, respectively. Once again, those were also the highest votes of the week for those two squads — both of which were nowhere to be seen in the latest poll on Tuesday.

Other AP Top 25 ballot notes:

• Texas, as the case one year ago, is already out of the Top 25 after losing to Maryland in Week 1. Not one voter had the Longhorns on their ballot Tuesday.
• Oklahoma State — while unranked — was featured on 20 ballots, though no higher than No. 21.
• No. 2 Clemson and No. 5 Wisconsin joined No. 1 Alabama in receiving No. 1 votes. Twelve voters had the Tigers at the top of their ballot, while Bob Asmussen of the Champaign News-Gazette is giving the Badgers the benefit of the doubt.