It’s like no one wants to be No. 1 in college baseball. The parity is incredible, and it’s hard to make sense of any of it right now.
The top three teams from last week, Texas, LSU and Clemson. All lost the series or were swept. Your immediate gut reaction is to move Texas out of the No. 1 spot. But who deserves to take over?
1. Texas (Prev. 1)
I debated between Texas and FSU for the No. 1 spot for hours. I know the Longhorns got swept by Arkansas. But the reality is that it was their first-ever SEC series loss, and against multiple top 10 teams, their track record has been pretty impressive. And Arkansas is a top 10 team with a tough environment to play in. I am not moving the Longhorns out of the No. 1 spot just yet since there is no clear team that deserves to take over. If the season ended today, based on their resume and without recency bias, Texas would still be deserving of the No. 1 spot.
2. Florida State (Prev. 5)
FSU is the closest in my mind to No. 1, and I have the Seminoles jumping from five to two after an impressive weekend. They won a top-10 series over Clemson last weekend with a 20-9 win on Sunday featuring six home runs, a seven-spot in the 2nd inning and a walk-off run rule. You could possibly justify them at No. 1, but to show you how recency bias works, they just lost a series two weeks ago to Louisville— not a top 10 team.
FSU-CLEMSON RECAP: Florida State routs Clemson in Game 3 for series win
3. North Carolina (Prev. 3)
North Carolina has done what it needs to do to stay put in the rankings. The Tar Heels had just two wins last week, but still sit at an impressive 33-10 on the season.
4. LSU (Prev. 2)
LSU drops a couple of spots after losing the series to Texas A&M. It was a close call in the series finale as the Aggies came back to win it in the 8th. Anthony Eyanson threw a complete-game three-hitter on Saturday.
5. Georgia (Prev. 9)
Georgia moves up a few spots to five. The Bulldogs have a fairly similar record and resume to LSU right now, and they didn’t necessarily dominate, but still took care of business against Missouri.
6. Oregon (Prev. 6)
Oregon also did what it needed to do to stay put at six. The Ducks earned yet another win over Oregon State mid-week and won a series over Michigan State.
7. Arkansas (Prev. 10)
Arkansas jumps three spots to No. 7 from last week. The Razorbacks followed up three-straight series losses with a big-time sweep over the No. 1 team in the country. This is absolutely a team that can compete for a title. You could even justify moving them higher, but still, you have those three straight series losses to account for. Zach Root was really impressive with a career-high 11 strikeouts in the 9-0 series-opening shutout win against Texas.
READ MORE: No. 11 Arkansas sweeps No. 1 Texas in career-high weekend
8. Clemson (Prev. 4)
Clemson takes a drop to seven after losing the series to FSU, including a run-rule loss in the series finale. I know it seems like a big drop, but now with limited top 10 wins, I couldn’t justify putting any of the teams above the Tigers, below them.
9. Auburn (Prev. NR)
Auburn re-enters the Power 10 in a big way after winning the series over Tennessee. Christian Chatterton earned two wins in two starts, threw 9.0 scoreless innings and allowed just three hits with 12 strikeouts and no walks.
10. Vanderbilt (Prev. NR)
Vanderbilt re-enters the rankings after an impressive series win over Alabama. The Commodores run-ruled the Tide in Game 1 and took the series in Game 3 on a walk-off.
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