Tuesday, November 17, 2009

The College Football Blog: 2009 Power Rankings (After Week 11)

Power Rankings after Week 11

1. Alabama 10-0 (2nd)
2. Florida 10-0 (1st)
3. Texas 10-0 (3rd)
4. TCU 10-0 (5th)
5. Georgia Tech 10-1 (6th)
6. LSU 8-2 (4th)
7. Oregon 8-2 (7th)
8. Cincinnati 10-0 (9th)
9. Boise State 10-0 (10th)
10. Ohio State 9-2 (11th)
11. Iowa 9-2 (13th)
12. Stanford 7-3 (NR)
13. Oklahoma 7-4 (14th)
14. Pittsburgh 9-1 (NR)
15. Oklahoma State 8-2 (NR)

Out: USC (8th); Arizona (12th); Penn State (15th).

Comments: It’s hard for me to feel good about this list anymore but I’m going to keep giving it a shot.

Top 3 is now Top 4: I’ve got a new top team this week and I think it’s time we start talking about the top 4 teams behind ahead of the rest and not just the top 3. I moved Alabama up to #1 after they dominated another SEC opponent on the road. I dropped Florida down to #2 after they struggled with another SEC opponent on the road. Bama has just been more impressive against lesser teams than the Gators this year. I kept Texas at #3 after they whipped Baylor on the road. The Longhorns are clearly miles ahead of the competition in the Big XII but it’s hard to figure out how good they are because the competition is so mediocre. Finally, TCU jumped up to 4th in my rankings this week after they shellacked Utah on Saturday night. The Horned Frogs have been downright dominant this season. I really think TCU should be considered a part of the group placed above the rest along with Florida, Alabama, and Texas.

5-10: There were some changes to the middle of my rankings this week, including one of the biggest falls any team has taken in my power rankings all year. I moved GT up 1 spot from 6th to 5th after they blew out Duke on the road to get to 10-1. Their offense has been just about unstoppable this season. I moved LSU out of the top 4 down to #6 this week after a lackluster home win over Louisiana Tech. I don’t know how much this had to do with the Tigers being low on energy after a tough loss to Bama that put a lot of their goals out of reach. Going into that game against the Tide the only thing they couldn’t do was go undefeated. They could still win the National Championship. After the loss to Bama the NC title was gone, the SEC Championship was gone, the SEC West was out reach, and even a BCS bowl seemed very unlikely. So I’m giving them a bit of slack for being a tad flat last week against a weak team at home, without their top running back. I kept Oregon 7th following their win over ASU. Of course the biggest change to my rankings this week concerned the USC Trojans who dropped from 8th all the way out of my top 15 following their humiliating blowout loss to Stanford at home. This one shocked me. I know Stanford has proven to be a good team. I know USC was very banged up. But you can’t be that good if you get blown out at home. Almost no great team or even very good team gets blown out by anybody at home. I can no longer look at this USC team and give them the benefit of the doubt based on former USC teams. They are just not that good. I moved Cinci up a spot to 8th after they hung on to beat West Virginia at home to stay unbeaten. Likewise, Boise State moved up a spot to 9th after they took care of business at home against Idaho. I moved Ohio State up a spot from 11th to 10th after they eked out an overtime win at home against a gutsy Iowa team. I thought the Buckeyes would win a lot easier than they did but what I believed about them going into the game holds true now: they have a very solid defense and a flawed offense.

The Last 5: As usual, the 11-15 spots in my rankings contained the most drastic changes this week, including 3 new teams getting into my top 15. Despite losing their 2nd straight game, I moved Iowa up 2 spots from 13th to 11th after they took Ohio State into overtime on the road without a handful of their best players. They proved a lot to me last week. My #12 team this week is one of three previously unranked teams to jump into my rankings this week. Stanford pulled off an absolute stunner last week, blowing out USC on the road, a week after they blew out Oregon at home. The Cardinal has 3 losses but right now I believe they could hang with any team in the country. Oklahoma has 4 losses but they stomped Texas A&M last week which allowed me to keep them in my top 15 at least one more week. In fact, I bumped them up a spot to 13th. Pitt climbed into my rankings this week at #14 after they took care of Notre Dame to go top 9-1 on the year. In the 15th and final spot in my power rankings this week is Oklahoma State. Really there are a number of teams that could have gone in this spot but I went with the Cowboys. I’m still not sold on them, especially without Dez Bryant, but I feel better about them than the other candidates. Arizona had been #12 but they took a fall out of my rankings this week. I know they were on the road in the conference but it’s not like Cal has been dynamite this season and they were without Jahvid Best. Arizona could have gained credibility with a win at Berkeley but instead they fell back into obscurity. Penn State had been the #15 team in my rankings but they fell out this week after a lackluster win over Indiana at home. They were really only 15th by default last week because I just didn’t feel strongly about any other teams. That changed this week when Pitt and Stanford had impressive wins and PSU couldn’t even dominate Indiana at home.

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