The College Football Blog: 2010 Season Résumé Rankings (After Week 7)

Season Résumé Rankings after Week 7

1. Auburn 7-0 (2nd)
2. LSU 7-0 (1st)
3. Michigan State 7-0 (5th)
4. TCU 7-0 (6th)
5. Oklahoma 6-0 (7th)
6. Oregon 6-0 (4th)
7. Boise State 6-0 (9th)
8. Utah 6-0 (10th)
9. Oklahoma State 6-0 (NR)
10. Missouri 6-0 (NR)

Out: Ohio State (3rd); Nevada (8th).

Explanation: Only 10 undefeated teams remain in college football. After this weekend, at the most there will be just 8 undefeated teams left, meaning this will be the last set of these rankings without a 1-loss team. It’s very possible that there will be 3 teams with a loss in the next set of rankings, as Oklahoma State is an underdog at home against Nebraska this week.

It has been a surprise to me that we are this far along into the season and for many teams it is still difficult to judge the strength of their opponents. Of course the biggest weakness inherent in these résumé rankings is that I still have to use some sort of judgment based on my “beliefs” in order to do them. The power rankings are based on my belief in which team is the strongest. These rankings are supposed to be based on the evidence presented on the field this season, but you still end up trying to figure out how good the opponents are. It’s frustrating because so many of these teams have few (if any) truly impressive wins, and it’s still hard to figure out what is and what is not an impressive win.

For example, LSU blows out Florida at the Swamp. Florida was coming off a blowout loss to Bama, but a win over Florida at the Swamp is still quite impressive. Or is it? Mississippi State did it last Saturday. Another example was Virginia Tech, which lost at home to James Madison, making Boise State’s clear impressive win over the Hokies look very different. There are a million other examples. Hopefully things will get clearer as we go forward. However, I’m starting to think that just the opposite will occur.

With things still very cloudy, I stuck to a formula I’ve used for most of this season. There are 4 teams in the country that are 7-0. I separated these 4 teams from the rest and then ranked them. Auburn moved up a spot from 2nd to 1st after beating Arkansas at home by 22 points. The final score was a Pac-10 like 65-43. If someone had resurrected Bear Bryant and taken him to that game he would have gone home and hanged himself.

I dropped LSU down to 2nd because they played their first FCS opponent last Saturday (and won by an unimpressive score of 32-10). Auburn is the only team in the country that is 7-0 against FBS teams. However, LSU was still a clear #2 team, as they remain the only team in the country that is 6-0 against teams from BCS conferences.

Michigan State got past Illinois last week to go to 7-0 and the Spartans moved up 2 spots in my rankings from 5th to 3rd. MSU is 6-0 against FBS teams and 4-0 against BCS teams. They have only 1 road win, but their win at Michigan is one of the most solid road wins of any of the undefeated teams.

My #4 team this week is TCU, who got to 7-0 with a 31-3 win over BYU. The Horned Frogs jumped 2 spots in my rankings from 6th to 4th. I have a more difficult time ranking the non-BCS teams. For obvious reasons, these teams do not play as many teams from BCS conferences, so my instinct is to rank them lower than teams who have played more BCS teams. The issue is made less clear in certain cases, however, as some BCS opponents are less note worthy than others (for example, Washington State). The Horned Frogs are 6-0 against FBS teams but just 2-0 against BCS teams. I kept the Horned Frogs ahead of all of the 6-0 teams, because while an additional win over an FCS team is not all that significant, it was another opportunity for them to lose (plus it made it easier for me to do these rankings).

After ranking the 4 teams at 7-0, I ranked the 6 teams who are 6-0. My #5 team this week is Oklahoma, who destroyed Iowa State and jumped 2 spots in my rankings from 7th. The Sooners are 6-0 against FBS teams and 3-0 against BCS teams. However, they have played only 1 true road game.

Oregon dropped 2 spots in my rankings this week from 4th to 6th, as they were idle and stayed at 6-0. The Ducks are also 1 of only 2 of the undefeated teams to be just 5-0 against FBS teams. However, they are 4-0 against BCS opponents and 3-0 on the road. The Ducks also have a very solid win over Stanford.

Both Boise State and Utah moved up 2 spots in my rankings this week after humbling lesser opponents to get to 6-0. The Broncos shutout San Jose State 48-0 and moved from 9th to 7th in these rankings. They are 6-0 against FBS teams and 3-0 on the road, but they are only 2-0 against BCS teams. Also, they really don’t have a huge win (and that means they probably won’t have one at all in the regular season unless Virginia Tech wins out or does something close to that). Utah whipped Wyoming 30-6 and moved up 2 spots from 10th to 8th in these rankings. The Utes do not have as good a win as Boise State’s victories over Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh. They are also just 2-0 against BCS teams. However, they are 6-0 against FBS teams and 3-0 on the road. More importantly in the long run, they will have several more opportunities to get quality and semi-quality wins the rest of the way.

Two new teams occupied the 9th and 10th spots in these rankings again this week. Both teams come from the Big XII. Oklahoma State is my #9 team this week. The Cowboys got a fairly impressive 34-17 win over Texas Tech on the road last week. They are 6-0 against FBS teams and 3-0 against BCS teams. They are 2-0 on the road, but their other road win came at Louisiana-Lafayette, and one of their wins over BCS teams was at home against Washington State. Missouri was the new #10 team this week. The Tigers hammered Texas A&M 30-9 last week. They are only 5-0 against FBS teams and just 1-0 on the road, though they are 3-0 against BCS teams and their road victory over A&M is at least somewhat significant (I think…).

Two teams dropped out of these rankings this week, and it doesn’t take a MENSA member to figure out why. Ohio State lost for the first time on Saturday night (at Wisconsin), while Nevada lost for the first time early Sunday morning (at Hawaii). The Buckeyes fell from 3rd all the way out of the rankings, but I would be surprised if they didn’t make another appearance in these rankings this season. Nevada dropped from 8th to out of the rankings, and it’s highly unlikely (and that’s probably putting it way too lightly) that the Wolf Pack will be included in these rankings again.