“Previous is prologue.”  It has been greater than 400 years since Shakespeare wrote that line in “The Tempest,” nevertheless it nonetheless rings true.

With regards to the AP Prime 25 or Coaches Ballot, all of us get annoyed when voters lean too closely on final season and brush apart what we have really seen on the sector. As an alternative of throwing preseason expectations out the window, they deal with them as gospel whereas dismissing early outcomes as flukes.

Energy scores needs to be totally different. If opinion polls are reactive, energy polls are predictive. They are not about what has occurred, however what’s probably to occur subsequent. And in relation to forecasting the long run, historical past is commonly the perfect information. Groups — and people — are predictable. They repeat patterns, simply in barely alternative ways.

That is why a powerful energy ranking should at all times bake in some historical past, however with the precise steadiness of previous and current. The deeper we go into the season, the extra weight 2025 performances will carry. Final week introduced little motion, however this week delivers loads of change — and a transparent prime tier is beginning to kind. The highest 5 are tightly packed, with a noticeable drop off behind them.

Our No. 1 stays put, however there is a new No. 2. And in a mirrored image of the game’s present steadiness of energy, 10 of our prime 12 groups hail from the SEC or Huge Ten. The ACC has one. Then there’s Notre Dame.

Odds through FanDuel Sportsbook

Fell exterior prime 12: Clemson, Michigan, Texas A&M