Ridley’s College Football Rankings – Week Eight

Where do I start after an action-packed weekend? Do I go with the undressing that West Virginia gave Baylor, effectively ending the Big 12’s shot at a national title? Do I talk about Alabama ending any and all talk of Kenny “No Thrill” Hill (Kenny “One Hill Wonder” is still my personal favorite) being the next Johnny Manziel as Alabama defeated A&M 59-0 in Kevin Sumlin’s first shutout as a coach? Or do I discuss the offensive pass interference penalty that took away the Irish’s game-winning touchdown and left the door open for Florida State to repeat? Ah, I can’t make up my mind. Let’s just go to the rankings.

If you need a reminder of how the rankings are calculated or what the numbers mean, you can find the explanations here.

The Rankings

1. Mississippi State (100.00) [1] – The nation’s best team was on a bye this week as they prepare for a Kentucky squad that was just embarrassed by LSU. At least the state of Kentucky has basketball season to look forward to.
2. Ole Miss (95.47) [2] – The Rebels defense was at their best once again, holding their opponent to three points for the third time this season. Their defensive effort also boosted them to the top of the normalized scoring differential ranks.
3. Florida State (89.09) [4] – The Seminoles better hope the drama around Jameis Winston settles down. They need their Heisman trophy-winning quarterback to stay on the field if they want any shot at repeating.
4. Auburn (87.65) [3] – The Tigers had a bye to rest up after their loss to the Bulldogs. Next they face the Ol’ Ballcoach and the Gamecocks, who broke a two-game losing streak by beating Furman on Saturday.
5. Alabama (86.11) [5] – After three-straight games of slow starts or subpar performances, Nick Saban’s group came out with a vengeance and demolished an Aggies team that had been averaging 43.9 points per game prior to meeting the Tide’s defense.
6. Oregon (82.58) [7] – The Ducks were able to take care of business against Washington on Saturday, keeping them in the running for the playoffs. Their schedule did take a hit, however, with Stanford losing to Arizona State, knocking the Cardinal from the national polls.
7. Michigan State (78.55) [10] – Sparty dispatched of Indiana on Saturday, despite getting embarrassed by Shane Wynn on a reverse. With the Buckeyes gaining steam, their showdown in three weeks is looking more and more intriguing.
8. Georgia (78.03) [9] – Mark Richt’s team jumped out to an early lead over Arkansas before letting off the throttle, allowing the Razorbacks to finish within two scores. They will continue to rest as they head into their bye week.
9. TCU (77.96) [8] – The Horned Frogs easily dismissed the Cowboys after their last-second loss to Baylor a week ago. They should easily handle Texas Tech this week before they face the Mountaineers in West Virginia.
10. Notre Dame (77.76) [12] – A small drop for the Irish after they barely missed upsetting the defending champs. They will have a week to rest up before they go on the road to face Navy and Arizona State.
11. Kansas State (72.78) [16] – The Wildcats managed to walk in to Norman and come out winners thanks to a blocked PAT and a missed chip shot by the Sooners kicker.  The 3-4 Longhorns await Bill Snyder’s group next.
12. Baylor (71.82) [15] – An embarrassing defeat not only sent the Bears plummeting but also ruined their shot at making the playoffs.
13. Ohio State (71.22) [14] – After a slow start to the season, freshman quarterback J.T. Barrett has the Buckeyes offense humming. A trip to State College shouldn’t stop that.
14. Arizona (69.40) [13] – Coming off the bye, the Wildcats have back-to-back trips against Cougars and Bruins as their Pac-12 gauntlet continues.
15. Nebraska (67.69) [17] – The Cornhuskers recovered from a poor first half to pull off a 21-point victory over Northwestern. Wisconsin continues to be the only challenge remaining on a rather weak schedule.
16. Arizona State (67.39) [21] – Despite a win over Stanford, the Sun Devils own the second-lowest normalized scoring differential in the top 25.
17. Marshall (66.41) [6] – As the season plays on, the undefeated Thundering Herd will continue to move up the rankings due to the emphasis placed on winning percentage.
18. Oklahoma (62.87) [25] – I would hate to be Michael Hunnicut (the Sooners kicker) this week on the Oklahoma campus.
19. USC (62.39) [18] – Cody Kessler set a USC record with seven touchdown passes against the hapless Buffaloes. He’ll be hard-pressed to repeat that performance against the Utes in Utah.
20. Utah (62.06) [23] – It took double-overtime, but the Utes managed to escape the Beavers. A stronger performance will be needed to bring down the Trojans.
21. LSU (60.90) [11] – Les Miles team has the misfortune of playing the SEC West. As they proved to Kentucky, they would run away with the SEC East.
22. Clemson (60.37) [20] – The normally high-powered Tigers offense has been grounded for most of the year. They have scored 23 points or less in four of their seven games this season.
23. West Virginia (59.83) [19] – The Mountaineers jump into the rankings for the first time this year after exposing the Bears. As a reward, they get to travel to Oklahoma State to face the Pokes.
24. East Carolina (59.05) [30] – The Pirates were on a bye this week, which is practically the same as playing conference games in the American Athletic Conference.
25. UCLA (56.17) [22] – The Bruins returned to the rankings despite squeaking by California. A repeat performance against Colorado will make me manually override the rankings to ensure they don’t crack the top 25.

Teams in the AP That Missed the Cut

For the second-straight week, every team ranked in the AP made the top 25. Duke (26) was the only team to be in my top 25 (24) to miss the top-25. The Blue Devils can send their hate mail to East Carolina for kicking them out of the rankings.

Oregon Update

The Ducks win over Washington was covered above. The Beavers loss to the Utes was also mentioned. Oregon continues to pursue a playoff bid and national championship while Oregon State is striving for respectability. A win over Stanford in Palo Alto will go a long ways toward making that point.

Other Notable Teams

Minnesota (28) has quietly put together a solid season … Colorado State (31) leads the Mountain West … the Broncos (33) are just two spots behind them … Kentucky fell to 35 after their lambasting at the hands of the Bayou Bengals … Georgia Southern (40) is the pride of the Sun Belt … Northern Illinois (68) leads the MAC (68 is lower than every SEC team save for Vandy) … Speaking of the Commodores, they are 105th … Idaho, coming off their first win of since Bush was in office (okay, that’s a slight exaggeration) jumped up to 121 … our Bottom Five for the week are Connecticut (124), Georgia State, Miami (OH), Troy and SMU (128), the only winless team in the country. Go Mustangs!