College Football

Giglio: Loss to Louisiana-Monroe puts Arkansas in freefall

Published: September 9, 2012 

Editor’s note: Joe Giglio is one of 60 AP voters.

Move over Michigan, you’ve got company.

Arkansas’ home loss to Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday knocked the Razorbacks from No. 8 (11th on my ballot) to out of the top 25.

Only Michigan, which opened the 2007 season at No. 5 before losing to Appalachian State, has ever taken a bigger fall.

Arkansas’ problems weren’t totally unforeseeable, after all, it had to replace its head coach in April. Still, the SEC is represented well, starting with the top two teams — Alabama and LSU — who were both dominant again.

Southern Cal struggled some with the weather, jet lag and mostly a game Syracuse team but remains at No. 3.

Oregon and Oklahoma round out the top five, which did not change from a week ago.

Oklahoma State, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Missouri drop off my ballot after surprising road losses in the case of the first three and a lopsided home loss in the case of the Tigers, who got whacked by Georgia, 41-20, in their SEC debut.

I moved Florida (20), Oregon State (21), UCLA (23), Northwestern (24) and South Florida (25) in but the bottom of the poll promises to remain fluid.

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