Welcome to the SportsRatings College Football Top 25 for the week ending December 4, 2010. This is a subjective ranking, not a computer power rating. It does attempt to use several rules, some of which include honoring head-to-head results whenever possible, and giving more consideration to teams with wins over other top 25 teams.
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Oregon and Auburn are going to meet for the national championship, and that's the way it should be. Whether Auburn is really as great as everyone says is another matter, but their record of wins puts them #1 in any ranking of teams by accomplishment this season. Their 56-17 runover of South Carolina shows that they can play as well as any team in the nation. Oregon's résumé is less impressive, but there performance moreso. The parity in the Pac-10 is what prevents the Ducks from having more top 25 wins, but their 21-point victory over Stanford (who may be the nation's 2nd best team) is enough.
TCU, our pre-season #1 team, is out of luck as far as the national title goes (as we said they would be in our pre-season preview). It's too bad, because they could beat either Oregon or Auburn on a given day. But that's what happens when you play in a weaker conference. The Horned Frogs are moving to the Big East, which will just make their level of competition more consistent, not necessarily better overall. And if they'd gone undefeated in the Big East this year, they'd still be #3.
After that comes the morass of 1-loss teams, all with their pros and cons. I'm going to let the bowl games sort this out. Right now Stanford, bereft of top 25 wins, sits at #4 due to their dominating performances; Michigan State leads the chain of Big Ten teams despite their bad loss to Iowa; following Wisconsin and Ohio State, Arkansas' four top 25 wins puts them ahead of 1-loss Nevada and Boise State.
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SportsRatings Top 25 - week 14 2010 (thru 12/04/2010)
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Losses/important wins
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| 1 | 1 | Auburn | 13-0 | [email protected] 28-27, LSU 24-17, =SCar 56-17, SCar 35-27, Ark 65-43, @MissSt 17-14 |
| 2 | 2 | Oregon | 12-0 | wStanford 52-31 |
| 3 | 3 | TCU | 12-0 | [email protected] 47-7 |
| 4 | 4 | Stanford | 11-1 | [email protected] 52-31 |
| 5 | 5 | Michigan St | 11-1 | [email protected] 37-6; wWisconsin 34-24 |
| 6 | 6 | Wisconsin | 11-1 | [email protected] 34-24; wOhioSt 31-18 |
| 7 | 7 | Ohio State | 11-1 | [email protected] 31-18 |
| 8 | 8 | Arkansas | 10-2 | [email protected] 65-43, Bama 24-20; wLSU 31-23, @SCaro 41-20, =TexAM 21-14, @MissSt38-31ot |
| 9 | 9 | Nevada | 12-1 | [email protected] 27-21; wBoiseSt 34-31ot |
| 10 | 10 | Boise State | 11-1 | [email protected] 34-31ot; [email protected] 33-30, wHawaii 42-7 |
| 11 | 11 | LSU | 10-2 | [email protected] 24-17, @Ark 31-23; wAlabama 24-21, MissSt 29-7, WVA 20-14 |
| 13 | 12 | Missouri | 10-2 | [email protected] 24-17, @Neb 31-17; wOK 36-27, TexAM 30-9 |
| 14 | 13 | Oklahoma | 11-2 | [email protected] 36-27, @TexAM 33-19; [email protected] 47-41, =Neb 23-20, FSU 47-17 |
| 15 | 14 | Oklahoma St | 10-2 | L Nebraska 51-41, OK 47-41; wTexAM 38-35, Tulsa 65-28 |
| 18 | 15 | Alabama | 9-3 | [email protected] 35-21, @LSU 24-21, Aub 28-27; [email protected] 24-20, MissSt 30-10 |
| 16 | 16 | Texas A&M | 9-3 | L Mizzou 30-9, =Ark 21-14, @OKst 38-35; wOK 33-19, Neb 9-6 |
| 12 | 17 | Nebraska | 10-3 | L Texas 20-13, =OK 23-20, @TexAM 9-6; wMizz 31-17, @OKst 51-41 |
| 20 | 18 | Virginia Tech | 10-2 | L JMadison 21-16, Boise 33-30; w=FSU 44-33 |
| 19 | 19 | Utah | 10-2 | [email protected] 28-3, TCU 47-7 |
| 17 | 20 | South Carolina | 9-4 | [email protected] 31-28, Ark 41-20, =Aub 56-17, @Aub 35-27; wBama 35-21 |
| 22 | 21 | Mississippi St | 8-4 | [email protected] 29-7, Aub 17-14, @Bama 30-10, Ark 38-31ot |
| 23 | 22 | Hawaii | 10-3 | [email protected] 31-13, USC 49-36, @Boise 42-7; wNev 27-21 |
| 24 | 23 | West Virginia | 9-3 | L Syr 19-14, @UConn 16-13ot, @LSU 20-14 |
| -- | 24 | Tulsa | 9-3 | L @ECar 51-49, @SMU 21-18, @OKst 65-28 |
| -- | 25 | Central Florida |
10-3 | L NCst 28-21, @KSU 17-13, SMiss 31-21 |
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| 25 | -- | Florida St. | 9-4 | L UNC 37-35, @NCState 28-24, @OK 47-17, =VTech 44-33 |
| 21 | -- | Northern Illinois | 10-3 | [email protected] 27-10, @ILL 28-22, =MiamiOH 26-21 |
LSU remains #11, then the Big Twelve gets a bit of an adjustment after Oklahoma's win. The chain of 2-loss teams starts with Missouri, who beat Oklahoma, who beat Oklahoma State, who beat 3-loss Texas A&M. That last win was by a field goal at home, but then so was A&M's win over Nebraska. Alabama deserves some credit for nearly beating Auburn, so we move them ahead of the Aggies who end up just ahead of Nebraska.
Virginia Tech moves up to #18 after beating FSU, while Utah stays at #19 and South Carolina slides a few spots to #20. Mississippi State, Hawaii, and West Virginia fill the void left by Northern Illinois' loss, and with Florida State dropping out there are 2 slots to fill. Two Conference USA teams move in: 9-3 Tulsa, and 10-3 Central Florida, who actually won the conference crown and has 10 wins. This leaves only Northern Illinois and Navy as unrepresented 3-loss teams. Navy actually has a game remaining, against Army next Saturday; omitting them is a good way to avoid having to update the Top 25 if the Midshipmen lose.
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