Another week of college football in the books and another week of the world knowing more about the teams. Now every team in these rankings has at least played a decent team, which is not something we could say last week. Without further adieu lets get to the rankings.
Playoff teams:
1. Clemson Tigers (4-0)
This week, Clemson struggled to pull away from Boston College, but finally did in the fourth quarter. They ended up winning the game 34-7. While it wasn’t pretty for most of the game, getting a win to add to their already impressive case to be number one is all that matters.
The wins over Auburn and Louisville both still look good, as both teams haven’t lost to anyone but Clemson. Add the road win over Boston College and the Tigers earn the number one spot. There will be more tests coming up, but so far their case is the best.
Clemson will be in the marquee matchup of the week against Virginia Tech, with ESPN’s College Gameday traveling to cover the game.
This week: at 12 Virginia Tech Hokies
2. Oklahoma Sooners (4-0)
The Sooners had a scare at Baylor this weekend. The Bears are without a win on the season and almost were able to upset Oklahoma. That would have been a terrible loss for Oklahoma’s resume, but they were able to come out of Waco with the win.
Because they didn’t play well this week in their victory, it hurts them, but their resume is still good. The win on the road over Ohio State will carry their case just like the opposite did for Ohio State last year. They will likely move down in these rankings in the near future, but for now stay in the second spot.
This week the Sooners will be off, which will let them prepare for Iowa State in early October.
This week: Bye
3. Alabama Crimson Tide (4-0)
Alabama sure does look like the best team in the country. This week they demolished Vanderbilt 59-0. The backups were in early and got a lot of run in. This is impressive because Vanderbilt had been one of the best defenses in the country and looked to be a solid team with their win over Kansas State the week before.
The reason why Alabama doesn’t move up is what happened in elsewhere in college football. Their big win of the season so far was over Florida State, but the Seminoles are now 0-2 and look like they might struggle down the stretch without quarterback Deondre Francois. The win over Colorado State is nice, while the win over Fresno State was easy.
Nick Saban’s team will be fine when they continue to win and will probably get to the top spot on these rankings at some point this season. Their focus now is SEC West for the next three weeks.
This week: vs. Ole Miss Rebels
4. Georgia Bulldogs (4-0)
The Bulldogs keep rising up these rankings with their good play. This week they blew out a good Mississippi State team 31-3. Mississippi State had moved their way into the rankings before the loss and afterwards stayed in the rankings, despite the loss.
Georgia also has a key win at Notre Dame, which looks better and better as the Fighting Irish keep winning. They also have a win over Appalachian State that will look better as the season goes on. Add it all up and the Bulldogs are one of the most impressive teams in the country.
More big games are coming for the Bulldogs, so they can move up even further if they continue to perform well.
This week: at Tennessee Volunteers
First four out:
5. TCU Horned Frogs (4-0)
One of the biggest wins of the season happened this weekend when TCU upset Oklahoma State in Stillwater. The Cowboys were slowly climbing up these rankings, but the Horned Frogs were their first test and now TCU has shot up the rankings as a result of the win.
TCU has a couple of other key wins other than the one over the Cowboys. They beat Arkansas on the road and SMU at home. Arkansas is a team that will likely find a way to squeak out a bowl appearance, while SMU is a solid AAC team. With that resume the Horned Frogs have flown up the rankings.
They get a week off before getting back to Big 12 play.
This week: Bye
6. Michigan Wolverines (4-0)
Michigan has not played up to their potential yet this season and that trend continued this weekend. The Wolverines pulled away from Purdue in the second half to win the game 28-10. It may not look pretty yet, but they were able to win this game without starting quarterback Wilton Speight for the majority of the time.
The win over Florida is still the defining factor of the Wolverines’ case. Florida outlasted Kentucky to go to 2-1 this week, which makes the win still look good. The other wins over Air Force and Cincinnati are nice, but they need to start adding more if they wish to stay this high in the rankings.
This week the Wolverines will have off before they take on in-state rival, Michigan State.
This week: Bye
7. Virginia Tech Hokies (4-0)
The Hokies continue to look good against lower talent-level teams. This week they beat Old Dominion 38-0. This won’t do much to help their case, but it is important to not stumble to these teams.
It doesn’t look like Virginia Tech has broken a sweat since their season opening win over West Virginia. The Mountaineers have worked their way back to the top 25, making it a good win for the Hokies. The problem is that they haven’t played anyone else of note.
Virginia Tech will get a big chance to move up the rankings this weekend as they play Clemson at home.
This week: vs. 2 Clemson Tigers
8. Penn State Nittany Lions (4-0)
The best game of the college football weekend was Penn State at Iowa. It came down to the last second and Trace McSorley threw a touchdown pass as time expired to seal the win. While Iowa wasn’t ranked, it is tough to play them on their home turf and it is a good road win.
Penn State is at number eight right now, because the win over the Hawkeyes is the only good one on the season for the Nittany Lions. Their win over Pitt looked like it could be a decent one, but now the Panthers have fallen to 1-3 after losing to Georgia Tech. The blowouts over Akron and Georgia State are nice, but that’s about it.
The next few weeks will be tough for Penn State, so they need to continue playing their best football.
This week: vs. Indiana Hoosiers
Next four out:
9. USC Trojans (4-0)
USC was able to grind out a win over a surprisingly decent Cal team. The Trojans were without Ronald Jones, but still came away with the win. They still haven’t been able to play as well as they can and Sam Darnold has made some mistakes, but college football is about surviving and advancing nowadays.
With wins over Western Michigan, Stanford and Texas, USC’s case is still murky. There are so many unknowns with the teams they have beaten that is hard to fully assess the Trojans. Texas lost to Maryland, Stanford has two losses already, Western Michigan has two losses and no wins over power five teams, while Cal has exceeded expectations.
The Trojans will get their chances to play some good teams coming up, as their mid-season schedule is tough.
This week: at 16 Washington State Cougars
10. Washington State Cougars (4-0)
The Cougars put a lot of points up on the board again this week and beat Nevada 45-7. The Wolfpack are not a very good team, so Washington State simply took care of business. Luke Falk looks to be back on track after getting injured and benched against Boise State.
Washington State’s win over Boise State looks a lot worse now that Virginia was able to go into Boise and beat the Broncos. It will still likely end up being a solid win, but the rest of their wins also aren’t that impressive. They are able to move up the rankings incrementally because of other teams ahead of them losing, but if that wasn’t the case, they may be outside these top 12 teams.
Falk and the Cougars will get their shot to prove to everyone what they can do when they get their fifth straight home game this weekend.
This week: vs. 5 USC Trojans
11. Washington Huskies (4-0)
The Huskies have finally broken through to the rankings after winning a game this week at Colorado. In a rematch of the Pac-12 Championship Game from last season, Washington turned it on in the second half and won 37-10. Colorado likely is a tad worse than last season, but they will still be a solid team.
That was the first solid win of the season for Washington, because they played so many bad teams in the non-conference schedule. They played an FCS team (Montana) to go along with Fresno State and Rutgers. Both of the FBS teams will struggle to get to three wins on the season.
Washington will get another easy game this weekend, but their schedule does get tough at the end.
This week: at Oregon State Beavers
12. Mississippi State Bulldogs (3-1)
There are a few other undefeated teams that could be in this slot, but they don’t have the same wins as the Bulldogs. This week they did get destroyed by Georgia, but that may say more about Georgia than it does Mississippi State.
The Bulldogs still have wins over LSU and Louisiana Tech, which are both solid wins. LSU barely stayed in the top 25 after they barely beat Syracuse. Louisiana Tech took South Carolina to the wire this weekend and should pick up a lot more wins as the season goes on after starting the season 2-2.
Everyone will be able to find out whether Mississippi State deserves this spot during their tough road test this weekend.
This week: at 12 Auburn Tigers
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