Nine teams came off the SPIN National Top 50 this week and nine came on. That is the largest single-week turnover we have had since the board opened, and it is not a sign that the board was built badly in August. It is a sign that August is over.
These are power rankings. They start from last week's SPIN board, they move on results and on what the film says, and they do not take their instructions from anybody else's poll. Early in a season that produces a lot of motion, because the honest position in Week 1 is that we do not yet know what most of these teams are. Every Friday night takes a little more of that away.
Here is what this week took away.
The Top Ten Is Nine Teams With A Case And One With A Loss
Start with the part nobody will agree on. Our first nine are effectively interchangeable, and every one of them has either put a high quality win on the board or been completely dominant, which is what great teams do in August.
St. Frances Academy holds the top line. It beat DeLand 49-35 in its opener and it was tied 21-21 at half and tied again at 35 with 10:53 left in the fourth quarter. That is not a finished football team. It is still the most talented one, and it stays first until somebody takes it.
Santa Margarita went on the road and won 21-20 at Centennial of Corona, a team that was our No. 7 a week ago. Nobody else in the top ten has a win that good.
Baylor School is 2-0 with a 38-20 win over Brentwood Academy, our No. 18, and a 37-12 win over Loudoun Sports Academy. The Brentwood result is the one the No. 3 is built on.
IMG Academy has not been tested and has not slipped. It beat Cornerstone Christian 59-10 in its home opener and that number does not require an explanation.
St. Thomas Aquinas beat DeSoto 38-14 and has allowed 14 points all season across two games. That is both halves of the argument at once, a win over a nationally regarded opponent and a defense nobody has solved.
Columbus enters at No. 6 on the strength of the single loudest result of the young season. It beat Bishop Gorman 33-28 and led that game 20-0 in the second quarter.
Buford is Buford. One win, 39-19 at home over a ranked Gainesville team, and it has not been on a field since. We are not moving a team down for a schedule.
Sierra Canyon took a ranked Chaminade-Madonna apart 24-7 in South Florida and outscored it 17-0 after halftime. That is the West winning a neutral game in Florida in August, which is the result the region almost never produces.
Thompson is 2-0 and beat Clay-Chalkville 37-13, and it climbed further this week than anybody else in the top ten.
Then there is Bishop Gorman at No. 10, down eight.
Why Gorman Was Never Our No. 1
A lot of people had Gorman first in America coming into the year. We did not, and it was not a hunch. It was film. There were things on tape we did not believe would hold up against a top ten opponent, and against Columbus they showed up quickly and they decided the game.
That is the whole of it. Gorman is still a top ten team in this country. It beat St. John Bosco 38-28 and opened with a 41-0 win, and beating Bosco remains one of the best single results anybody owns this season. One loss does not erase it. It also does not buy the top line back.
The Board
| # | Team | Rec | Last wk | Move |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St. Frances Academy (MD) | 1-0 | 1 | Hold |
| 2 | Santa Margarita (CA) | 2-0 | 5 | Up 3 |
| 3 | Baylor School (TN) | 2-0 | 3 | Hold |
| 4 | IMG Academy (FL) | 2-0 | 4 | Hold |
| 5 | St. Thomas Aquinas (FL) | 2-0 | 12 | Up 7 |
| 6 | Columbus (FL) | 2-0 | New | New |
| 7 | Buford (GA) | 1-0 | 6 | Down 1 |
| 8 | Sierra Canyon (CA) | 2-0 | 14 | Up 6 |
| 9 | Thompson (AL) | 2-0 | 19 | Up 10 |
| 10 | Bishop Gorman (NV) | 2-1 | 2 | Down 8 |
| 11 | Centennial, Corona (CA) | 1-1 | 7 | Down 4 |
| 12 | Mater Dei (CA) | 2-0 | 8 | Down 4 |
| 13 | St. John Bosco (CA) | 1-1 | 10 | Down 3 |
| 14 | Corner Canyon (UT) | 3-0 | 11 | Down 3 |
| 15 | Allen (TX) | 1-0 | 23 | Up 8 |
| 16 | Basha (AZ) | 1-0 | 18 | Up 2 |
| 17 | Carrollton (GA) | 2-0 | 13 | Down 4 |
| 18 | Brentwood Academy (TN) | 1-1 | 15 | Down 3 |
| 19 | North Shore (TX) | 1-0 | 20 | Up 1 |
| 20 | Brownsburg (IN) | 2-0 | 21 | Up 1 |
| 21 | North Gwinnett (GA) | 2-0 | 22 | Up 1 |
| 22 | Hamilton (AZ) | 1-0 | 24 | Up 2 |
| 23 | Hough (NC) | 2-0 | 27 | Up 4 |
| 24 | Oakland (TN) | 2-0 | 28 | Up 4 |
| 25 | Thomas County Central (GA) | 2-0 | 29 | Up 4 |
| 26 | Lee County (GA) | 2-0 | New | New |
| 27 | Miami Central (FL) | 1-0 | 26 | Down 1 |
| 28 | Don Bosco Prep (NJ) | 1-0 | 30 | Up 2 |
| 29 | DeMatha (MD) | 1-0 | 33 | Up 4 |
| 30 | Mission Viejo (CA) | 2-0 | 34 | Up 4 |
| 31 | North Crowley (TX) | 1-0 | New | New |
| 32 | Paramus Catholic (NJ) | 1-0 | New | New |
| 33 | Southlake Carroll (TX) | 1-0 | 32 | Down 1 |
| 34 | De La Salle (CA) | 1-0 | 37 | Up 3 |
| 35 | Duncanville (TX) | 0-1 | 9 | Down 26 |
| 36 | Washington (Massillon) (OH) | 2-0 | New | New |
| 37 | Bixby (OK) | 1-0 | 43 | Up 6 |
| 38 | Waxahachie (TX) | 1-0 | 46 | Up 8 |
| 39 | Miami Northwestern (FL) | 2-0 | 49 | Up 10 |
| 40 | McCallie (TN) | 2-0 | 50 | Up 10 |
| 41 | Chaminade-Madonna (FL) | 1-1 | 25 | Down 16 |
| 42 | Edna Karr (LA) | 0-0 | 41 | Down 1 |
| 43 | St. Joseph's Prep (PA) | 0-0 | 42 | Down 1 |
| 44 | West Boca Raton (FL) | 1-0 | 45 | Up 1 |
| 45 | American Heritage (FL) | 1-1 | New | New |
| 46 | Liberty (Peoria) (AZ) | 1-0 | New | New |
| 47 | Trinity (KY) | 2-0 | New | New |
| 48 | Valor Christian (CO) | 2-0 | New | New |
| 49 | Miami Carol City (FL) | 1-1 | 17 | Down 32 |
| 50 | Folsom (CA) | 1-0 | 44 | Down 6 |
In And Out
In, nine. Columbus at 6. Lee County at 26. North Crowley at 31. Paramus Catholic at 32. Washington of Massillon at 36. American Heritage at 45. Liberty of Peoria at 46. Trinity of Kentucky at 47. Valor Christian at 48.
Out, nine. DeSoto. Bryant. St. Joseph Regional. South Oak Cliff. Chandler. East St. Louis. Clay-Chalkville. La Salle College. Roman Catholic.
Washington of Massillon is the one worth pausing on. Ohio has been an argument all month and the answer on results is not close. Massillon is 2-0 having scored 85 points and allowed 25 across two games, including a 54-7 win on the road.
The Moves That Cost The Most
Miami Carol City falls 32 spots, from 17 to 49, and it is the largest single drop on the board. It lost to a team we did not rank. That is the harshest thing that can happen to a ranking, and Lee County, the team that beat it, is now on the board at 26 while Carol City is one spot from falling off entirely.
Duncanville falls 26, from 9 to 35, on a 19-point loss in its opener.
Chaminade-Madonna falls 16, from 25 to 41. It was 7-7 with Sierra Canyon at halftime and did not score again.
Going the other way, three teams tied for the largest climb at ten spots each. Thompson moved from 19 to 9. Miami Northwestern moved from 49 to 39. McCallie moved from 50 to 40. There is no single biggest riser this week and we are not going to invent one.
Corner Canyon holds at 14 after a 49-0 win. There was a version of this board that dropped Corner Canyon because it does not appear on most national polls. That version was wrong and it did not survive. Other people's polls are not an input here.
Where The Regional Boards Line Up
Every regional board is built to agree with the national one wherever the two overlap, and this week that forced real movement in Southern California.
SoCal keeps the same ten schools and reorders them: Santa Margarita first, Sierra Canyon second, Centennial of Corona third, Mater Dei fourth, St. John Bosco fifth. Sierra Canyon climbing past Centennial and both Mater Dei and Bosco is the direct consequence of what it did in Florida.
NorCal holds De La Salle first, Folsom second and Serra of San Mateo third, with Clovis West and Clovis North both entering at 9 and 10.
Utah is Corner Canyon, Mountain Ridge and Skyridge at the top. Timpview comes on at 10. Davis comes off.
Arizona opened this weekend and the board finally has games behind it. Basha first, Hamilton second, Liberty of Peoria up to third, Chandler down to fourth after losing its opener. Desert Mountain, Pinnacle and Highland enter.
Nevada has Gorman first and Churchill County second, with Foothill of Henderson entering at 6.
How This Is Built
The SPIN power board starts from the previous week's SPIN board. It moves on results, on strength of schedule, and on a neutral field judgment about who beats whom. Film and the eye test are part of it, stated openly, because in the first three weeks of a season the records are too thin to carry the whole thing alone. That cuts both ways. It is why a team can climb ten spots on two wins and why a team can fall eight after beating St. John Bosco.
The composite board, which averages the major national polls with the SPIN board weighted heaviest, is a separate product and is built from this one. It is not an input to it.
Games run Thursday through Saturday. The board is set Monday. We will do this again next week, and some of it will look wrong by Saturday night. That is the job.
