AP Poll moves Miami up to No. 2 but they should actually be No. 1

The Hurricanes jumped Oregon in Sunday's Associated Press Top 25 Poll after beating Florida State, 28–22, to move to 5–0. Ohio State stayed at No. 1 with 40 first-place votes. Miami picked up 21 first-place votes, and Oregon received five.

Behind Ohio State and Miami, Oregon sits No. 3, followed by Ole Miss (4), Texas A&M (5), Oklahoma (6), Indiana (7) and Alabama (8). Texas Tech surged to No. 9 — its best slot since 2008 — after winning at unbeaten Houston, and Georgia rejoined the top 10 at No. 10. The back half starts with LSU (11), Tennessee (12) and a notable ACC riser, Georgia Tech (13), then Missouri (14), Michigan (15), Notre Dame (16), Illinois (17), BYU (18), Virginia (19) and Vanderbilt (20). Rounding it out: Arizona State (21), Iowa State (22), Memphis (23), South Florida (24) and Florida State (25).

Penn State tumbled out after a shocking loss at UCLA and Texas, the preseason No. 1, also fell out after losing at Florida. Filling those chairs were Memphis at No. 23 and South Florida at No. 24. The ACC lands four ranked teams this week — Miami (2), Georgia Tech (13), Virginia (19) and Florida State (25) — with Miami’s head-to-head over FSU still shining bright.

Miami's case for No. 1

Last week Oregon got a major boost after their OT win against Penn State (and rightfully so). But after Week 6, Miami shouldn't have only reclaimed the No. 2 spot, they should have been the new No. 1 team in college football. Ohio State's grip on No. 1 narrowed — 40 first-place votes are the Buckeyes' fewest since they took the spot five weeks ago — while Miami's jump in first-place votes (from 4 last week to 21 now) was noticeable.

While that might look good when taken at face value, it begs the question: what more does Miami need to do to be No. 1? Miami has ranked wins over Notre Dame, USF and FSU. All of those teams were ranked at the time of play AND are still ranked. They also beat a Florida team that clearly still has some life left in them.

It's not just Miami's resume, Ohio State's only good win was against Texas. But, the Longhorns are not the team that many projected them to be this season. There are systematic issues on offense that still haven't been solved. Now, after the loss to Florida, they are unranked and the win over them becomes less impressive with each passing week. This is also not to mention how big of a hit the Oregon win over Penn State took. But at least the AP voters got it right by putting Miami above Oregon.

Looking ahead to Week 7, Miami is on a bye and Oregon and Ohio State face ranked teams. The Ducks take on No. 7 Indiana and the Buckeyes face No. 17 Illinois. If both teams win then they will be No. 1 and No. 2 (probably even if Miami was No. 1 this week) but the Hurricanes deserve the respect that they have earned as the team with the best resume in the country.

There are three ranked showdowns in Week 7: No. 1 Ohio State at No. 17 Illinois, No. 7 Indiana at No. 3 Oregon, and No. 8 Alabama at No. 14 Missouri.