|
SportsRant’s Weekly Top 25
Okay, so Bi-Weekly Top 25 may be more appropriate after I missed getting last weeks poll finished. I deserve it, so go ahead and let me know how disappointed you are. Maybe the Rant Daddy can dock me 25 posts or something. Seriously, for whatever reason my bridge and router went down and I had no Internet access. Mike has now instructed my to have the Top 25 done prior to Friday, so I will do my best to have it up by Tuesday from here on out.
This is the first poll with teams that have lost. Now that there are only nine undefeated teams, you will start to see a more defined and accurate poll. I still will rank teams based on losses first and in the order of who will beat whom. Also, a team that beat another ranked team, as long as they have the same amount of losses, will be ranked above that team. For instance, Miami and Colorado both have one loss. But, Miami beat Colorado so the Canes will be ranked higher.
There are four games, five if you’re a die hard, to keep an eye on this week: USC at Notre Dame; Colorado at Texas; Florida at LSU; Wisconsin at Minnesota; and, for the extreme college football fans, Nebraska at Baylor.
Here we go:
1. USC 5-0 Started slowly for the third game in a row, but the Trojans just seem to know that they only need two quarters to win. A true test coming this week in South Bend, so Southern Cal cannot start slowly this week.
2. Texas 5-0 Beat up an undermanned Oklahoma team…finally. It looks like smooth sailing for the Longhorns the rest of the way. But, could a unexpectedly weak schedule prevent them form going back to Pasadena?
3. Virginia Tech 6-0 Coasting until Boston College and Miami in back to back weeks, and both are at home.
4. Florida State 5-0 Another team that should coast until their final game against Florida. As I said before, if Drew Weatherford can operate the offense with efficiency and consistency, the Seminoles could be headed to the Rose Bowl.
5. Georgia 5-0 The Bulldogs should beat Vanderbilt before the start of the meat of their schedule…and all three toughies are at home.
6. Alabama 5-0 Meteoric rise should stall in this area simply due to the teams above them. Defense will keep them in every game.
7. UCLA 5-0 Big come from behind win against California has Bruins looking forward to 10-0 start for first time since 1999.
8. Penn State 6-0 Yes, I like Joe Paterno and would love to see him do well. Beating Ohio State is huge for this program, but that was at home. Nittany Lions go to the Big House this week and I don’t see Michigan losing two in a row at home.
9. Texas Tech 5-0 Really, the Red Raiders are 2-0 since the first three games consisted of 1-AA teams. I really didn’t think they would beat Nebraska in Lincoln, but they came through. Enjoy the ride for another week.
10. Miami 4-1 Hurricanes are still stinging from opening game loss to Florida State and taking it out on helpless opponents. Speaking of helpless opponents, Miami travels to Philadelphis to take on Temple. Anyone wanna take the Owls plus the points?
11. LSU 3-1 I gotta admit that I’m struggling over ranking the Tigers even this high. With Arizona State plummeting and Tennessee looking more and more pedestrian, how good are they? Florida at home could be telling.
12. Florida 5-1 Speaking of the Gators, an ailing Chris Leak cannot be looking forward to the Bayou Battle. If this game is at night, LSU will win.
13. California 5-1 Blowing 14, 13 and 12 point leads to conference opponent UCLA, especially in the fourth quarter, leaves a bad taste in the Bears mouth. Gotta feel sorry for Oregon State this week.
14. Boston College 5-1 Eagles need to be wary of overlooking Wake Forest this week with trip to Blacksburg in two weeks.
15. Michigan State 4-1 I’m dubbing this game, “The Remption Bowl.” Spartans lose to arch-rival Michigan and get two weeks to think about it. Ohio State loses to upstart Penn State, basically ruining their Big Ten title hopes. Both teams are looking to re-gain respect. In the third great game of the week, I like the Buckeyes at home.
16. Notre Dame 4-1 How many ‘big games’ can one team play in a single season? An off week to prepare for the rival Trojans has to have Charlie Weis feeling confident.
17. Minnesota 5-1 Gophers may have gotten the win this program has been needing for three years by beating Michigan on the road. They get their three biggest remaining games at home starting this week against Wisconsin. Hmm, power running team with a defense versus a power running team without a defense. I’ll go with the defense.
18. Oregon 5-1 Replacing one Pac 10 team with another. Ducks have now knocked two teams from the rankings.
19. Auburn 4-1 Quick, name the starting QB, starting RB, and #1 WR on the Tigers. Interesting how this team is scoring around 30 points per game.
20. Louisville 4-1 The Cardinal should watch the tape of their loss to South Florida every week to remind themselves never to take any opponent lightly.
21. Colorado 4-1 Do the Buffaloes have what it takes to beat Texas in Austin? They played well defensively at Miami, but they better bring an offense if they want to have a chance.
22. Wisconsin 5-1 Big upset to Northwestern last week. If the D can step up and stop the Minnesota running game, expect the Badgers to get back in the win column.
23. TCU 5-1 If the Horned Frogs can can some consistent play out of their defense, they could run the table as the schedule does not look difficult.
24. Nebraska 4-1 The offense is getting more and more used to the West Coast offense, and the defense actually played well against Texas Tech. In fact, the Cornhuskers should have won that game. Can Baylor actually be a huge game for the Huskers?
25. Baylor 4-1 Yeah, I’m giving the Waco Bears some love. They get their first conference road win in like, forever. And, what if they actually handle Nebraska at home? What if the offense scored a TD instead of a FG against Texas A&M? Don’t worry, I don’t think they’ll be here after this weekend.
One loss teams considered: Indiana, West Virginia, UTEP, Kansas St. Connecticut
Dropped out: Since we’re going back two weeks, we’ll suspend this until after this week.
|
