Top 25: Chaos After Insane Week Of College Football
Top 10 Syracuse? Ranked South Alabama?? Sure, why not.
With two big posts planned for next week (hint, hint) let’s just keep it simple today. And after the weekend that college football had, it felt wrong to talk about anything else anyway.
This will be a lengthier section of explanations, but let’s start with my current Top 25 after a hectic weekend:
1.) Ohio State (-)
2.) Georgia (-)
3.) Tennessee (+2)
4.) Clemson (-)
5.) Michigan (+1)
6.) TCU (+7)
7.) Ole Miss (+2)
8.) UCLA (+2)
9.) Alabama (-7)
10.) Syracuse (+7)
11.) Oregon (+1)
12.) Oklahoma State (-5)
13.) Wake Forest (+3)
14.) USC (-6)
15.) Kansas State (+4)
16.) Illinois (NEW)
17.) Utah (+8)
18.) Penn State (-7)
19.) Tulane (+5)
20.) Cincinnati (+3)
21.) Kentucky (NEW)
22.) Texas (NEW)
23.) UCF (NEW)
24.) North Carolina (NEW)
25.) South Alabama (NEW)
Some thoughts:
Ohio State was off and Georgia killed Vanderbilt, which is not enough for me to move the Bulldogs up yet.
Shoutout Tennessee man. The Vols went up big against Alabama, then squandered that lead, something that has happened to many teams against Nick Saban over the years. What rarely happens, though, is what did happen here: Tennessee rallied, made some gigantic plays down the stretch and kicked a game-winning field goal to take down the Crimson Tide. This was an unbelievable game and Tennessee absolutely has the résumé of a playoff team.
Clemson and Michigan are really 4a and 4b until someone makes a big step in either direction. The Tigers took care of business as they have done against many good teams this past month, while the Wolverines clobbered a Penn State team I thought would give them a better fight. Michigan’s run game and defense are legit, but I still want to see more out of JJ McCarthy.
TCU took down Oklahoma State in another banger of a game, and the big wins keep stacking up for the Horned Frogs. With Ole Miss’ defense looking straight up bad against Auburn and UCLA off for the week, TCU gets to move up in a big way.
Top 10 Syracuse. Every undefeated FBS team left is now in the top 10, and the Orange deserve it after grinding NC State into dust for another big win. Yes, the Wolfpack were without Devin Leary. Still, Syracuse won pretty convincingly and now gets to face Clemson, Notre Dame, Pitt, Florida State and Wake Forest back to back. This may be as high as Syracuse gets this year, but what a run it has been for this team.
USC lost an absolute banger to Utah, but both teams looked excellent. Caleb Williams is a stud and the Trojans will likely be fine, but they fall to the middle of the ranking for now.
Illinois is playing the best brand of Big Ten football and is just slowly choking out each of its opponents. There’s a genuine shot for this team to get to the championship game, really impressive stuff from head coach Bret Bielema.
Tulane needs more credit. The Green Wave did get in at 25 in the AP Poll, but this is a one-loss team with a victory over Kansas State. I’ll keep preaching the good word until I inevitably jinx them.
We have five newcomers at the bottom of my ranking, let’s talk about them:
Kentucky: Back-to-back losses felt like it could lead to a landslide. Instead, the Wildcats completely shut down Mississippi State for a huge win to get back on track.
Texas: Survived against Iowa State after demolishing Oklahoma. Felt like a trap game and I think the Longhorns deserve credit for making it out with a victory, but an Oklahoma State matchup looms.
UCF: One bad loss to Louisville is not enough to keep out a team that has won every game by 3+ scores and that just had a 70-point outing against Temple. This offense is really clicking, and John Rhys Plumlee has looked excellent.
North Carolina has just one loss but refuses to look good in any win ever. With so many teams falling, simply being 6-1 here is enough, and Drake Maye has been legit at quarterback.
Can we show some love to South Alabama? Like UNC, the Jaguars aren’t looking specifically impressive in victories, but with one loss — a one-point defeat to a now-top 10 UCLA team — it’s clear that this team is good enough to earn a spot in this ranking.
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