The College Football Blog: 2009 Power Rankings (After Week 12)

Power Rankings after Week 12

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

Out: Oklahoma (13th).

Comments: These rankings were unusually easy to knock out this week, as almost all of the top teams either won easily over weak opponents or did not play last week. My top 5 stayed exactly the same, as Alabama, Florida, Texas, and TCU had blowout victories over pushovers, and Georgia Tech did not play. LSU was the only team in my top 11 that dropped this week but they didn’t fall as far as I thought they probably would immediately after their loss to Ole Miss. Losing by 2 in Oxford to a good Ole Miss team and nearly pulling off a last second victory isn’t the worst thing in the world. But during the final minute of the game the Tigers were incredibly sloppy with clock management/play calling and I lost a lot of the regard I had for them going into that game. Still, I think they are able to overcome the shoddy coaching to a certain extent and so I only dropped them 3 spots from 6th to 9th. Oregon’s double overtime win at Arizona impressed me. I would have liked to move them up more than 1 spot but I still wouldn’t favor them over any of the teams in my top 5 so I just bumped them up from 7th to 6th. Cincinnati was idle and Boise State rolled another weak opponent but I moved them each up a spot to 7th and 8th respectively. This was due more to me losing faith in LSU than anything else. I kept Ohio State and Iowa at 10th and 11th after they took care of business against a couple of the lesser teams in the Big Ten. Really choosing between Ohio State and Iowa is a complete toss up. I guess I favor the Buckeyes because they have owned that conference for so long now. Stanford had been 12th in my rankings before they were upset by Cal at home in the Big Game last weekend. I still think Stanford is really good and I only dropped them down two spots to 14th. This was their 3rd huge game in a row and they just couldn’t sustain their high level of play, but they were very close to pull that game out anyway. Reluctantly I moved Pitt and Oklahoma State up 2 spots each, even though I still think Stanford might beat either one of them in a head to head contest on a neutral field. I’m still not sure how good the Panthers are but that’s fine because we’ll find out in the next 2 weeks when they play West Virginia and then Cincinnati. Pitt was off last week, while the Cowboys of Oklahoma State were nearly derailed at home by a terrible Colorado team. However, Okie State was playing without their star QB and that had an enormous effect on the game. It wasn’t pretty, but on the other hand, they did prove once again that they could win in spite of crippling injuries. We should find out more about the Pokes this weekend when they play Oklahoma on the road. Speaking of the Sooners, I promise (this time I really mean it) I am done with them for the year. The Sooners were the only team to fall out of my rankings this week. I dropped Oklahoma from 13th to out of the top 15 following their 5th loss of the season, this time getting blown out by Texas Tech. The #15 spot in my rankings has often been taken by default this year and that is certainly the case this week. Penn State jumped back into my rankings this week at 15th after they finished their 10-2 season with a blowout of Michigan State on the road. The Nittany Lions have lost twice at home in convincing fashion this year and they have no real impressive wins, but at least all of their wins have been decisive. A number of teams could have been 15th but I went with Penn State in the end.