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
