Tuesday, October 21, 2008

The College Football Blog: Power Rankings (After Week 8)






Power Rankings After Week 8

1. Texas 7-0 (1st)
2. Penn State 8-0 (4th)
3. Alabama 7-0 (2nd)
4. Oklahoma 6-1 (3rd)
5. USC 5-1 (5th)
6. Florida 5-1 (6th)
7. LSU 5-1 (7th)
8. Ohio State 7-1 (11th)
9. UGA 6-1 (8th)
10. Oklahoma State 7-0 (9th)
11. Texas Tech 7-0 (10th)
12. Utah 8-0 (NR)

-Previous week’s ranking in parenthesis;

Out: Missouri (12th);
Next Three In: Boise State, TCU, Missouri.

Explanation: For the most part, the ranked teams that had trouble in week 8 came from the second half of the top 25, while most of the top rated teams in the country survived week 8 without any problems. Week 8 was relatively ho-hum as far as surprises or upsets. Mainly it was all about the status quo. Considering this, it stands to reason that my top 12 did not have a lot of radical changes to it this week. Only 1 team fell out of the rankings and that was the #12 team anyway. However, there were still changes to 8 of the 12 spots in my rankings. Obviously I kept Texas at #1 after they throttled Missouri at home, 56-31. But the next 3 spots in my rankings were all different. Alabama had been ranked 2nd in my top 12 but I decided to move them down a spot to 3rd after they had to hang on to beat Ole Miss at home, 24-20. Oklahoma had been my #3 team but I decided to move them down a slot to 4th after they gave up 31 points to Kansas at home. I know that Kansas was highly ranked but I expected Oklahoma’s defense to be better than it appears to be at this moment. Penn State had previously been ranked 4th in my top 12 but I moved them up 2 spots to 2nd in the rankings after their dominating win at Michigan. The next 3 spots in my rankings stayed the same. USC stayed at #5 after beating Washington State 69-0 in Pullman. Florida was off in week 8 and thus stayed put at #6. LSU got a solid 24-17 win over South Carolina on the road and I kept them in the number 7 slot. The final 5 spots in my rankings were all altered. I moved Ohio State up 3 spots from number 11 to number 8 after they went on the road and smashed Michigan State 45-7. I had been waiting for the Buckeyes to put it all together behind Pryor and Wells and they finally did in week 8. With Ohio State moving to #8, I moved the 3 teams that had been directly in front of them back a spot. Georgia won in unimpressive fashion again in week 8, this time beating Vandy at home by 10, and I moved them back a spot from 8th to 9th. Oklahoma State took care of business in a major way against Baylor at home but I still moved them back 1 spot from 9th to 10th. Texas Tech struggled on the road at Texas A&M and I moved them back a spot as well from 10th to 11th. After getting blown out for a second straight week, Missouri fell from the #12 spot out of my rankings this week. It may shock some to see that I still had Missouri as one of my next 3 teams in. I still think they are a good team, I think they just ran into the best team in the country on the road this last weekend. More importantly, there just aren’t many teams around the country that I think highly of. I would favor the Tigers on a neutral field against any team from the ACC or Big East, any team other than USC from the Pac-10, and any team other than Penn State or Ohio State from the Big Ten. Anyway, I begrudgingly moved Utah into my rankings at #12 after they blew out Colorado State in week 8 to stay undefeated. I don’t think they’re that tough, but again, there aren’t many other teams that I have a high regard for. Boise State and TCU are the other two teams I have in my next 3 in. The Broncos beat Hawaii to stay undefeated in week 8, while the Horned Frogs dismantled BYU at home.

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