College Football Top 25 - Week 9
ByThere was a question asked earlier last week about whether we should totally re-evaluate our entire top 25 process and stop keeping teams in their old position simply because we thought they were going to be good in the preseason and they haven’t lost yet. We did that and shook some things up a little bit. Even in our poll, which is based on whether or not you can beat the team ahead of you on a neutral field, we had to move some things around.
1. Florida (8-0) - Don’t worry Gator fans, you’re still going to the BCS title game. Nice pounding over Mark Richt’s pathetic excuse for an SEC team.
2. Texas (8-0) - We sat back and thought about it this weekend. Texas has been the team all season waiting in the bushes and beating everybody they were supposed to. They have a great offense and most of the Big 12 can play defense all of a sudden.
3. Alabama (8-0) - They will get exposed against a more veteran, more athletic Florida team. It might even happen this weekend against LSU! Uh, oh………..
4. Oregon (7-1) - The BCS is NOT allowed to put Oregon ahead of Boise State unless the Broncos lose. We are though, and it’s undeniable that this is the best team in America right now. No visiting team would have won that game in Oregon this weekend.
5. Boise State (8-0) - Chris Peterson has proven he can beat anyone on a neutral field given a month to prepare so we’re comfortable putting the Broncos in this spot.
6. USC (6-2) - Shut up, they’ll beat your favorite team in a bowl game any day of the week. Wait until they play Alabama in a bowl game and show them what a real offense looks like.
7. TCU (8-0) - What’s going to happen at the end of the year when TCU and Boise State are ranked in the top 5 of the BCS?
8. Cincinnati (8-0) - Beat Syracuse, 28-7, with their backup quarterback who might be better than Tony Pike in the first place. Brian Kelly would be crazy to leave the Bearcats any time soon.
9. LSU (7-1) - Watch them beat Alabama this weekend and send the BCS into a stir of “what if’s”.
10. Georgia Tech (8-1) - Jonathon Dwyer is now averaging over 100 yards a game and has made the Yellow Jackets a force in the ACC.
11. Iowa (9-0) - Came back to beat Indiana in a game that could have burst the bubble for the entire Big Ten. That will happen when the Hawkeyes play the Buckeyes instead.
12. Miami (6-2) - They went into Wake Forest and came away with a very impressive 28-27 come-from-behind victory that proved a lot about their program.
13. Houston (7-1) - Dropped 50 points on Southern Miss in a win which is nothing new. Giving up 43 isn’t great though.
14. Utah (7-1) - This is a great program. They were supposed to be a little down this year but their only loss has been to Oregon by touchdown. They deserve a lot more respect.
15. Oklahoma (5-3) - Their three losses have come by a combined 5 points.
16. Oklahoma State (6-2) - Got exposed against Texas this weekend and might be a few years, and a f
ew playmakers, away from being a serious contender in the Big 12. They will always be in the mix as long as Boone Pickens is alive though.
17. Arizona (5-2) - The most underrated team in the country.
18. Notre Dame (6-2) - Beat up on Washington State, 40-14, but they need to get a signature win to be taken seriously.
19. Ohio State (6-2) - No Big Deal: They covered against New Mexico St. (45-0) Big Deal: The spread was 44 points!!!
20. Pittsburgh (7-1) - Their loss to NC State is going to bite them in so many different ways at the end of the season. It looks terrible for the Big East too.
21. California (6-2) - The roller coaster never stops at Cal. Just strap on your seatbelt and go along for the ride if you’re a Bear fan.
22. South Florida (6-2) - Beat West Virginia, as we predicted, and have pushed West Virginia into their free fall. Jim Leavitt is one of the best coaches in college football and seems to love his job at USF.
23. South Carolina (6-3) - They are the 2nd best 3-loss team in the country. That and a ticket will get you into the conference title game.
24. Penn State (8-1) - There’s a new form of torture used by Marines. They make POWs break down tape of Big Ten quarterbacks.
25. Virginia Tech (5-3) - Remember last week when we said they wouldn’t lose another game all season? We’ll try it again and hope for it to go right.
The Iowa schedule argument is laughable. Teams like Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, LSU and Miami would kill to have Iowa’s schedule.
Be honest for a second. Who do you think LSU would rather play?
—– @ Washington, @ Mississippi St, @ Georgia, Florida, Auburn, @ Alabama, @ Mississippi and Arkansas
or
—– Arizona, @ Penn St, Michigan, @ Wisconsin, @ Michigan St, Indiana, Northwestern and @ Ohio State
Stick with the fact that Iowa has won all of their games and be proud of that, instead of claiming they have some monster schedule that is impossible to navigate. Go to SEC or Big 12 message boards and tell them how hard your schedule is. You’ll get laughed out of the room.
Cow poop? “Favarite”? hahahahahaha
Don’t worry Iowa fans, we won’t hold this guy against you.
Iowa has one of the best schedules in the nation in the computer’s eyes. That can’t be right. What exactly does Iowa need to do to break Colin Cowherd’s holy top ten? I mean other than beat every team on the schedule, and more ranked teams than anyone in the country?
It would have helped if they beat Northern Iowa, Arkansas State, Michigan and Michigan State by more than a total of 8 points. A win is a win in the SEC but in the Big Ten you have to dominate those bad teams in order to be considered an elite team.
That is a ridiculous thing to say. Agreed they haven\’t played their best in those games, but they found a way to win either way. And the only team this year who has dominated all of the \’bad\’ teams on their schedule is Texas my friend. Even beloved USC beat Oreg St by six points. But I guess Oregon St (@ home) is better than Penn St (in happy valley). Wow. Revelation: you were dead on this whole time.
Oregon State wins 9-10 games a year. If they were located east of the Mississippi they would be talked about in the same breath as Penn State and West Virginia.
Once again silly. And i guess Washington\’s 12 loss season last year was an anomaly of epic proportions. What you imply is that Iowa should bring its best game to the table every given Saturday when no other teams do. They play great when it matters and good enough when there is less money on the table. Maybe Iowa isn\’t that good. But if they finish 13-0, please eat your crow. Because we might be cocky, spirited hillbillies who know nothing about top tier football, but we own up when we\’re wrong.
IOWA, what a joke. They should be 6-2 at best. They need a miracle drive to beat Michigan St and the were given the game against Indiana. They aren’t a good team. They’d lose to Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Florida, LSU, TCU, USC, Oregon, and possibly a few others. Hey IOWA fans, shut up about your crappy football team and go do some farm work.
IOWA has played ONE ranked team….Penn ST.
who may also be overrated, as they have not played any ranked team.. at the time of play
(Iowa is now ranked)
Penn St is coming up on Ohio State, who is very overrated….Iowa will have them after.
9/05 Northern Iowa-Joke
9/12 Iowa State-Joke
9/19 Arizona
9/26 Penn State
10/03 Arkansas State- Joke
10/10 Michigan
10/17 @ Wisconsin
10/24 @ Michigan State
10/31 Indiana-may have lost the game had refs not taken momentum from Indiana….we’ll never know.
wow colin still blowing off Pete Carroll? sportsnation is easily worst show on ESPN networks
I’m an Iowa fan, have been all my life. Listen, I’m enjoying the 9-0 start as much as any Iowa fan - and that’s what you should do. They may go undefeated, but it’s unlikely, so if you’re an Iowa fan just ENJOY the victories. They’re not even the most talented team in the Big 10, or the second most talented team for that matter. So if you’re an Iowa fan like me, understand there are plenty of good arguments as to why they aren’t a top 5, or probably a top 10 team (they may be 10th best in the nation - who really knows), but don’t worry about it and take the ride with the team.
Lunch break over, Seacrest out.
Hudson, you get it bro. Hope you enjoy the season.
Oregon State on par with Penn State? Is he crazy?
Let’s take a quick look at both teams since 1980:
Wins - Penn State 249, Oregon State 131
National Champs - Penn State 2, OSU 0
Bowl Victories - Penn State 16, OSU 6
Penn State’s record against the Pac 10 since they have been in the Big 10 - 6 and 2
Penn State head to head against Oregon State won 45-14
It’s not even close. All of this while acheiving one of the highest graduation rates in the nation.
Since 2006, Oregon State has 33 wins and has traveled out of conference to play at Boise State, at Hawaii, at Cincinnati, at Utah and at Penn State. They also mixed in a few bums like Idaho, Idaho St, UNLV and Portland State but generally use their out of conference teams to take a challenge and measure themselves against other programs.
Penn State has 37 wins while playing out of conference games against Notre Dame, Youngstown State, Akron, Temple, Florida International, Buffalo, Coastal Carolina, Syracuse and Eastern Illinois. Besides the 2006 Notre Dame team, Oregon State has been their best out of conference opponent.
Oregon State does not have the history of Penn State and nobody is arguing that. But right now, the Beavers are right on par with Penn State. If the Nittany Lions ever stepped up to play somebody we would have a much better read on where the program is truly at right now.
You could make the same stupid argument for your crush, USC. Using your logic, the Big Ten is just a bunch of bums, so playing Ohio St isn’t that big of a deal, along with Notre Dame, who might as well be a big 10 team (proximity, style of play, etc). Other than that, they play the pac 10 schedule and san jose state.
And I’m sure Cincy, Boise, TCU, Georgia Tech have all played similar schedules as us with much better results. Hmmm…
Boise won by 18 vs. UC Davis (worse FCS team than UNI, playing on the road, UNI played a couple hours away), won by 7 against Tulsa. Tulsa.
TCU beat pretender BYU by alot, AFA unranked (perennial power?) by three and ACC ‘power’ unranked Clemson by 4.
Cincy has beaten….USF? and… (ustabegood) Fresno by 8.
Tech has beaten Virginia Tech…who turns out actually sucks, and an amazing FSU squad by 5.
Every team has games you can pick out of the schedule where they played like garbage against garbage teams. The only difference is that Iowa has more wins against BCS top 25 teams than anybody. Yeah. All of em.
The arrogance of people on here kills me. Has Iowa in the last 6 years done nothing to get the SEC\’s attention? How about bowl wins over LSU, Florida, and Sout Carolina. And a Floriday loss by a few points in anothe bowl game. Come on guys, I am not saying Iowa is the best team, not by any stretch of the imagination…but please… get over yourselves.
Hey, Jake BBB, I think you’ve left out the fact that Cincinnati traveled thousands of miles out west to Corvallis and easily outplayed an Oregon State team that gave USC all it could handle in the Coliseum.
Finally someone gets it, and isn’t afraid to say what they (and the rest of the intelligent Sports Nation) really feel about who the best teams are, considering everything like strength of schedule.
My only change would be LSU above Cinn. since I think they’d beat them soundly head to head regardless of what they’re records are.
USC loses to Wash. & Oregon and you have them high, and above an LSU team that beat Washington???????
I actually did leave that part out. Thankfully after traveling thousands of miles, the Oregon State Beavers were waiting to play them.
Geez Colin was your ex a ‘Bama fan. Your homerism for USC is blinding your judgment in assessing them as a real offense. USC’s “real offense” averages 26 more yards per game and has scored 24 points less than ‘Bama’s pretend offense. Also, TCU would handle Boise.