Friday, October 31, 2008

The College Football Blog: Power Rankings (After Week 9)

Power Rankings After Week 9

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

-Previous week’s ranking in parenthesis;

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

Explanation: Okay, I realize I’ve got some ‘splaining to do. Not surprisingly, the top half of my top 12 stayed the same, as teams ranked 1st-6th in my rankings all won. Texas remains a clear #1 after their 28-24 win over Okie State at home. Penn State got to 9-0 with their most impressive win of the season, beating Ohio State on the road to remain #2. Bama took care of Tennessee on the road to remain unbeaten and stay 3rd in my rankings. Oklahoma stayed at #4 following their 58-35 win over Kansas State on the road. #5 USC hung on to beat Arizona on the road and they stay in the #5 spot. Florida obliterated Kentucky, 63-5, and the Gators are again ranked 6th in my top 12 this week. After that it gets a little strange. My number 7, 8, and 10 teams all lost in week 9 but they all lost to other top 12 teams, therefore none of them fell out of my rankings. For the first time this year there are a couple of 2-loss teams in my top 12. LSU had been my #7 team but they lost to Georgia at home, 52-38, to fall to 5-2 on the season. I considered dropping LSU out of my rankings, seeing as how they have been beaten handedly in both of their big games this season (at Florida and vs. Georgia) and they really haven’t beaten anyone of consequence. I ended up dropping them 5 spots to #12. More on that later. Anyway, I moved the Dawgs up 2 spots from 9th to 7th following their biggest win of the season. Ohio State lost their second game of the season on Saturday, falling at home to PSU, 13-6, so I dropped them 2 spots from 8th to 10th. I think they are a much better team now than they were in early September when they lost at USC and they put up a good fight against my #2 team. Here’s where it gets kind of strange. Oklahoma State had been ranked 10th in my top 12 going into week 9 and they lost at Texas, 28-24. However, I moved them up 2 spots this week to #8 even though they lost. That may sound crazy but they really showed me something hanging in there on the road against the #1 team in the country. And in light of what happened around the country it made sense to move them up. Texas Tech continued to roll with a 63-21 beating of an overrated Kansas squad on the road to stay unbeaten. They moved up 2 spots in my rankings from 11th to 9th. Taking Tech’s place in the number 11 slot this week is Missouri. The Tigers squashed Colorado, 58-0, to get to 6-2 and jump back into my ratings after a one-week hiatus. Any fan of the Cinderella non-BCS boys would be upset with me this week as I dropped #12 Utah out of my rankings despite the fact that they were idle last week. Although 3 teams in my top 12 lost for the second time last week while Utah was off and remained undefeated, Utah was the only team to fall out of my power rankings. It came down to whether I would favor Utah over either Missouri or LSU on a neutral field and I just wouldn’t. So the Utes join fellow non-BCS powers Boise State and TCU among my next 3 in this week.

No comments: