It doesn’t seem like this week decided much of anything.
The SEC powers remained on their collision course. The three best Big 12 teams all won, and their head-to-head performances against each other didn’t change.
Southern Cal demolished Notre Dame (really, Charlie, you needed three quarters to get a first down?). Boise State won, and Penn State and Utah were already in the clubhouse.
Based on accomplishment (with overtime wins considered a little differently), this is probably the right rundown. But for the sake of argument, a case can be made the unbeaten team at the top is actually No. 5 (behind, in some order, Florida, Oklahoma, Southern Cal and Texas).
The good thing for Alabama is it can stifle any possible criticism with a victory over Florida. When an SEC team is 13-0 at season’s end, it should probably play for a national title. Unless it’s Auburn, it’s a 12-0 season and it’s 2004. The stars line up funny sometimes.
Anyway, here’s this week’s rankings; I’ll add in the AP poll from this week later in the day (UPDATE at 1:10 p.m. with AP poll results).
No./Team | Adj. record | AP | Pvs. | Notable Wins/Head-to-Head |
1. Alabama | 11-0-1 | 1 | 1 | * Georgia (A); OTW at LSU |
2. Texas | 11-1 | 3 | 2 | * Okla. (N); Okla. State (H); lost at TT |
3. Oklahoma | 11-1 | 4 | 3 | * TCU, Texas Tech (H); OSU (A); lost to Texas |
4. Florida | 11-1 | 2 | 4 | * LSU (H) and Ga. (N); lost to Miss. (H) |
5. Southern Cal | 10-1 | 5 | 5 | * Ohio State (H); lost at Oregon State |
6. Texas Tech | 10-1-1 | 8 | 6 | * Texas and Okla. St. (H); lost at Okla. |
7. Penn State | 11-1 | 6 | 7 | * Ohio St. (A), Oregon St. (H); lost at Iowa |
8. Utah | 12-0 | 7 | 8 | * Oregon State , TCU and BYU (H) |
9. Boise State | 12-0 | 9 | 9 | * Oregon (A) |
10. Ohio State | 10-2 | 10 | 11 | * Michigan State (A) |
11. Oklahoma State | 9-3 | 14 | 10 | * Missouri (A); 0-3 vs. Big 12 South powers |
12. Georgia Tech | 9-3 | 15 | 19 | * Florida State (H), BC and Georgia (A) |
13. Texas Christian | 10-2 | 11 | 14 | * BYU (H); lost at Oklahoma and Utah |
14. Cincinnati | 9-2-1 | 13 | 17 | * Pittsburgh (H); OTW at West Virginia |
15. Ball State | 12-0 | 12 | 15 | * Western Michigan (H), Central Michigan (A) |
16. Boston College | 9-3 | 18 | 20 | * Florida State (A); lost to GT (H) |
17. Oregon | 8-3-1 | 16 | 22 | * Oregon State (A); OTW at Purdue |
18. Georgia | 9-3 | 17 | 14 | * Lost to Bama and GT (H) , Florida (N) |
19. Brigham Young | 10-2 | 20 | 18 | * Losses at Utah and TCU |
20. Mississippi | 8-4 | 22 | 25 | * Florida (A) and Louisiana State (A) |
21. Michigan State | 9-3 | 21 | 23 | * Iowa (H) and Northwestern (A) |
22. Oregon State | 8-4 | 25 | 16 | * USC (H); lost to Oregon (H) |
23. Florida State | 8-4 | 29 | 20 | * VT (H); lost to GT (A) and BC (H) |
24. Pittsburgh | 7-3-1 | 23 | 26 | * West Virginia (H) |
25. Missouri | 9-3 | 19 | 12 | * Nebraska (A) |
26. Northwestern | 9-3 | 24 | 28 | * Iowa (A) |
27. Iowa | 8-4 | 26 | 29 | * Penn State (H) |
28. Virginia Tech | 8-4 | 27 | 30 | * North Carolina and Nebraska (A); GT (H) |
29. Nebraska | 8-4 | T-32 | NR | * Kansas (H) |
30. North Carolina | 8-3-1 | 35 | NR | * Honorary D1scourse 30 ACC slot |
