Iggy's college football rankings for 10/31/04

[iggymcfly 0]

Well, here's my fresh new rankings. See what you think, and feel free to leave a comment. An intelligent comment would be ideal, but if you're not up for that, a stupid one works too.

 

1. USC 8-0 (1)

 

The Trojans continue to widen the gap between themselves and the rest of the country. Watching them in person today, what really hit me is how well they execute. It's not that they're more talented than the rest of the country, or even the upper tier of the Pac Ten. They just take advantage of every single mistake, while making remarkably few of their own, and bring their 'A" game week in and week out.

.

 

2. Oklahoma 8-0 (2)

 

Yeah, the Sooners let OSU hang in the game today, and didn't put the game away as one might hope. However, a close game against a team the caliber of OSU, is still better than a similar performance against Ole Miss, and miles better than a loss to the likes of North Carolina. Going undefeated doesn't guarantee them an Orange Bowl berth, but they certainly have to be considered the most likely team to face USC at this point.

.

 

3. Auburn 9-0 (3)

 

Despite all the hype they've been getting from the national media as the "real #2", Auburn really hasn't been that impressive from week to week. They've had numerous close games against mediocre competition, and the only really impressive performance they've had was the Tennessee game. We'll find out just how legitimate Auburn is once they face Georgia.

.

 

4. California 6-1 (5)

 

The Golden Bears may well be playing the best football of any team in America right now. The loss to USC will keep them out of the top 3, but their 27-0 victory over Arizona State was just another step to show what an amazing team Cal is. People may complain that a one-loss team shouldn't be ranked ahead of an undefeated, but you can't tell me that California wouldn't be undefeated playing Utah or Wisconsin's schedule, and by the same token, I find it incredibly unlikely that Wisconsin or Utah would have been able to walk into the LA Coliseum and be a late incompletion from winning the ballgame, let alone actually pick up the victory.

.

 

5. Utah 8-0 (6)

 

Well, a little bit of the luster was taken off the Texas A&M win with what happened in Waco today, but that doesn't mean that Utah's not a legitimate team. Adding that win to similarly impressive performances against North Carolina, New Mexico, and at Arizona are enough to make Utah a legitimate Top 5 team.

.

 

6. Wisconsin 8-0 (7)

 

Yes, the Badgers are an undefeated team from a BCS conference, but that doesn't mean that they've played a BCS-caliber schedule. Purdue is now just teetering on the edge of the Top 25, and the fact of the matter is that Purdue and Ohio State are the only teams with winning records that the Badgers have played this year. It would really be nice if we could see Wisconsin play Michigan, so we can find out just how good the Badgers are.

.

 

7. Georgia 7-1 (8)

 

Florida was motivated, playing at their absolute best, but they still weren't as good as the Dawgs. Georgia still may be the best team in the SEC, and if they hadn't got caught by Tennessee the week after an emotional win, they could be in position to take Oklahoma's spot in the Orange Bowl.

.

 

8. Tennessee 7-1 (10)

 

Tennessee picked up a really nice road win against South Carolina, and now has a free road to the SEC Title game. The Vols still have every opportunity to show the Auburn game was a fluke, and end up in a very nice BCS game.

.

 

9. Texas 7-1 (11)

 

Texas may be the toughest team in the country to get a read on, as the gap in talent between Texas Tech and Oklahoma is so extreme that it's nearly impossible to figure out just how good they are. For now, the fact that they haven't suffered a Miami-caliber letdown is enough to keep them in the nine spot.

.

 

10. Michigan 8-1 (13)

 

Michigan's been doing a great job battling through some of the tougher teams in the Big Ten, and have as yet come out unscathed. Losing on the road at Notre Dame's not that bad, and also something that would be very unlikely to happen again if they played the Irish next week.

.

 

11. Louisville 5-1 (12)

 

Yeah, the Carolina win looks a little bit better now, but the Miami win looks a little worse, and it's really hard to rank them too high with their dearth of good wins. On the flipside though, if they'd played Miami at home or Lefors hadn't got knocked out in the 4th quarter, the Cardinals would probably be 6-0 right now.

.

 

12. Miami 6-1 (3)

 

I know it's controversial to put the Hurricanes below the Louisville team that they beat a few weeks ago, but looking at both of their "good wins", the common denominator is that they happened in the Orange Bowl. When they had to go on the road this week, they couldn't get the job done against N. Carolina.

.

 

13. Boise State 8-0 (14)

 

Boise State proved this week that they're more than talented enough to get the job done when motivated, blowing out Hawaii 69-3. However, you have to think that if they were playing in a major conference, some of those letdowns would be losses instead of close wins.

.

 

14. Florida State 6-2 (9)

 

The Noles have been playing lackadaisical football much of the year, and it finally caught up to them against Maryland. FSU may have ability, but they have to show it every week if they want to be a top ten team.

.

 

15. Virginia Tech 6-2 (15)

 

Virginia Tech's best "marquee win" is still over West Virginia, but they've been getting the job done week in and week out, and are actually tied for the ACC lead right now with Miami and Virginia.

.

 

16. LSU 6-2 (18)

 

The Tigers don't seem to play all that well against weaker teams, but it's understandably hard to get pumped up to make a run for the Peach Bowl coming off a national championship year. Don't forget that LSU's one bad call away from having a free ride to the SEC Title game and an outside shot at the national championship.

.

 

17. West Virginia 7-1 (19)

 

At the time of year when much of the country is falling prey to upsets, the Mountaineers still only have one loss. Of course, it's kind of hard to get upset playing against the incredibly mediocre Big East.

.

 

18. Oklahoma State 6-2 (21)

 

Falling just short of the upset against the Sooners is no reason to punish the Cowboys. In fact, a three point loss to Oklahoma stands in stark contrast to what USC and Cal did to our next contender...

.

 

19. Arizona State 6-2 (17)

 

That's right. ASU looked like they were playing in a different stratosphere in getting blown out by USC and California. They stay this high for two reasons, one being the 44-7 win over Iowa, and the other being the absolute lack of contenders for the spot.

.

 

20. Virginia 6-1 (22)

 

Virginia's kind of the Wisconsin of the one-loss teams, as they still haven't beaten a team with a winning record. Also, there's no reason to put them ahead of ASU, as their loss to Florida State was probably even worse.

.

 

21. Iowa 6-2 (24)

 

Maybe the Sun Devils just caught Iowa on a bad week. After playing Michigan close, they came up with very solid wins over MSU and Ohio State. In fact, at this point, they're probably the best hope the BCS organizers have for someone to knock off Wisconsin.

.

 

22. Texas A&M 6-2 (16)

 

I hate having to rank the Aggies #22 after a loss to BAYLOR of all teams, but there's just nobody else. On the bright side, the Aggies are a two-loss team, they do have a nice win over OSU, and you have to think that they were absolutely sleepwalking for what was likely the weakest team on their whole schedule.

.

 

23. Purdue 5-3 (20)

 

It's quite a feat to remain ranked when you're on a three game losing sreak, but the Boilermakers have managed it. The fact is that all three losses could have gone either way, and the ND win's still pretty nice.

 

As an aside, Joe Tiller benching his senior Heisman candidate QB with under a minute to play and a chance to win is the kind of unforgivable coaching mistake that can kill a season. That sounds like the action of an angry man venting, rather than a coach trying to help his team win football games.

.

 

24. Notre Dame 5-3 (NR)

 

Well, the Irish have played one of the toughest schedules in the country, and the Michigan win is probably the most impressive among any of the three loss teams.

.

 

25. South Carolina 5-3 (23)

 

On the surface, this looks like an easy ranking to rip into, but there's no one else to fill the slot. The Gamecocks don't have a bad loss, and if you have to pick another three loss team, you might as well pick one from the best conference in the country.