Another week of college football is in the books, and with it comes added clarity. Ole Miss, with a heart-crushing loss to Auburn is now out of the running for the playoffs. The Ducks put their Stanford demons behind them and assumed the Rebels spot. TCU escaped an upset at the hands of West Virginia thanks to a game-winning field goal at expiration. And the lie of East Carolina being a top-25 team all came crashing down as the Pirates lost by 10 to Temple. Let us all rejoice and move on 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
- Mississippi State (8-0) (100.00) [1] – It wasn’t pretty, but the Bulldogs came away with a win and have just ‘Bama and Ole Miss as potential spoilers left.
- Auburn (7-1) (95.02) [2] – Luck was on their side Saturday, but they will need plenty more where that came from with games against A&M, Georgia and Alabama remaining.
- Florida State (8-0) (89.56) [4] – If the Seminoles’ comeback against Louisville didn’t materialize, FSU would have dropped to at least 14th in my raw rankings and their shot at a repeat would have likely evaporated.
- Oregon (8-1) (88.24) [6] – After seeing their title hopes end with Stanford the last two years, the Ducks finally wrought revenge with a 45-16 victory over the Cardinal.
- TCU (7-1) (87.89) [5] – Kickers are always an afterthought … until they keep your dream of making the playoffs alive as time expires.
- Alabama (7-1) (86.48) [7] – The Tide had a bye week as they prepare for a trip to Death Valley.
- Ole Miss (7-2) (86.25 [3] – Two weeks, two heart-wrenching losses. On the bright side, they are running away with the lead for normalized scoring differential.
- Michigan State (7-1) (82.48) [11] – Nothing like having a bye week going into your biggest game, right? Wrong! Teams with nine days of rest or more going into a game are just 1225-1277 over the last 10.5 seasons. Luckily for the Spartans, than figure changes to 729-469 when playing at home.
- Kansas State (7-1) (81.92) [10] – The Pokes offered no problem for the Wildcats. The Horned Frogs are sure to be a different story.
- LSU (7-2) (80.22) [9] – Alabama will be the third team currently in the top four to play the Tigers this season. Ouch!
- Notre Dame (7-1) (79.25) [15] – The Irish continue to uninspired. In their last four games, they have a point differential of +16.
- Arizona State (7-1) (79.25) [13] – Speaking of low point differentials, at +82 the Sun Devils are the only team in the top 15 with a point differential below +100.
- Ohio State (7-1) (78.93) [12] – I didn’t go to or even watch the Buckeye-Illini game. From the looks of the score, neither did Illinois.
- Baylor (7-1) (78.41) [16] – The exact thing could be said about Baylor and Kansas.
- Marshall (8-0) (77.84) [8] – The pride of Conference USA continues to lead the nation with a point differential of +235 and a normalized scoring differential 50-percent higher than Florida State’s.
- Nebraska (8-1) (77.33) [14] – The Cornhuskers have three 6-2 teams standing between them and a shot at the Big Ten Championship.
- UCLA (7-2) (73.69) [17] – The Bruins superb defensive effort put them one Sun Devils’ loss away from the Pac-12 South lead.
- Oklahoma (6-2) (72.71) [18] – A season that started with Oklahoma as the fourth-ranked team in the nation could soon see them unranked if they can’t find a way to beat Baylor at home.
- Georgia (6-2) (71.24) [21] – I can’t even begin to speculate where that terrible performance against Florida came from.
- Clemson (6-2) (71.00) [19] – The Tigers have five wins in a row after a rough start to their schedule.
- Duke (7-1) (69.37) [20] – How good is life in the ACC? The Blue Devils have four conference games remaining; none against teams at .500 or above.
- Arizona (6-2) (68.24) [25] – If losing 17-7 is college football’s version of being handed lemons, then hosting Colorado is its version of making lemonade.
- West Virginia (6-3) (67.94) [22] – Unable to pull of this upset, the Mountaineers will try back again in three weeks when they host the Wildcats.
- Utah (6-2) (67.83) [28] – A tough loss on the road always stings. Following it up with a trip from the Ducks doesn’t make matters easier.
- Colorado State (8-1) (66.27) [23] – The Rams become our first Mountain West team to join the top-25, thanks to seven-straight wins. Up next is 2-7 Hawaii.
AP Teams That Missed the Cut
Colorado State was able to sneak into the top 25, edging out Wisconsin (26), who was 25th in the AP poll this week.
Oregon Teams Update
The Ducks are covered up in the fourth spot, and as of this writing are on their way to the playoffs. The Beavers, conversely, continue to tumble. They have fallen all the way to 82nd thanks to losses in four of their last five. If they fail to beat Wazzou on Saturday, they will face a very steep hill to become bowl eligible.
Other Notable Teams
Boise State (30) cracked the top 30 but still trails Colorado State in the Mountain West … Miami (FL) has quietly risen to 33rd … Georgia Southern (34) continues to be the only glimmering jewel in the Sun Belt … Arkansas is 4-5 but ranked 36th thanks to facing five teams ranked in the top 10 at the time … East Carolina fell to 41st after their loss to Temple … Minnesota (40) is bowl-eligible at 6-2 … Kentucky is now 50th after dropping three straight … Western Michigan (59) leads the MAC by a hair over Northern Illinois (60) … Vanderbilt (96) is finally in the top 100 after beating Old Dominion (109) … and our Bottom Five for the week are Eastern Michigan (124), Kent State, Georgia State, Troy and the still-winless Mustangs of SMU (128).
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