SportsRatings: College Football: 2011 SportsRatings Top 25 - week 4: No big upsets = no big changes

The SportsRatings Weekly Top 25 is a subjective ranking of the top 25 college football teams in the style of the AP or USA/Coaches poll. Our rankings properly reflect head-to-head results and give additional consideration to teams who have victories over other top 25 teams.

We were looking for a big upset to shake up the rankings this week but it didn't materialize, so instead we have the same top 8 as last week.

Idle Stanford remains #1 with us. Basically, they started at #2, took the top spot when Oregon lost, and haven't done anything to suggest that they aren't the best team in the country. They top our computer power ratings at the moment, too, so we see no reason to go with any other flavor of the day—so far.

The other top teams did, however, give supporting evidence as to why they might instead be the best team in the nation:

#2 Alabama pulled away from #10 Arkansas, 38-14
#3 Oklahoma outlasted #23 Missouri 38-28
#4 Boise State mauled Tulsa 41-21
#5 LSU beat #24 West Virginia 47-21

LSU is the current popular choice for #1, and they take over that designation in the AP poll. But the West Virginia game was closer than the final score, and we didn't rate the Mountaineers very high going in. It's very possible that the Tigers are the best team in the country, but Oklahoma's win over Missouri was no less impressive despite the difference in score margins: West Virginia had pulled to within 27-21 late in the third quarter, and Oklahoma led 31-14 at the same time.

Alabama's win was probably the best of the weekend, but we don't know how good Arkansas really is. I'd wager they're the equal of West Virginia, at least. One team that does have a lot of comparisons is Tulsa; Boise's win wasn't quite up to the standard of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State but that's nitpicking: they led 34-0 before Kellen Moore was replaced.

Meanwhile the most important game was Oklahoma State vs. Texas A&M, and once again A&M built an early lead and dribbled it away to lose 30-29. The Cowboys remain at #7, behind Wisconsin (who beat South Dakota 59-10) and ahead of South Carolina who beat previously undefeated Vanderbilt 21-3.

SportsRatings Top 25 - week four 2011 (thru 9/24/2011)
lw	#	Team	Rec	Losses/important wins
1	1	Stanford	3-0
2	2	Alabama	4-0	wArkansas 38-14
3	3	Oklahoma	3-0	[email protected] 23-13, Mizz 38-28
4	4	Boise State	3-0
5	5	Louisiana State	4-0	wOregon 40-27, @WVA 47-21
6	6	Wisconsin	4-0
7	7	Oklahoma State	4-0	[email protected] 30-29
8	8	South Carolina	4-0
13	9	Florida	4-0
12	10	Oregon	3-1	[email protected] 40-27
15	11	Virginia Tech	4-0
17	12	Illinois	4-0	wASU 17-14
18	13	Baylor	3-0	wTCU 50-48
19	14	Nebraska	4-0	wWash 51-38
20	15	South Florida	4-0
21	16	Clemson	4-0	wFSU 35-30
22	17	Arizona State	3-1	[email protected] 17-14; wUSC 43-22, Mizz 37-30ot
9	18	Texas A&M	2-1	L OKst 30-29
--	19	Washington	3-1	[email protected] 51-38; wCal 31-23
10	20	Arkansas	3-1	[email protected] 38-14
25	21	TCU	3-1	[email protected] 50-48
16	22	Southern Cal	3-1	[email protected] 43-22
--	23	Michigan	4-0
14	24	California	3-1	[email protected] 31-23
--	25	Georgia Tech	4-0
		out:
11	--	Florida State	2-2	L OK 23-13, @Clemson 35-30
23	--	Missouri	2-2	[email protected] 37-30ot, @OK 38-28
24	--	West Virginia	3-1	L LSU 47-21

Florida moves into the top ten after another dominant win, this one over Kentucky 48-10. They jump #10 Oregon, who throttled Arizona 56-31, which showed how great their offense is as well as how suspect their defense could be.

The next seven spots are occupied by teams that won games and shift up in tandem. #11 Virginia Tech beat Marshall 30-10; #12 Illinois outlasted Western Michigan just 23-20 but their win last week over #17 Arizona State still pays dividends due to the Sun Devils' 43-22 defeat of USC. #13 Baylor beat Rice 56-31, the same score Oregon managed this week so the same comments about offense and defense apply. #14 Nebraska handled Wyoming 38-14, but it's last week's Washington win that moves them up. #15 South Florida beat UTEP 52-24, and #16 Clemson beat Florida State 30-25, knocking a team out of the top 25 for the second straight week.

The Fallen: in addition to FSU (now 2-2), Missouri and West Virginia also fell out of the rankings. Staying in despite suffering a loss are Texas A&M (fell 9 spots to #18), Arkansas (10 spots to #20), USC (6 spots to #22), and California (10 spots to #24). Cal lost to Washington, who enters at #19; the Huskies lost last week to Nebraska, 51-38. TCU edged up to #21 amidst the carnage, but again had trouble early with an unheralded opponent, this time Portland State who led 3-0 after 15 minutes. The Horned Frogs got their offense going and won 55-13.

New faces: Michigan (4-0) enters at #23 after beating San Diego State 28-7. This is fitting, since they didn't enter a few weeks ago despite beating then-#25 Notre Dame. There wasn't room for the Wolverines that week, but there are open slots this week and the other one is filled by #25 Georgia Tech, also 4-0. There are several 3-0 teams not represented here, but Houston is the only 4-0 team unranked.

Big games this week: the SEC, Big Ten, and ACC all have good matchups, and there's a very good Big Twelve-SEC clash, too.

#2 Alabama (4-0) visits #9 Florida (4-0). This will be a great test of Alabama, and it will show whether Florida can keep up with a very top team; they've dominated the also-rans but can their offense work against a defense like Alabama's?
#14 Nebraska (4-0) at #6 Wisconsin (4-0). A huge game for the Big Ten race, and possibly a preview of the first Big Ten championship game. Wisconsin hasn't been remotely tested yet, are they ready for the Cornhuskers?
#16 Clemson (4-0) at #11 Virginia Tech (4-0). The Tigers beat Auburn and FSU at home, but now they're on the road against the Hokies. Win this one and they're definitely the ACC favorite.
#20 Arkansas (3-1) vs. #18 Texas A&M (2-1). If these teams had won their games over the weekend, this would be the marquee matchup of the coming week. Instead, it will function as a conference test. The Big Twelve and SEC look about equal this year, but track record gives the nod to the SEC. If A&M can beat the Razorbacks on a neutral field, I'd go with the Big Twelve.