Top 25: Pac-12's Bad Week and Giving North Carolina Credit
Plus hello, UCF
Hi friends, currently in a busy time so I’m just going to do an extended look at my weekly Top 25. Next week, the Top 25 will be at the bottom of next Monday’s post and there will be no post on Thanksgiving.
Top 25
Well, it was fun to leave Alabama and Clemson out of the top 10 for a week. Then, the top of the Pac-12 died, and here we are.
1.) Georgia (-)
2.) Michigan (-)
3.) Ohio State (-)
4.) TCU (-)
5.) Tennessee (-)
6.) USC (+1)
7.) LSU (+2)
8.) Alabama (+4)
9.) Clemson (+5)
10.) North Carolina (+5)
11.) Utah (+2)
12.) Oregon (-6)
13.) Ole Miss (-3)
14.) Washington (+10)
15.) UCF (+3)
16.) Penn State (-)
17.) UCLA (-10)
18.) Coastal Carolina (+1)
19.) Tulane (-8)
20.) Kansas State (+5)
21.) Florida State (NEW)
22.) Notre Dame (-)
23.) Cincinnati (NEW)
24.) Troy (NEW)
25.) UTSA (NEW)
Some thoughts:
Plenty of people will have Ohio State ahead of Michigan, and that is perfectly understandable, To me, blowing out Indiana doesn’t move the needle much, and Michigan once again handled business against Nebraska. This one will be decided on the field, but I didn’t see enough this past weekend to have them flip spots.
TCU scrapped out a win on the road against a good Texas team. It was nice to see Tennessee bounce back in a big way, but the undefeated team must stay in the top four.
USC is here despite not having any real big wins and looking vulnerable on more than one occasion. Sure sounds like a Lincoln Riley team to me, folks!
Alabama was so, so close to dropping deep into the abyss of these rankings and never returning. Instead, they scrapped out a victory against Ole Miss to get back into the top 10. NO PLAYOFF TALK FOR TWO-LOSS, NON-SEC CHAMP ALABAMA THOUGH, I BEG OF YOU.
North Carolina hasn’t looked particularly great most of the year, but here they are, 9-1 with a spot in the ACC title game. Drake Maye is a monster who should be firmly in the Heisman race. I might even have him at No. 1 currently on my picks, and that should only solidify if the Tar Heels win their next two.
Maye’s 2022 stats, for those interested: 253/361 (70.1%), 3,412 pass yards, 34 pass TD, 3 INT, 584 rushing yards, 5 rush TD
Washington took down Oregon in a very fun, very weird thriller of a game where the Ducks elected to throw a hail mary instead of a 55ish yard field goal. It’s a big win for the Huskies, and a tough loss for Oregon who had playoff aspirations. UCLA losing to goddamn Arizona later in the night did not help the conference either.
UCF, hello. The Golden Knights are surging, with wins over Cincinnati and Tulane to prove their AAC dominance. UCF has a golden path to 10 wins in front of them before postseason play, and a New Years Six bowl is well in the cards.
Florida State is playing good football guys. The Noles have absolutely decimated both Miami (Fla.) and Syracuse by a combined score of 83-6 over the past two weeks. It’s been nice to see this level of play out of quarterback Jordan Travis.
Troy and UTSA, welcome to the ranking. It’s been a long time coming, but both of these teams have been quietly excellent all season long. Troy’s defense is completely smothering, while the Roadrunners are winning behind quarterback Frank Harris and his receiver trio of Joshua Cephus, Zakhari Franklin and De’Corian Clark, all of which are over 700 yards on the year.
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