Chaos in the AP Top 25 and SEC football returns to play: A Blitz Podcast

We discuss the chaotic AP Top 25 after Big Ten and Pac-12 teams returned, a deep discussion of SEC football’s return, and Week 5 picks against the spread.

In a season where everything has effectively felt sideways from the outset, the final weekend of September ramped up the chaos. Ahead of Week 4 play, the Associated Press announced that voters for the AP Top 25 were once again allowed to consider teams from the Big Ten, Pac-12, Mountain West, and MAC as the four holdout leagues decided to return to play this fall.

The opening segment of this week’s Saturday Blitz Podcast dives into the myriad issues in trying to read the minds of AP voters. We go over the reasons why voters might decide to include or not include teams from the returning leagues, and how their addition to the ranks came in tandem with a pair of top-six upsets in Norman and Baton Rouge.

After the first break (18:15), we return to go more deeply into discussing the return of the SEC and the impact of results around the conference. That includes a look at what went wrong in Death Valley for the defending College Football Playoff champions, which teams impressed and which teams disappointed, and whether or not we might see a surprise or two this year as the SEC sticks to its conference-only schedule.

In the final segment (39:51), we revive a regular bit from last season where we dive into some (socially-distanced) tailgating suggestions on what to eat and drink before picking five key Week 5 games against the spread.

Tune in through the player above or download the episode to your favorite listening device.

The Saturday Blitz Podcast goes live every Wednesday morning. You can reach John Mitchell at @jlmitchell93 and Zach Bigalke at @zbigalke on Twitter.