The first week of college football didn't hold that many surprises, at least not in the top 25. Scratch that—there were a few more surprises in the AP and USA top 25, where Virginia Tech fell and Michigan got beat by unranked Utah—but those losing teams weren't in the SportsRatings pre-season top 25. Only #11 Clemson and #20 Tennessee lost this week, meaning the entire top 10 remains unchanged.
| SportsRatings Top 25 - Week 1 (9-02-2008) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
lw |
# |
Team |
Rec |
Big wins/losses |
| 1 | 1. | Ohio State | 1-0 | |
| 2 | 2. | Florida | 1-0 | |
| 3 | 3. | Oklahoma | 1-0 | |
| 4 | 4. | South Florida | 1-0 | |
| 5 | 5. | Texas Tech | 1-0 | |
| 6 | 6. | Missouri | 1-0 | |
| 7 | 7. | West Virginia | 1-0 | |
| 8 | 8. | Kansas | 1-0 | |
| 9 | 9. | Georgia | 1-0 | |
| 10 | 10. | Oregon | 1-0 | |
| 12 | 11. | LSU | 1-0 | |
| 13 | 12. | Texas | 1-0 | |
| 15 | 13. | Southern Cal | 1-0 | |
| 14 | 14. | South Carolina | 1-0 | |
| 16 | 15. | Auburn | 1-0 | |
| 17 | 16. | Penn State | 1-0 | |
| 23 | 17. | Alabama | 1-0 | w=Clem 34-10 |
| 18 | 18. | Arizona St | 1-0 | |
| 19 | 19. | Connecticut | 1-0 | |
| 21 | 20. | Cincinnati | 1-0 | |
| 22 | 21. | Brigham Young | 1-0 | |
| 24 | 22. | Utah | 1-0 | |
| -- | 23. | UCLA | 1-0 | w Tenn 27-24ot |
| 11 | 24. | Clemson | 0-1 | L=Ala 34-10 |
| 25 | 25. | Maryland | 1-0 | |
| out: |
||||
| 20 | -- | Tennessee | 0-1 |
L@UCLA 27-24ot |
And with good reason. The top teams all won convincingly, some more than others. In particular, the top four teams—Ohio State, Florida, Oklahoma, and South Florida—all put up great performances, winning by an astonishing 212-19. The rest of the top ten wasn't quite as strong; in particular, Texas Tech didn't look like a top five team on defense but we'll give them the benefit of the doubt for now. The rest showed some flaws but were strong in winning.
Of course, the big loser was #11 Clemson, who falls to #24 after getting trounced by Alabama. LSU and Texas both played great and move up to #11 and #12. Southern Cal looked particularly strong in beating Virginia 52-7 and jumps two spots, leaping the other USC, #14 South Carolina, who had a sputtering start against North Carolina State but pitched a shutout.
#15 Auburn also shut out their opponent (Louisiana Monroe, who beat Alabama last season), and #16 Penn State scored a big win over a I-AA school. Both moved up a notch. The Crimson Tide were the big mover, up from #23 to #17. They left Arizona State and Connecticut, both of whom had less impressive wins, unchanged at #18 and #19.
Cincinnati and Brigham Young were solid and move up a notch, and Utah moves up two spots for their road victory against Michigan. UCLA, who beat Tennessee in overtime on Labor Day, enters the rankings at #23, replacing the Volunteers.
The top 25 is rounded out by Clemson at #24 and Maryland, 14-7 winners over I-AA power Delaware, unchanged at #25.
Comments