Power Rankings after Week 7
1. Florida 6-0 (1st)
2. Alabama 7-0 (2nd)
3. Texas 6-0 (3rd)
4. USC 5-1 (4th)
5. Oklahoma 4-3 (5th)
6. Iowa 7-0 (NR)
7. LSU 5-1 (6th)
8. Georgia Tech 6-1 (15th)
9. Cincinnati 6-0 (9th)
10. TCU 6-0 (13th)
11. Boise State 6-0 (7th)
12. Miami 5-1 (10th)
13. Oregon 5-1 (14th)
14. Virginia Tech 5-2 (12th)
15. Ohio State 5-2 (8th)
Out: Nebraska (11th).
Comments: I haven’t commented much lately but this is the midpoint of the season and I just have to point out that nobody knows anything. And I can’t even add a “yet” to the end of that sentence because that would imply that we’re eventually going to figure something out and that would be a stretch at this point. After 7 weeks of play the biggest thing I’ve learned is that this (by “this” I mean the idea of trying to determine which team is the best by polls and rankings and computerized formulas) is totally stupid. I mean, I already knew that before hand but it’s only been reinforced this season. We’ve learned nothing. We don’t know how good any of these teams are and the annoying thing is we’re not every really going to know. Things are so unpredictable from week to week that I’ve begun to feel as if it really doesn’t matter what happens. Teams play few games that can even be said to mean anything at all, and the performance of just about every team varies from week to week. This is pretty much across the board from the top to the bottom of every conference.
I’ve got 15 teams listed above but there’s almost no point in ranking them. I really don’t know how good Cincinnati or Boise State or TCU or Oregon or even LSU is. I just don’t know. I’d like to think I know that USC is good. They usually are. And they’ve won at Notre Dame, at Cal, and at Ohio State. They’ve also lost at Washington, where LSU won. Florida won at LSU. But LSU should have lost to Mississippi State and Florida should have lost at home to Arkansas this week. Arkansas lost at home to Georgia, who got crushed at Tennessee, who lost at home to UCLA, who got beat by Cal at home. Does any of this really mean anything at all? You might be able to get something out of all this but not much. And among people who follow this sport, nobody really knows much more or less than anyone else. All that said, since this is all going to be determined by somebody’s opinion, here’s what I think at this point.
Florida has not been as impressive as I and many others expected. To be fair, they have not been totally healthy, so it’s tough to judge them on their play so far. But they really only have one solid win and that was at LSU. Still, just because they’re beating lesser teams and winning ugly doesn’t mean they wouldn’t beat any team in the land if it was for the championship. And until the Gators lose a couple of games I’m going to favor them in that situation.
Bama has been the best team on the field this season. They are a clear number 2 for me. But after that I think it’s pretty wide open. I’m far less sure about Texas than I was 2 or 3 weeks ago. USC isn’t as good as usually but they’re still better than most. Oklahoma is the hardest team for me to deal with because they never had Sam Bradford for a big game. Before the announcement that Bradford was ruled out for the entire season I still had the Sooners ranked 4th. Even without Bradford I’m not dropping them out of my top 5. They’ve lost 3 games by a total of 5 points. Bradford was out for at least half of all 3 of those games. Those 3 losses have come on a neutral field to BYU in the first week of the season; at Miami; and on a neutral field against Texas. They could easily have won all 3 of those games. In their other contests they’ve dominated. Even without Bradford I would not bet against them on a neutral field against Cincinnati, TCU, Boise State, etc. With Bradford I think they’re better than almost everybody. Unfortunately, they will never be at full strength, as their future NFL 1st Round pick tight end and quarterback are out for the season.
Iowa has finally convinced me. I’m sorry but I just couldn’t quite get over the fact that they had to come from behind and then block 2 short field goals in order to escape with a win over Northern Iowa at home in the first week of the season. But they’ve been impressive since then. They are the best team in the Big Ten. I’m not saying that Ohio State couldn’t beat them but Iowa appears to be the better team. And you know what? They are favored by a single point at Michigan State this week. You know who beat Michigan State at Michigan State this year? Central Michigan. So again, what does anybody know?
I still don’t know how good LSU or Cincinnati or Boise State or TCU is. I think they’re all pretty good which is why I have them ranked in my top 11. But Boise State has played a weak schedule and they aren’t going to play anybody of note the rest of the way. They struggled against Fresno State and Tulsa, decent teams that they should have blown away if they are the #5 team in the country. Cincinnati has gotten the job done in all of their games but they really haven’t played a great or even very good team yet and they aren’t going to. TCU has road wins over a couple of decent ACC teams but they haven’t played anyone great yet. At least TCU will get to prove something when they play BYU this week and then Utah in November.
One team that I know is really good is Georgia Tech. That don’t blow teams away but if you don’t watch their games you don’t realize that they’re in control. In just about every game there comes a point in the 2nd half where the only way the other team can win is if Tech fumbles a pitch. Seriously, their offense demoralizes you. I doubt they will lose again this year unless they play someone really tough in their bowl game. Then again they could lose at Virginia this weekend. That’s how it is in college football.
Miami and Oregon are similar cases in my opinion. Miami has been a bit unpredictable. They have two great home wins over Oklahoma and Georgia Tech. They also got crushed at Virginia Tech but the weather played a big role in that contest. Oregon lost in the first week at Boise State which can easily be explained away. Since then they’ve been great but their schedule has been set up for them to succeed. I would like to see Miami win more convincingly against lesser opponents. We should learn a lot about Oregon when they play USC.
I have Virginia Tech and Ohio State at the back of my top 15 because of their defenses. They are both very unpredictable because of their offenses. Their offenses are based around athletic but inaccurate and inconsistent QB’s. They can play with anybody because of their defenses but they can also get beat at any time. Virginia Tech hung with Bama in the Dome and they lost by 5 at GT. Those aren’t bad losses at all. But they also should have lost at home to Nebraska and they beat Duke 34-26. Those performances are the ones which have kept me wary of over rating VT. Ohio State nearly knocked off USC and they were cruising through the Big Ten on the strength of their defense until last weekend. Poor QB play caught up to them and they lost their edge and suffered a hideous defeat to Purdue. But they’re still tough to beat.
I really don’t think any other teams are better than good. If there are other very good or great teams out there they haven’t proved it yet.
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