Ridley’s College Football Rankings – Week Seven

There’s a popular saying in sports that says, “To be the best, you have to beat the best.” Luckily for Mississippi State, this does not apply to college football, where the saying would more likely read, “To be the best, you must look like you could to beat the best.” Despite Florida State winning again, running their winning streak to 22 straight, they were ousted from the top spot by a Bulldogs team that has beat a top-10 team for three consecutive weeks; all in impressive fashion. Hail State, which had only two first-place votes last week, amassed a staggering 45 this week to complete the fastest ascension from unranked to number one in the history of the AP Poll (five weeks). They also landed the top spot in these rankings by a landslide. Can State keep up their run of dominance or will a brutal schedule eventually break them down? Only time will tell, but for now, let’s look at 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] – By my strength of schedule calculation, the boys from Starkville have had the toughest slate to date. Things get slightly easier over the next month before a showdown with Alabama in Tuscaloosa takes place.
2. Ole Miss (93.45) [2] – The other Mississippi team comes in second on the heels of back-to-back wins against Alabama and Texas A&M. The Rebels get a short break when they face Tennessee on Saturday, but travel to Baton Rouge and host Auburn in the following weeks.
3. Florida State (88.02) [5] – The Seminoles come in at a distant third despite beating Syracuse by 18 on the road. Their resume is still lackluster, however, having the worst normalized scoring differential of the top 13 teams.
4. Baylor (85.47) [4] – The Bears escaped TCU at home in a barnburner for the ages. They should have a couple weeks to rest up and fix their defense before they head into Norman, a place they have never won.
5. Auburn (84.46) [3] – There’s no shame in losing to the top-ranked in their house. After a rough start that saw the Tigers turn the ball over on their first two plays, Gus Malzahn’s team battled back before fading late. They head into their bye with the Gamecocks, Bulldogs and Aggies awaiting them.
6. Notre Dame (82.36) [7] – Notre Dame gets little love in these rankings because A) they aren’t in a conference and B) their schedule hasn’t had much depth yet. That all changes on Saturday when the Irishmen head to Tallahassee to face the defending champs.
7. Alabama (77.62) [9] – The Tide squeaked by an underrated Razorbacks squad on the road Saturday. They will need a stronger performance, particularly offensively, if they plan to get past the Aggies.
8. Michigan State (75.23) [12) – This is there the detractors cry out that I have Sparty ahead of a Ducks team they lost to in Week 2. This is also where I blame the AP poll, as my raw numbers give much more favor to the Quack Attack.
9. Oregon (74.34) [8] – A strong win on the road against the Bruins will help Oregon regain momentum and continue for an outside shot at a playoff bid. Washington and California are next up on the docket for the Ducks, with rival Stanford coming to town in three weeks.
10. Georgia (72.18) [10] – The other Bulldogs return to the top 10 after a 34-0 shellacking of then 23rd-ranked Missouri on the road. A feat made all the more impressive after Heisman candidate Todd Gurley was suspended. Play like this will be more than enough to lock up a soft SEC East.
11. TCU (68.57) [11] – Scoring 58 points and losing has got to sting for the Horned Frogs, especially after allowing Baylor to come back from 21 down in the last 11 minutes. They wont be able to hang their heads for too long, though, with Oklahoma State coming to town this week.
12. Oklahoma (68.15) [15] – The Stoopers got more than they bargained for from Texas and were lucky to escape with a five-point victory. They will need to play better to beat a feisty Kansas State team.
13. Ohio State (62.32) [25] – The Buckeyes soft schedule won’t get any better with Rutgers, Penn State and Illinois coming up for Urban Meyer’s crew.
14. Arizona (61.50) [13] – The hangover losses have to sting the most. Losing to USC at home after beating the Ducks in Eugene is going to keep Rich Rodriguez up for a long time.
15. Kansas State (60.36) [26] – The Wildcats had two weeks to prepare for a Sooners team that has looked all too vulnerable these last two weeks.
16. Oklahoma State (58.98) [24] – A seven-point win over Kansas isn’t too reassuring with a trip to Fort Worth next up for the Cowboys.
17. Arizona State (55.04) [28] – The Sun Devils lack of respect comes from them owning the lowest normalized scoring differential of the top 35 teams.
18. Nebraska (54.10) [18] – The Cornhuskers had a week to rest and recoup after their comeback against Michigan State fell short. A trip to 3-3 Northwestern should help get them back on track.
19. Texas A&M (52.30) [14] – Yes, a two-loss team can make the top 20 when their losses come to the teams currently ranked first and second. Things don’t get any easier with a trip to Tuscaloosa next.
20. East Carolina (51.89) [32] – Nothing about the Pirates performance screams “quality team” but as long as they keep winning, they will continue to be ranked.
21. Utah (50.08) [27] – Utah managed to avoid the hangover loss by cleverly scheduling a bye. Next up are the Beavers in Corvallis.
22. USC (49.45) [16] – The Trojans roller coaster season continued with a narrow win over the Wildcats thanks to three missed field goals.
23. Marshall (48.83) [6] – The Thundering Herd march (gallop?) into the rankings with a 6-0 record and the second-largest scoring differential in the FBS.
24. Stanford (43.76) [31] – The Cardinal are the last of six Pac-12 teams to the make the rankings, coming off a 34-17 victory over Washington State. A trip to play the Sun Devils is next.
25. Clemson (43.74) [23] – The Tigers take Georgia Tech’s spot as the token “other ACC” team in the rankings, thanks to a 23-17 win over Louisville.

Ranked Teams Left Out

All the teams ranked in the AP managed to make it into the rankings this week. LSU (26) narrowly missed knocking Clemson out of the last spot.

Oregon Teams Watch

The Ducks win over UCLA was mentioned above. Oregon State (40) dropped five spots from last week despite being on a bye. A win against 20th-ranked Utah will go a long way towards proving the Beavers legitimacy as they battle in a tough Pac-12.

Other Notable Teams

Kentucky (27) is on the verge of crashing the rankings and making me rethink my life choices … Georgia Tech dropped to 28th after their loss to Duke, who is one spot behind them … Colorado State (33) leads the Mountain West after a seven-point win in Nevada … Boise State is 10 spots back of them at (43) … Despite being 3-3, Arkansas is at 42 … Georgia Southern (48) sits atop the Sun Belt … Akron (yes, Akron!) (59) leads the MAC, still the worst conference in the country … UAB (58) is Conference USA’s second-best team … Vanderbilt moved up to 100 thanks to a win over Charleston Southern, but is still the worst SEC team by 46 spots … and the worst of the worst this week are: Miami (OH) (124), Appalachian State, Massachusetts, Idaho and Kent State (128). For those of you keeping track at home, that’s three MAC teams and two from the Sun Belt. Go mid-majors!