Power Rankings After Week 5
1. Oklahoma 4-0 (2nd)
2. Alabama 5-0 (8th)
3. Texas 4-0 (7th)
4. Penn State 5-0 (9th)
5. Missouri 4-0 (6th)
6. LSU 4-0 (5th)
7. USC 2-1 (1st)
8. UGA 4-1 (3rd)
9. Florida 3-1 (4th)
10. Auburn 4-1 (10th)
11. Texas Tech 4-0 (11th)
12. Ohio State 4-1 (12th)
-Previous week’s ranking in parenthesis;
Out: none.
Next Three In: South Florida, Kansas, BYU.
Explanation: It may seem bizarre that for the first time no team fell out of my top 12 rankings the very week following what was undoubtedly the craziest week of the season so far. But that’s just the nature of my power rankings. I don’t just automatically move teams to the back of the pack just because of a loss and I don’t keep moving teams up just because they haven’t lost yet. That being said, there was a lot of movement in my rankings, it was just amongst the teams which were already in it. I think you have to start at the very place where things really started last week and that was with USC’s stunning loss at Oregon State. USC had only played 2 games before last week but they had been almost flawless in those 2 games, demolishing UVA on the road and then dominating Ohio State at home. They were atop my rankings for 2 weeks but after getting exposed and outplayed last Thursday night at Corvallis they fell all the way to 7th. Some might say that losing on the road to a conference opponent that has gone bowling in 6 of the last 7 years is not all that bad of a loss. But it’s more than just losing on the road to a normally decent conference opponent; it’s how they lost. They got outplayed by a team that hadn’t looked good so far this year, getting beaten by Stanford and thrashed by Penn State in their first two games. They were down 21-0 at the half and trailed 27-14 with 2:39 left. They never led in this game. They didn’t just sleep through it; they straight up got beat. Some might say that USC should fall farther than 7th but to me this one performance doesn’t mean that they aren’t still one of the strongest teams, maybe even the strongest. They are still loaded and they would still be a tough matchup for almost all of the teams in the country and that’s why I still have them in my top 10. To be honest, the Trojans would have fallen farther anyway if I had updated the rankings on Friday. But by the time Saturday ended a lot of other things had happened. Georgia and Florida went into the weekend ranked 3rd and 4th in my power rankings respectively. They both suffered losses at home to conference opponents. Even though the Dawgs’ loss came to a team considered to be much better than the team Florida lost to, Georgia’s loss was still worse. They got beat down at home in front of a national TV audience, going to the locker room at halftime down 31-0, and trailing 41-17 with less than 5 minutes to go in the game, on the way to a 41-30 loss. The Gators lost at home to Ole Miss, 31-30, with a game tying extra point try getting blocked and a last minute drive getting stopped on downs in Ole Miss territory. I had USC ranked ahead of Georgia and Florida last week but that’s not the only reason I ranked the Trojans 7th, Georgia 8th, and Florida 9th. After seeing the Dawgs get thumped so badly at home by Bama, I can’t say that they I would favor them in a matchup with USC on a neutral field. However, the Dawgs have played very bad games just like this in the past and at some point in the same season been as good as any team in the country. As for Florida, the Gators haven’t impressed me in any of their last 3 games, and to me they have really underperformed to this point. They are still capable of being a team that could win the National Championship but right now I put them behind both USC and UGA. The rest of the teams in my top 12 won last week, including Oklahoma, which came into the week as a close 2nd to USC in my mind, and ended it as the clear #1. The Sooners hammered TCU 35-10 to go to 4-0 and get back to the top of my power rankings for the first time since after week 3. I say that Oklahoma is my clear number 1 but I have to say that Alabama is my clear number 2. Yes, I realize that may sound strange considering that they climbed to the #2 spot from 8th in one week but their win over Georgia last week was just an exclamation point to their 5-0 start. The Tide has absolutely mauled 3 teams from BCS conferences this year, and not one of those beatings took place at home. While Bama moved up 6 spots to #2, I moved Texas up 4 spots from 7th to 3rd following their 52-10 routing of Arkansas and the other events of the weekend involving the teams previously in front of them in my rankings. Penn State also made a huge jump on my list, moving up 5 spots from 9th to 4th. PSU had bombed their opponents in their first 4 games but they finally played what would seem to be a decent team in Illinois last week and they beat them 38-24 to get to 5-0. Additionally, their 45-14 win over Oregon State now looks much more credible following the Beavers’ upset of USC. Perhaps the move in my rankings that needs the most explaining is the flip flopping of Missouri and LSU in the 5th and 6th spots, despite the fact that Missouri did not play last week while LSU won a conference game. LSU beat Mississippi State at home, 34-24 last week, and that’s totally acceptable, as it keeps them undefeated heading into a bye week and then a huge game at Florida. But it just wasn’t that impressive, considering that Miss State has lost to Louisiana Tech and been beaten 38-7 by Georgia Tech this year. I just felt like at this moment I would probably favor Mizzu over LSU on a neutral field, particularly because of the advantage Missouri would have in the QB matchup. Also, if LSU gives up 24 to Miss State, how much would they allow to Missouri? Finally, the back of my top 12 remained unchanged, as Auburn hung on to beat Tennessee at home, Texas Tech was idle, and Ohio State took care of business at home against Minnesota.
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