The Cream of the Crop Heading Into The Last Week of the Regular Season

 If ratings were based purely on show, Boise State would be ranked way down in the Top 25.  That is never a proper justification of rankings, so the Broncos' third consecutive less-than-impressive victory enabled them to stay in the upper echelon, though Washington State's second straight loss diminished the luster of that win.  Boise State was able to advance to #3 since their win over #14 UNLV tops Penn State's biggest win (#25 Illinois).  Also, the Broncos' loss was to the #1 team while Penn State's loss was to the #2 team.

Georgia scored the biggest climb of the week.  The Bulldogs show no bad losses and three impressive wins, and benefitted by many teams that were ranked above them losing.

With its third bad loss of the season, Mississippi tumbled after falling to Florida.  By virtue of its loss to Mississippi, South Carolina had to fall as well, with that loss looking worse now.

Even though Missouri won, they had to be ranked behind both Texas A&M and South Carolina, each of which the Tigers lost to, because all three teams now have the same record.

They aren't under consideration, but Kansas became the first team in history with a losing record to defeat three Top 25 teams in a row, as they've bounced Iowa State, BYU and Colorado out of the Big 12 title race.

1-1-1-1-1-1-1.  Oregon 11-0, did not play, (Impressive Wins:  Beat #2 Ohio State, #3 Boise State and #25 Illinois, Losses:  None, Bad Losses:  None) 

10-13-9-6-3-2-2.  Ohio State 10-1, throttled previously unbeaten Indiana 38-15, (Impressive Wins:  Beat #4 Penn State and #5 Indiana, Lost to #1 Oregon, Bad Losses:  None)

7-7-7-7-4-4-3.  Boise State 10-1, held off Wyoming 17-13, (Impressive Wins:  Beat #14 UNLV, Lost to #1 Oregon, Bad Losses:  None)

3-3-3-9-7-5-4.  Penn State 10-1, outlasted Minnesota 26-25,  (Impressive Wins: #25 Illinois, Lost to #2 Ohio State, Bad Losses:  None)

4-5-4-4-5-3-5.  Indiana 10-1, fell to #2 Ohio State 38-15, (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Beat Nebraska, Lost to #2 Ohio State, Bad Losses:  None)

6-18-17-14-10-8-6.  Texas 10-1, topped Kentucky 31-14, (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Beat Oklahoma, Lost to #7 Georgia, Bad Losses:  None)

23-12-11-11-20-15-7.  Georgia 9-2, ran the score up on Massachusetts 59-28, (Impressive Wins:  Beat #6 Texas, #12 Clemson and #13 Tennessee, Lost to #18 Mississippi and #19 Alabama, Bad Losses:  None)

11-14-12-5-6-10-8.  SMU 10-1, blasted Virginia 33-7, (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Wins:  Pittsburgh and Louisville, Lost to #17 BYU, Bad Losses:  None)

14-6-6-3-13-11-9.  Miami of Florida 10-1, mashed Wake Forest 42-14,  (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Beat Louisville, Losses:  Lost to Georgia Tech, Bad Losses:  Georgia Tech)

32-25-19-16-14-12-10.  Notre Dame 10-1, ran over Army 49-14 (Impressive Wins:  Beat #11 Army and Beat #21 Texas A&M, Lost to Northern Illinois, Bad Losses:  Lost to Northern Illinois)

17-19-16-13-8-6-11.  Army 10-1, lost 49-14 to #10 Notre Dame, (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Beat North Texas, Lost to #10 Notre Dame, Bad Losses:  None)

24-21-18-19-21-16-12.  Clemson 9-2, clobbered The Citadel 51-14, (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Beat Pittsburgh, Lost to #7 Georgia and Louisville, Bad Losses:  Louisville)

21-17-14-12-11-17-13.  Tennessee 9-2, blanked UTEP 59-0, (Impressive Wins:  Beat #19 Alabama, Lost to #7 Georgia and Arkansas, Bad Losses:  Arkansas)

31-28-30-26-18-19-14.  UNLV 9-2, downed San Jose State 27-16,  (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:   San Jose State, Lost to #3 Boise State and Syracuse, Bad Losses:  Syracuse)

_-_-_-32-26-20-15. Tulane (9-2) blanked Navy 35-0,  (Impressive Wins:  #23 Louisiana, Lost to #26 Kansas State and Oklahoma, Bad Losses:  Oklahoma

19-35-32-27-32-24-16.  Arizona State 9-2, knocked off #17 BYU 28-23, (Impressive Wins:  Beat #17 BYU and #26 Kansas State, Lost to Cincinnati and Texas Tech, Bad Losses:  Cincinnati and Texas Tech)

2-2-2-2-2-9-17.  BYU 9-2, lost to #16 Arizona State 28-23, (Impressive Wins:  Beat #8 SMU and #26 Kansas State, Lost to #16 Arizona State and Kansas, Bad Losses:  Kansas)

37-36-33-28-19-14-18.  Mississippi 8-3, lost to Florida 24-17, (Impressive Wins:  Beat #7 Georgia 28-10 and #20 South Carolina, Lost to LSU, Florida and Kentucky, Bad Losses:  LSU, Florida and Kentucky)

22-32-21-17-12-7-19.  Alabama 8-3, was shocked by Oklahoma 24-3, (Impressive Wins:  Beat #7 Georgia, #20 South Carolina and #22 Missouri, Lost to #13 Tennessee,  Oklahoma and Vanderbilt, Bad Losses:  Oklahoma and Vanderbilt)

_-37-34-29-29-18-20. South Carolina 8-3, whipped Wofford 56-12, (Impressive Wins: #21 Texas A&M and #22 Missouri, Lost to #18 Mississippi, #19 Alabama and LSU,  Bad Losses:  LSU)

33-26-20-18-16-13-21.  Texas A&M 8-3, was defeated 43-41 by Auburn in four overtimes,  (Impressive Wins:  Beat #22 Missouri, Lost to #10 Notre Dame, #20 South Carolina and Auburn, Bad Losses:  Auburn)

34-29-26-21-26-25-22. Missouri 8-3, Downed Mississippi  State 39-20, (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Beat Vanderbilt, Lost to #19 Alabama, #20 South Carolina and #21 Texas A&M, Bad Losses:  None)

_-_-_-31-15-26-23. Louisiana (9-2), blitzed Troy 51-30, (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Wake Forest, Lost to #15 Tulane and South Alabama, Bad Losses:  South Alabama)

24-28-_-_-_-_-24.  Duke (8-3) nudged Virginia Tech 31-28, (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Connecticut, Lost to #7 SMU, #8 Miami of Florida and Georgia Tech, Bad Losses:  Georgia Tech)

12-8-15-34-30-27-25.  Illinois 8-3, survived Rutgers 38-31,  (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Wins:   Beat Nebraska, Lost to #1 Oregon, #4 Penn State and Minnesota, Bad Losses:  Minnesota)

Dropped Out of Top 25: 

Colorado

Also Considered:

18-15-13-23-24-28-26.  Kansas State 8-3, clipped Cincinnati 41-15, (Impressive Wins:  Beat #15 Tulane, Lost to #16 Arizona State, #17 BYU and Houston, Bad Losses:  Houston)

11-8-15-_-_-_-27.  Iowa State (9-2), held on for a 31-28 win over Utah,  (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Iowa,  Bad Losses:  Texas Tech and Kansas)

Dropped Out of Consideration:

Colorado and Washington State

Blue Through and Through is the only rating service that has had Oregon ranked #1 in each of our released Top 25's.  The Ducks weathered a storm on the road at Wisconsin, pulling out a 16-13 victory.

BYU dropped from the list of the unbeatens with a stinging 17-13 loss at the hands of Kansas.  That bad loss forces the Cougars to take a pretty harsh tumble in the rankings.  That loss is as bad as any one-loss team except for Notre Dame, which lost to Northern Illinois.  SMU, because they lost to BYU, must also fall with the Cougars' loss and be ranked behind them (SMU's loss was worse than originally factored in.)

Washington State found out something Boise State has known for a long time, that the Mountain West is a pretty good conference, one in which any team can beat you in any given week.  The Cougars tumbled from #10 to #22 with their loss to New Mexico and Boise State would have fallen as a result if not for the BYU loss.  Logic tells us that the Broncos should not be ranked as high now that their biggest win lost some of its luster.  Still, Boise State owns two wins over Top 25 teams without any bad losses.

Georgia's victory over Tennessee also did something very interesting in the rankings, requiring us as well as any person voting in a national poll to take another look at which order they rank the teams.  You remember that logically, teams with the same record have to be ranked below any team they lost to.  However, sometimes the results show mixed results within a triangle--in other words, Team A beat Team B and Team B beat Team C, but Team C beat Team A.

Logic would tell us that Team A should be ahead of Team B and Team B should be ahead of Team C, however Team C threw a monkey wrench into making things too easy with it's win over Team A.  That is what we have with Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia.  Tennessee beat Alabama and Alabama beat Georgia.  But Georgia beat Tennessee.

The head-to-head results don't resolve the tie among those three teams.  So logic would tell us that in ranking those three teams, one has to evaluate them the way one would any other three teams with the same record--not their head-to-head results but the quality of their overall resumes.  Namely, that means looking at how good their impressive wins are and how bad their bad losses are, if any.  Georgia's win over Clemson does require ranking the Bulldogs ahead of the Tigers, however.

The regular tie-breaker of head-to-head results applies to all others except Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia.

Alabama is the team that benefits most from this, as their loss to Tennessee necessitated being ranked below the Volunteers, who are kept down by their loss to Arkansas.  The circular reasoning of the three teams' results now frees up Alabama to be ranked much higher, as the Tide has two impressive wins and no bad losses, even allowing them to pass up one-loss teams Texas (without any impressive wins) and Miami of Florida (with a bad loss).

LSU's fourth loss drops them out of consideration and thus takes away impressive wins from anyone who beat them and penalizes anyone who lost to them.

The nation's coaches and media were surprised that Kansas State lost to Arizona State, not realizing that the Wildcats had a bad loss to Houston this year and should not have been ranked all the way up at #16.We had them at the more logical #21.

It's a sign of accurate rankings when #26 Missouri loses and yet moves up to #25 as six teams around them lost as well and no one behind the Tigers was strong enough to pass them.

Pittsburgh, LSU, Navy and Louisville all dropped out of consideration--wise pollsters will now go back and diminish wins over all four and penalize teams that lost to them.  Affected teams in the rankings are Alabama, Miami of Florida, SMU, Texas A&M, Notre Dame, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tulane and Memphis.

1-1-1-1-1-1.  Oregon 10-0, held off Wisconsin 16-13, (Impressive Wins:  Beat #2 Ohio State, #4 Boise State, and #27 Illinois, Losses:  None, Bad Losses:  None) 

10-13-9-6-3-2.  Ohio State 9-1, pounded Northwestern 31-7, (Impressive Wins:  Beat #5 Penn State, Lost to #1 Oregon, Bad Losses:  None)

4-5-4-4-5-3.  Indiana 10-0, was idle this week, (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Beat Nebraska, Losses:  None, Bad Losses:  None)

7-7-7-7-4-4.  Boise State 9-1, impressively came from behind for a 42-21 win over San Jose State, (Impressive Wins:  Beat #19 UNLV and #22 Washington State, Lost to #1 Oregon, Bad Losses:  None)

3-3-3-9-7-5.  Penn State 9-1, ripped Purdie 49-10,  (Impressive Wins: #27 Illinois, Lost to #3 Ohio State, Bad Losses:  None)

17-19-16-13-8-6.  Army 9-0, did not play, (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Beat North Texas, Losses:  None, Bad Losses:  None)

22-32-21-17-12-7.  Alabama 8-2, beat up on Mercer 52-7, (Impressive Wins:  Beat #15 Georgia and #25 Missouri, Lost to #17 Tennessee and #18 South Carolina, Bad Losses:  None)

6-18-17-14-10-8.  Texas 9-1,downed Arkansas 20-10, (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Beat Oklahoma, Lost to #15 Georgia, Bad Losses:  None)

2-2-2-2-2-9.  BYU 9-1, lost a heartbreaker to Kansas, 17-13, (Impressive Wins:  Beat #10 SMU and #28 Kansas State, Lost to Kansas, Bad Losses:  Kansas)

11-14-12-5-6-10.  SMU 9-1, prevailed over Boston College 38-28, (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Wins:  Pittsburgh and Louisville, Lost to #9 BYU, Bad Losses:  None)

14-6-6-3-13-11.  Miami of Florida 8-1, did not play,,  (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Beat Louisville, Losses:  Lost to Georgia Tech, Bad Losses:  Georgia Tech)

32-25-19-16-14-12.  Notre Dame 9-1, took care of Virginia 35-14 (Impressive Wins:  Beat #13 Texas A&M, Lost to Northern Illinois, Bad Losses:  Lost to Northern Illinois)

33-26-20-18-16-13.  Texas A&M 8-2, throttled New Mexico State 38-3,  (Impressive Wins:  Beat #25 Missouri, Lost to #12 Notre Dame and #18 South Carolina, Bad Losses:  None)

37-36-33-28-19-14.  Mississippi 8-2, did not play, (Impressive Wins:  Beat #15 Georgia 28-10 and #18 South Carolina, Lost to LSU and Kentucky, Bad Losses:  LSU and Kentucky)

23-12-11-11-20-15.  Georgia 7-2, beat #17 Tennessee, (Impressive Wins:  Beat #8 Texas, #16 Clemson and #18 Tennessee, Lost to #7 Alabama and #14 Mississippi, Bad Losses:  None)

24-21-18-19-21-16.  Clemson 8-2, beat Pittsburgh 24-20, (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Beat #31 Pittsburgh, Lost to #15 Georgia and Louisville, Bad Losses:  Louisville)

21-17-14-12-11-17.  Tennessee 8-2, lost to #15 Georgia, (Impressive Wins:  Beat #7 Alabama, Lost to Arkansas, Bad Losses:  Arkansas)

_-37-34-29-29-18. South Carolina 7-3, outlasted #25 Missouri 34-30, (Impressive Wins:  #13 Texas A&M and #25 Missouri, Lost to #7 Alabama, #14 Mississippi and LSU,  Bad Losses:  LSU)

31-28-30-26-18-19.  UNLV 7-2, ripped San Diego State 41-20,  (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:   Kansas, Lost to #4 Boise State and Syracuse, Bad Losses:  Syracuse)

_-_-_-32-26-20. Tulane (9-2) blanked Navy 35-0,  (Impressive Wins:  #26 Louisiana, Lost to #28 Kansas State and Oklahoma, Bad Losses:  Oklahoma

_-31-25-24-25-21 Colorado 8-2, blasted Utah 49-24, (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Wins:  Beat Cincinnati and Texas Tech, Lost to #28 Kansas State and Nebraska, Bad Losses:  Nebraska)

8-10-10-10-9-22.  Washington State 8-2, was shocked by New Mexico 38-35, (Impressive Wins:  None:  Biggest Win:  Beat Texas Tech, Lost to #4 Boise State and New Mexico, Bad Losses:  New Mexico)

19-35-32-27-32-24.  Arizona State 8-2, surprised #28 Kansas State 24-14, (Impressive Wins:  Beat #28 Kansas State, Lost to Cincinnati and Texas Tech, Bad Losses:  Cincinnati and Texas Tech)

34-29-26-21-26-25. Missouri 7-3, fell to #19 South Carolina 34-30 (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Beat Vanderbilt, Lost to #7 Alabama, #13 Texas A&M and #18 South Carolina, Bad Losses:  None)

Dropped Out of Top 25: 

Louisiana, Kansas State, Pittsburgh, Louisville

Also Considered:

_-_-_-31-15-26. Louisiana (8-2) lost to South Alabama 24-22 (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Wake Forest, Lost to #20 Tulane and South Alabama, Bad Losses:  South Alabama)

12-8-15-34-30-27.  Illinois 7-3, beat Michigan State 38-16,  (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Wins:   Beat Nebraska, Lost to #1 Oregon, #5 Penn State and Minnesota, Bad Losses:  Minnesota)

18-15-13-23-24-28.  Kansas State 7-3, lost to #24 Arizona State 24-14,   (Impressive Wins:  Beat #20 Tulane and #21 Colorado, Lost to #10 BYU, #24 Arizona State and Houston, Bad Losses:  Houston)

Dropped Out of Consideration:

Pittsburgh, LSU, Navy and Louisville

The Nation's Best Are Beginning To Take Shape

The upsets which characterized last week crept up again as # 3 Miami of Florida and #16 Texas A&M fell.  #2 BYU had to rally in the last seconds to defeat Utah and #4 Boise State had to recover an onside kick to defeat hapless Nevada.

There are now just four unbeatens, and #1 Oregon and #2 BYU continue to have the most impressive resumes among them.  #5 Indiana slipped because #18 UNLV is now in the Top 25, giving Boise State two wins over Top 25 teams, while the Hoosiers have none.  Indiana is ranked ahead of the final unbeaten, Army, by virtue of Indiana's biggest win (Texas Tech) while the Cadets' biggest win is over North Texas.  One-loss teams #6 SMU and #7 Penn State are ranked ahead of Army because they own impressive wins (marked in bold). 

Georgia had to take a tumble after losing to Mississippi.  The Rebels are prevented from rising too much because of their loss to Kentucky, one of the worst losses in that range.  Clemson had to fall right with Georgia even though the Tigers beat Virginia Tech yesterday.  Georgia owns a win over Clemson and must be ranked ahead of them.

Pittsburgh's dream season has fallen on tough times.  The Panthers reached as high as #5 two weeks ago before consecutive losses to #6 SMU and Virginia.  

Of the two-loss teams, #12 Alabama has the best resume with three impressive wins (#17 Missouri, #20 Georgia and #28 LSU) and no bad losses.  Note that the Crimson Tide are ahead of #13 Miami of Florida and #14 Notre Dame because the latter two have bad losses.  Logic demands it.

Texas A&M is the next-best two-loss team.  They are ranked behind Notre Dame because they lost on the field to them, and as a result must always be ranked behind the Fighting Irish as long as Notre Dame has the same or better record.  A&M gained ground despite a loss as several teams ahead of them also lost and they have a very impressive resume with no bad losses.  The Aggies have always been held back because of the loss to Notre Dame.  

Georgia and Clemson also do not have any bad losses, but must always be ranked in the order of Mississippi-Georgia-Clemson as long as they have the same records, because Mississippi beat Georgia and Georgia beat Clemson.  Georgia and Clemson will be held back by Mississippi unless or until the Rebels lose another game.  The Rebels had a bad loss to Kentucky.

Missouri and UNLV are thus ranked ahead of that trio, and ranked by their bad losses.  Missouri has neither no bad losses nor any impressive wins, while UNLV has a bad loss to Syracuse and no impressive wins.  Colorado has a bad loss to Nebraska and no impressive wins.  Nebraska is a slightly-worse loss than Syracuse, and a better loss than Mississippi's loss to Kentucky.  Pittsburgh, Kansas State are the next-best two-loss teams, with losses to Virginia and Houston, respectively.  Colorado has a bad loss to Nebraska and no impressive wins, and would be ranked ahead of both Pitt and K-State, but because of a loss to Kansas State must logically be ranked behind them.

As you can see, other than Georgia and Clemson, which have to logically fall behind Mississippi, and Colorado, which logically must be behind Kansas State, the two-loss teams are appropriately ranked.  Alabama (no bad losses)-Texas A&M (no bad losses)-Missouri (no bad losses)-UNLV (loss to Syracuse, which is better than), -Mississippi (loss to Kentucky, which is better than)-Pittsburgh (loss to Virginia, which is better than-Kansas State (Houston).

One-loss Louisiana has to be ranked where it is because they have no impressive wins and a loss to #28 Tulane.  Even though it isn't a bad loss in retrospect, it still is an anchor on them which is not offset by impressive wins.

Arizona State had to fall despite a win because Cincinnati (because they fell out of consideration) is now a second bad loss for the Sun Devils.

Here is the new Top 25!

1-1-1-1-1.  Oregon 10-0, mashed Maryland 39-18 (Impressive Wins:  Beat #3 Ohio State, #4 Boise State, and #30 Illinois, Losses:  None, Bad Losses:  None) 

2-2-2-2-2  BYU 10-0, came from behind in the final seconds to beat rival Utah 22-21 (Impressive Wins:  Beat #6 SMU and #19 Kansas State, Losses:  None, Bad Losses:  None)

10-13-9-6-3.  Ohio State 8-1, blanked Purdue 45-0 (Impressive Wins:  Beat #7 Penn State, Lost to #1 Oregon, Bad Losses:  None)

7-7-7-7-4  Boise State 8-1, prevailed over Nevada 28-21, (Impressive Wins:  Beat #9 Washington State & #18 UNLV, Lost to #1 Oregon, Bad Losses:  None)

4-5-4-4-5.  Indiana 10-0, squeezed by Michigan 20-15 (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Beat Nebraska, Losses:  None, Bad Losses:  None)

11-14-12-5-6.  SMU 8-1, did not play (Impressive Wins:  Beat #22 Louisville and #23 Pittsburgh, Lost to #2 BYU, Bad Losses:  None)

3-3-3-9-7.  Penn State 8-1, whipped Washington 35-6  (Impressive Wins: #30 Illinois, Lost to #3 Ohio State, Bad Losses:  None)

17-19-16-13-8.  Army 9-0, grounded out a 14-3 win over North Texas (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Beat North Texas, Losses:  None, Bad Losses:  None)

8-10-10-10-9.  Washington State 8-1, waltzed past Utah State 49-28 (Impressive Wins:  None:  Biggest Win:  Beat Texas Tech, Lost to #4 Boise State, Bad Losses:  None)

6-18-17-14-10  Texas 8-1, throttled Florida 49-17 (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Beat Oklahoma, Lost to #21 Georgia, Bad Losses:  None)

21-17-14-12-11.  Tennessee 8-1, put away Mississippi State 33-14 (Impressive Wins:  Beat #12 Alabama, Lost to Arkansas, Bad Losses:  Arkansas)

22-32-21-17-12.  Alabama 7-2, scored a lopsided 42-13 win over #30 LSU (Impressive Wins:  Beat #17 Missouri, #20 Georgia and #28 LSU, Lost to #11 Tennessee and #28 South Carolina, Bad Losses:  None)

14-6-6-3-13.  Miami of Florida 8-1, lost to Georgia Tech 28-23 (Impressive Wins:  Beat #22 Louisville, Losses:  Lost to Georgia Tech, Bad Losses:  Georgia Tech)

32-25-19-16-14.  Notre Dame 8-1, ran it up on Florida State 52-3 (Impressive Wins:  Beat #16 Texas A&M, #22 Louisville and #27 Navy, Lost to Northern Illinois, Bad Losses:  Lost to Northern Illinois)

_-_-_-31-15. Louisiana (8-1) walloped Arkansas State 55-19 (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Wake Forest, Lost to #28 Tulane, Bad Losses:  None)

33-26-20-18-16.  Texas A&M 7-2, lost to #28 South Carolina 44-20 (Impressive Wins:  Beat #17 Missouri and #28 LSU, Lost to #14 Notre Dame and #29 South Carolina, Bad Losses:  None)

34-29-26-21-17 Missouri 7-2, topped Oklahoma 30-23 (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Beat Vanderbilt, Lost to #12 Alabama and #16 Texas A&M , Bad Losses:  None)

31-28-30-26-18.  UNLV 7-2, prevailed over Hawai'i 29-27  (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:   Oregon State, Lost to #4 Boise State and Syracuse, Bad Losses:  Syracuse)

37-36-33-28-19.  Mississippi 8-2, humbled #20 Georgia 28-10 (Impressive Wins:  Beat #20 Georgia 28-10 and #29 South Carolina, Lost to #28 LSU and Kentucky, Bad Losses:  Kentucky)

23-12-11-11-20.  Georgia 7-2, lost to #19 Mississippi 28-10  (Impressive Wins:  Beat #10 Texas and #21 Clemson, Lost to #12 Alabama and #20 Mississippi, Bad Losses:  None)

24-21-18-19-21.  Clemson 7-2, got by Virginia Tech 24-14 (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Beat North Carolina State, Lost to #20 Georgia and #22 Louisville, Bad Losses:  None)

35-38-31-22-22.  Louisville 6-3, shocked #27 Clemson 33-21 (Impressive Wins:  Beat #22 Clemson, Lost to #6 SMU, #13 Miami of Florida, and #14 Notre Dame, Bad Losses:  None)

15-9-5-8-23.  Pittsburgh 7-2, lost to Virginia 24-19 (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Wins:  Beat Syracuse and Cincinnati, Lost to #6 SMU, Bad Losses:  Virginia)

18-15-13-23-24.  Kansas State 7-2, was upset by Houston 24-19  (Impressive Wins:  Beat #21 Colorado and #26 Tulane, Lost to #2 BYU and Houston, Bad Losses:  Houston)

_-31-25-24-25 Colorado 7-2, came from behind to beat Texas Tech 41-27 (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Wins:  Beat Cincinnati and Texas Tech, Lost to #24 Kansas State and Nebraska, Bad Losses:  Nebraska)

Dropped Out of Top 25: 

Iowa State, LSU and Syracuse

Also Considered:

_-_-_-32-26 Tulane (8-2) ripped Temple 52-6  (Impressive Wins:  #15 Louisiana, Lost to #24 Kansas State and Oklahoma, Bad Losses:  Oklahoma

13-4-22-30-27.  Navy 7-2, turned back South Florida 28-7 (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Beat Memphis, Losses:  Lost to #14 Notre Dame, Bad Losses:  Rice)

25-22-24-20-28.  LSU 6-3, lost at home to #12 Alabama 42-13  (Impressive Wins:  Beat #19 Mississippi and #29 South Carolina, Lost to #12 Alabama,  #16 Texas A&M, and USC Bad Losses:  Lost to USC)

_-37-34-29-29. South Carolina 6-3, took care of Vanderbilt 28-7, (Impressive Wins:  #16 Texas A&M, Lost to #12 Alabama, #19 Mississippi and  #28 LSU,  Bad Losses:  None)

12-8-15-34-30.  Illinois 6-3, lost to Minnesota 25-17 (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Wins:   Beat Nebraska, Lost to #1 Oregon, #7 Penn State and Minnesota, Bad Losses:  Minnesota)

_-16-23-_-31.  Memphis (8-2), beat Rice 27-20 (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  North Texas, Lost to #27 Navy and Texas-San Antonio, Bad Losses:  Texas-San Antonio

19-35-32-27-32.  Arizona State 7-2, eked out a 35-31 win over UCF (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Beat Utah, Lost to Cincinnati and Texas Tech, Bad Losses:  Cincinnati and Texas Tech)

Dropped Out of Consideration:  Iowa State and Syracuse

Those That Survived Upset Saturday!

There's always at least one week like this in every college football season--it's known as "Upset Saturday".  This week, there were nine--count 'em--nine losses by Top 25 teams!

Oregon and BYU continue to be 1-2 in the Blue Through and Through rankings.  Look at their resumes of impressive wins and no bad losses and you can see why they are the top two teams.

Miami of Florida was against the ropes at the hands of Duke, but used a spectacular second half to escape with a victory,  Duke fell from consideration, but the Hurricanes were boosted when Louisville scored a win over Clemson to give Miami an impressive win over the #22 team in the country.  That win is more impressive now than Indiana's, as Hoosier victim Nebraska fell from consideration.

SMU is looking strong after their surprisingly easy win over Pittsburgh.  The Mustangs now own wins over the #8 and #22 teams in the nation, with their only loss being to the #2 team in the country, BYU. 

Illinois dropping out of consideration also hurt Penn State, as now the Nittany Lions do not possess an impressive win.

Arkansas dropped out of consideration with its fourth loss of the season and as a result, it pulled other SEC teams down with them.  The reality is that this season, the SEC teams do not have a lot of impressive wins and several have some pretty bad losses.  The highest-ranked of the lot is Georgia, which does own two impressive wins and no bad losses but they did lose to #17 Alabama, so their ceiling is limited to how well Alabama does.  With Arkansas out of consideration, Tennessee now has a bad loss because they fell to the Razorbacks.  Texas only has one loss but their biggest win was against Oklahoma, which isn't among the teams considered either.  And LSU has the bad loss to USC.

Here is this week's Top 25!

1-1-1-1.  Oregon 9-0, thumped Michigan 38-17 (Impressive Wins:  Beat #3 Ohio State, #7 Boise State, and #34 Illinois, Losses:  None, Bad Losses:  None) 

2-2-2-2.  BYU 8-0, did not play (Impressive Wins:  Beat #6 SMU and #20 Kansas State, Losses:  None, Bad Losses:  None)

6-6-3.  Miami of Florida 8-0, came from behind to beat Duke 53-31 (Impressive Wins:  Beat #22 Louisville, Losses:  None, Bad Losses:  None)

5-4-4.  Indiana 9-0, blasted Michigan State 47-10 (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Beat Nebraska, Losses:  None, Bad Losses:  None)

14-12-5.  SMU 8-1, outclassed #8 Pittsburgh (Impressive Wins:  Beat #8 Pittsburgh and #22 Louisville, Lost to #2 BYU, Bad Losses:  None)

13-9-6.  Ohio State 7-1, outlasted #9 Penn State 20-13 (Impressive Wins:  Beat #9 Penn State and #35 Iowa, Lost to #1 Oregon, Bad Losses:  None)

7-7-7  Boise State 7-1, whipped San Diego State 56-17, (Impressive Wins:  Beat #10 Washington State & #26 UNLV, Lost to #1 Oregon, Bad Losses:  None)

9-5-8.  Pittsburgh 7-1, was destroyed by #5 SMU (Impressive Wins:  Beat #26 Syracuse and #33 Cincinnati, Lost to #5 SMU, Bad Losses:  None)

3-3-9.  Penn State 7-1 was upset by #6 Ohio State 20-13 (Impressive Wins:  None,  Biggest Win:  Lost to #6 Ohio State, Bad Losses:  None)

10-10-10.  Washington State 6-1, did not play (Impressive Wins:  None:  Biggest Win:  Beat Texas Tech, Lost to #7 Boise State, Bad Losses:  None)

12-11-11.  Georgia 7-1, outpointed Florida 34-20  (Impressive Wins:  Beat #14 Texas and #19 Clemson, Lost to #17 Alabama, Bad Losses:  None)

17-14-12.  Tennessee 7-1, got by Kentucky 28-18 (Impressive Wins:  Beat #17 Alabama, Lost to Arkansas, Bad Losses:  Arkansas)

19-16-13.  Army 8-0, grounded Air Force 20-3 (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Beat Temple, Losses:  None, Bad Losses:  None)

18-17-14.  Texas 7-1, was idle  (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Beat Oklahoma, Lost to #11 Georgia, Bad Losses:  None)

11-8-15.  Iowa State 7-1, lost to Texas Tech 23-22 (Impressive Wins:  Beat #35 Iowa, Losses:  Lost to Texas Tech, Bad Losses:  Texas Tech)

25-19-16.  Notre Dame 7-1, did not play this week (Impressive Wins:  Beat #18 Texas A&M, #22 Louisville and #30 Navy, Lost to Northern Illinois, Bad Losses:  Lost to Northern Illinois)

32-21-17.  Alabama 6-2, did not play (Impressive Wins:  Beat #11 Georgia and #22 Missouri, Lost to #12 Tennessee and #29 South Carolina, Bad Losses:  None)

26-20-18.  Texas A&M 7-2, lost to #29 South Carolina 44-20 (Impressive Wins:  Beat #20 LSU and #22 Missouri, Lost to #16 Notre Dame and #29 South Carolina, Bad Losses:  None)

21-18-19.  Clemson 6-2, lost to #22 Louisville 33-21 (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Beat North Carolina State, Lost to #11 Georgia and #22 Louisville, Bad Losses:  None)

22-24-20.  LSU 6-2, was idle  (Impressive Wins:  Beat #28 Mississippi and #29 South Carolina, Lost to #18 Texas A&M and USC Bad Losses:  Lost to USC)

29-26-21 Missouri 6-2, was idle (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Beat Vanderbilt, Lost to #17 Alabama and #18 Texas A&M , Bad Losses:  None)

38-31-22.  Louisville 6-3, shocked #19 Clemson 33-21 (Impressive Wins:  Beat #19 Clemson, Lost to #5 Miami of Florida, #6 SMU, and #16 Notre Dame, Bad Losses:  None)

15-13-23.  Kansas State 7-2, was upset by Houston 24-19  (Impressive Wins:  Beat #24 Colorado and #32 Tulane, Lost to #2 BYU and Houston, Bad Losses:  Houston)

31-25-24 Colorado 6-2, did not play this week (Impressive Wins:  Beat #33 Cincinnati, Lost to #23 Kansas State and Nebraska, Bad Losses:  Nebraska)

27-29-25.  Syracuse 6-2, survived against Virginia Tech 38-31 in overtime (Impressive Wins:  Beat #26 UNLV, Lost to #8 Pittsburgh and Stanford, Bad Losses:  Lost to Stanford)

Dropped Out of Top 25: 

Navy, Illinois, Memphis

Also Considered:

28-30-26.  UNLV 6-2, was idle this week  (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:   Oregon State, Lost to #7 Boise State and #25 Syracuse, Bad Losses:  None)

19-35-32-27.  Arizona State 5-2, beat Oklahoma State 42-21 (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Beat Utah, Lost to #33 Cincinnati and Texas Tech, Bad Losses:  Texas Tech)

36-33-28.  Mississippi 7-2, beat Arkansas 63-31 (Impressive Wins:  Beat #34 South Carolina, Lost to #20 LSU and Kentucky, Bad Losses:  Kentucky)

37-34-29 South Carolina 5-3, whipped #19 Texas A&M 44-20 , (Impressive Wins:  #18 Texas A&M, Lost to #17 Alabama, #20 LSU, and #28 Mississippi, Bad Losses:  None)

4-22-30.  Navy 6-2, reeled in a 24-10 loss to Rice (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Beat Memphis, Losses:  Lost to #16 Notre Dame, Bad Losses:  Rice)

--------31 Louisiana (7-1) beat Texas State 23-17 (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Wake Forest, Lost to #32 Tulane, Bad Losses:  None)

-----32 Tulane (7-2) beat Charlotte 34-3 Biggest Win:  North Texas, Lost to #23 Kansas State and Oklahoma, Bad Losses:  Oklahoma

30-35-33 Cincinnati 5-3, did not play (Impressive Wins:  Beat #27 Arizona State, Lost to #8 Pittsburgh, #24 Colorado and Texas Tech, Bad Losses:  Texas Tech)

8-15-34.  Illinois 6-3, lost to Minnesota 25-17 (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Wins:   Beat Nebraska, Lost to #1 Oregon, #8 Penn State and Minnesota, Bad Losses:  Minnesota)

41-38-35.  Iowa 5-3, ripped Wisconsin 42-10  (Impressive Wins:  None, Biggest Win:  Washington, Lost to #6 Ohio State, #15 Iowa State, and Michigan State, Bad Losses:  Michigan State)

Dropped from Consideration:

Arkansas, Duke, Memphis, Nebraska