Iggy's Week 3 Interim College Football Rankings

[iggymcfly 0]

I'm bored, and I figured I'd do my rankings while the week's games are still fresh in my (and everyone else's) minds. Also, I'm feeling pretty good about college football right now, since I went 10-2 on my sports bets, winning all my large bets and only losing a couple minor ones.

 

Since I know that simple rankings are a little dry, I also decided to add a little commentary. (Previous week's ranking is in parenthesis.)

 

1. USC 3-0 (1)

Despite an early hiccup, the Trojans looked to be everything they were advertised to be against Oregon. USC pretty much made as many mistakes as they possibly could, and they still won by 32 points. If they're actually on their game, USC will be completely unstoppable.

 

2. Virginia Tech 4-0 (5)

This is a close call between VT and Texas, but at this point, the Hokies just are too dominant to ignore. GT established themselves as major players against Auburn, and VT treated them like a I-AA team. The Hokies have only given up 7 points in their last 3 games, and the offense is getting better by the week. If anyone can beat USC, it's Virginia Tech.

 

3. Texas 3-0 (2)

The Longhorns are still an extremely good team, and could easily end up in the Rose Bowl. The road win over Ohio State is far and away the most impressive victory by any team in the country this year if you merely look at the quality of the opponent, and ignore how well they played in the victory. However, Vince Young does make mistakes in the passing game, and Texas just doesn't seem to be at the clinical level of precision that VT is at this point.

 

4. Florida 4-0 (3)

Florida's offense had their most impressive outing of the year against Kentucky rolling up 49 points in the first half. This team looks like they're coming together week by week, and getting even better as the year goes on. If they can get by Alabama in Tuscaloosa next week, they could finish the season at 12-0.

 

5. LSU 1-0 (4)

The Tigers did have a great win against Arizona State who's looking better by the week. However, it's hard to completely evaluate them on the basis of one performance. Monday's game against Tennessee should go a long way toward showing just how legitimate the Tigers are.

 

6. Florida State 3-0 (6)

The Seminoles are sort of flying under the radar as a Rose Bowl candidate, but they might have the most impressive two victories of any team in the country. Defeating Miami and Boston College on the road is enough to show that the Seminoles are back in a big way.

 

7. Michigan State 4-0 (7)

Michigan State showed their win over Notre Dame wasn't a fluke, following it up with a 61-17 pasting of Ron Zook's Illinois squad. They appear to have the best offense in the Big Ten, and if their defense can keep pace, even reasonably well, they have a great shot to win the conference.

 

8. Ohio State 3-1 (12)

The Buckeyes finally got a big win, absolutely destroying Iowa in the Horseshoe. Still, they do have a home loss, and that's going to be hard to get past if the Buckeyes want to be legitimate Rose Bowl contenders.

 

9. Georgia 4-0 (9)

The Bulldogs opened the season with a bang, dissecting a highly ranked Boise State team 48-13. However, since then, the Boise State win has looked less and less impressive, and Georgia has been a little sluggish as well, barely getting by South Carolina, and then grinding their way past Mississippi State. The Dawgs defense has been consistently strong, which should be enough to keep them a contender in the SEC, but until they play a big name program, it's going to be difficult to tell just how good this Georgia team is.

 

10. Wisconsin 4-0 (17)

Early in the season, the Badgers showed off their offense looking great against sub-par competition, and this Saturday, they followed it up with a huge quality win, defeating Michigan in Camp Randall. They get to skip Ohio St. and MSU this year, so if Wisconsin can win at Minnesota, they just might cruise towards a Big Ten title.

 

11. Miami 2-1 (11)

If Miami had gotten one or two kicks to go their way against FSU, or played the Seminoles at home, they might be an undefeated Top 5 squad right now. As it is, they still have a great chance to win the ACC, and have to be considered one of the top programs in college football.

 

12. Tennessee 1-1 (13)

This is another tricky case, as Tennessee's only games have been a too-close win against UAB and a two possession loss in the Swamp. If they want to get their season back on track, they need a win at LSU in a big way.

 

13. Notre Dame 3-1 (14)

The Fighting Irish looked very unimpressive against UW, and one has to wonder if their win over Michigan was somewhat of a fluke. Still, a big-time road victory is a big-time road victory, and going 3-1 with their early schedule should be rewarded. Also, one has to expect the Irish to improve over the course of the season, as the players adapt to Charlie Weis's new system.

 

14. Minnesota 4-0 (22)

The win over Purdue was absolutely huge for the Minnesota program, as it shows that the Gophers might finally be able to make "the leap" to being an elite Big Ten program. The Gophers showed great heart coming back from a late deficit to win in double OT. Still, one has to wonder if they could have made that comeback going into the teeth of a hostile crowd. They're going to have to prove themselves on the road before they can be considered a Top Ten program.

 

15. Arizona State 3-1 (19)

The Sun Devils have looked great the last couple weeks, posting double digit victories against Northwestern and at Oregon State. Their home date against USC next week might be the toughest test the Trojans face all year.

 

16. California 4-0 (18)

The Golden Bears have done well to maintain composure in the face of numerous injuries, but they still haven't really been tested. They do have a couple weeks to get healthy before they get into the heart of the Pac-Ten schedule, but their current level of play won't be enough against teams like USC.

 

17. Iowa State 3-0 (16)

The Cyclones are still undefeated, but they played about as bad of a game as they could have against Army and really need to play better against Nebraska next week. It's starting to look like the big win over Iowa might have been more a result of the Hawkeyes' incompetence than a great deal of improvement from ISU.

 

18. Alabama 4-0 (20)

Yes, Alabama looked rather weak against Arkansas, but the Crimson Tide just aren't the kind of team to blow out a mediocre opponent. Their big win at South Carolina was much more indicative of their actual talent level, and if they don't make too many mistakes, they're definitely good enough to beat Florida next week.

 

19. Texas Tech 3-0 (23)

Sure, it would be nice if they played a real opponent, but it's hard to fault what Texas Tech's done thus far. Their offense is perenially one of the best in the country, and if they can get their defense to hold up, even a little bit, there's no reason the Red Raiders can't be a BCS squad.

 

20. Boston College 3-1 (NR)

The Eagles followed up a tough loss aganst FSU with an incredibly gritty road win at Clemson. They may not be able to overtake the Seminoles for the division lead, but they're showing themselves to be a solid bowl team nevertheless.

 

21. Michigan 2-2 (22)

It's tough to give a very good ranking to a two-loss team at this point of the year, especially when one of those losses was at home. Still though, the Wolverines played about as badly as they could against Notre Dame, and still nearly pulled off the late victory, and likely could have beaten Wisconsin had they played them at home. It's way too early to write off Michigan in their quest to repeat as Big Ten champion.

 

22. Purdue 2-1 (21)

The Boilermakers certainly didn't want to lose their Big Ten opener to their perennial whipping boys from Minnesota. However, the loss isn't that bad. If they'd stopped the two-point conversion at the end of regulation, or the fourth and goal in the first overtime, they would still be undefeated. When they lose a road game by that close of a margin to a Top 15 team, it's hard to punish the Boilermakers too much.

 

23. Penn State 4-0 (NR)

Penn State kept their winning streak going, getting an impressive road win against Northwestern. They're still a big win from being serious Big Ten title contenders, but they've done everything they need to do thus far. Also, the opening win against South Florida looks much better after the way the Bulls dismantled Louisville.

 

24. UCLA 3-0 (NR)

I'm not giving Oklahoma credit for beating a real team, so there isn't really a big win for UCLA thus far. However, in every game they have played, the Bruins have won by at least 17 points, so they're certainly doing their part to establish themselves during their non-conference slate.

 

25. Georgia Tech 3-1 (10)

Yes, the Yellow Jackets got absolutely massacred by Virginia Tech. Murdered, destroyed, whatever descriptive verb you want to use. Still though, this is the second best team in the country that did this to them, and it doesn't necessarily mean that GT isn't a good football team. Sometimes, certain teams are so great that they can take a good team and just absolutely terrorize them, just like the Hokies did today. If the Jackets don't let this game get to them emotionally, they could still finish the season somewhere around 8-3 and go to a good bowl game.

[Fökai 0]

Two immediate thoughts...

 

--Minnesota should be higher; well, at least ahead of Notre Dame and the Vols if they don't flat-out win tomorrow night.

 

--I don't see how Texas Tech can move up if they beat KANSAS next week. You have the lowest ranking of Tech that I've seen...and with good reason.

 

Good rankings this week.

[iggymcfly 0]

Yeah, the Minnesota/Notre Dame spot was the one I struggled with the most after Texas/Virginia Tech for #2. Finally, though, the way I see it is that Minnesota did what they were supposed to do, winning at home by the absolute narrowest of margins.

 

Meanwhile, the Irish really accomplished something, picking up a big win over the Wolverines in Michigan Stadium, so the narrow home loss can be somewhat forgiven. However, the ranking is close enough that if Minnesota beat Penn State on the road, and the Notre Dame/Purdue game somehow got postponed, I'd move the Gophers up.

 

Oh, and if you don't like Texas Tech, you'll love the rankings on collegefootballnews.com. They've currently got the Red Raiders at #26 behind teams like Clemson and Washington State.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

CFN keeping Georgia Tech at 13 is pretty surprising. Usually they give up on their personal mega-hyped team as soon as they show a single sign of weakness. Now they've taken it too far in the other direction.

 

Not much to complain about in Iggy's rankings. I'd probably have Alabama a bit higher. Next week's Florida game should be a big one for both programs.

[iggymcfly 0]

Actually, I agree that I might have made a mistake with Alabama. They should at least be above Iowa State, and maybe Cal as well. I've been trying to base it on this year' performance, which is why I don't have them too high, but they were my national sleeper before the year started, and I honestly believe that they'll beat Florida next week in Tuscaloosa. The way I see it, they'll probably go 10-1, win the SEC West, and then lose a rematch to Florida in the SEC Title game.

 

And as for CFN, what surprised me is not just that they kept GT at 13, but that they only have VT at 6. I mean really, how do you reconcile that? Teams seven spots apart don't beat each other by 44 points. Either VT's awesome, and that's why they beat Ga. Tech so badly, or else the Jackets just aren't that good. Oh well, I guess they're still better than the Harris poll.

[Fökai 0]

EDIT: Thought this was the Harris Poll thread.

[iggymcfly 0]

Iggy's Top 25, updated through the LSU/Tennessee game:

(changes in bold with weekend interim ranking in parenthesis)

 

1. USC

2. Virginia Tech

3. Texas

4. Florida

5. Florida State (6)

6. Tennessee (12)

7. Michigan State

8. Ohio State

9. Georgia

10. Wisconsin

11. Miami

12. LSU (5)

13. Notre Dame

14. Minnesota

15. Arizona State

16. California

17. Alabama (18)

18. Iowa State (17)

19. Texas Tech

20. Boston College

21. Michigan

22. Purdue

23. Penn State

24. UCLA

25. Georgia Tech

 

Quick explanation: The way I see it, Tennessee splitting road games with LSU and Florida is something that they should be rewarded, not punished for. And with the team coming together behind Clausen, the Vols look rejuvenated for a run at the SEC Title. Beating LSU on the road, especially in the fashion they did is 100 times more impressive than beating Iowa at home, and given that they never lost at home, I think they should definitely be above Ohio State. Finally, I think Michigan State's enough of an unproven commodity that they shouldn't be put above a proven Tennessee team just yet. If they beat Michigan this week, it might be a different story.

 

As for LSU, they lost at home, which is something that you can't say about Miami right now, so I really can't justify putting them above the Hurricanes. The parallels with Notre Dame are obvious, (big road win followed by a big home loss), so that's more of a judgement call, but I think LSU's quality of opponents has been just a smidge higher.

 

Finally, on Alabama and Iowa State, I made a minor error and I fixed it. The other rankings were interim and these ones are final, so I think that's fair.

[Crimson Platypus 0]

7. Michigan State 4-0 (7)

Michigan State showed their win over Notre Dame wasn't a fluke, following it up with a 61-17 pasting of Ron Zook's Illinois squad. They appear to have the best offense in the Big Ten, and if their defense can keep pace, even reasonably well, they have a great shot to win the conference.

 

Probably a bit high still for the Spartans. Drew Stanton is for real, unfortunately the defense is horrid. Any team that can throw the ball even moderately well will do so at will. The D-line is strong, but for whatever reason John L. likes to only rush 4 all game giving opposing QBs tons of time to pick apart an already sub-par secondary.

[lomasmoney 0]

7. Michigan State 4-0 (7)

Michigan State showed their win over Notre Dame wasn't a fluke, following it up with a 61-17 pasting of Ron Zook's Illinois squad. They appear to have the best offense in the Big Ten, and if their defense can keep pace, even reasonably well, they have a great shot to win the conference.

 

Probably a bit high still for the Spartans. Drew Stanton is for real, unfortunately the defense is horrid. Any team that can throw the ball even moderately well will do so at will.  The D-line is strong, but for whatever reason John L. likes to only rush 4 all game giving opposing QBs tons of time to pick apart an already sub-par secondary.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

If that is the case, then they won't have any problems against Michigan. Their quarterback has completed more passes to the other team than he has to Steve Breaston. Henne is just off right now, and Carr has to consider benching him in favor of Gutierrez who is more accurate and more mobile than Henne and that is something the offense needs right now. I still think State will beat Michigan in a competitive game but the possibility for a blow out for the Spartans is there, I just don't get the feeling of the typical MSU with this year's squad, this is the team they were supposed to have before Jeff Smoker snorted up half of East Lansing. Also, my respect for Michigan fans especially the students has gone down. People who know nothing about football around here are clamoring for Lloyd Carr to be fired. You know the guy with a national title and 5 conference championships.

[Crimson Platypus 0]

Carr is the best UofM coach possible for the rest of the country. He's terrible.