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.
The big news is at the top where previous #1 Oregon once again couldn't handle an SEC front four, but mainly couldn't hold onto the ball, losing to #12 LSU 40-27 in week one's marquee matchup. The loss knocks the Ducks out of the top ten and bumps Louisiana State up to #7. The Tigers still have a lot to prove and while they join the top teams, they're last in line as none of the new top six disappointed.
Stanford takes over the top spot; they beat San Jose State 57-3, a better performance on both offense and defense than we expected against an improved Spartan team. Alabama throttled Kent State 48-7; our pre-season prediction for the score was 48-6, so the Tide have a bit of special teams work to do. Florida State shut out Louisiana Monroe 34-0.
Oklahoma is #1 in both the AP and coaches' poll, and in our rankings they move from pre-season #5 to #4. They rolled over Tulsa 47-14, though the Golden Hurricane were without star Damaris Johnson. He wouldn't have changed the outcome but would have tested the Sooner defense a lot more. #5 Boise State scored a big win over Georgia, who was ranked in the other polls and started just outside our top 25 at #26. The Broncos' performance was within range of what we expected, winning 35-21. And on Thursday night, Wisconsin beat UNLV 51-17 behind a strong performance from new quarterback Russell Wilson
After #7 LSU we have another SEC team, South Carolina, making it three SEC squads in the top ten. The Gamecocks had big trouble early against East Carolina but took over, winning 56-37. With defensive issues like that, we now assume LSU is the #2 SEC team until proven otherwise. Another conference, the soon-to-possibly-be-defunct Big Twelve, also has three top 10 teams, and ironically one of those is the team causing so much trouble for the league. Texas A&M rolled over SMU 46-14 and moves up to #9 just ahead of Oklahoma State, 61-34 winners over Louisiana-Lafayette.
|
SportsRatings Top 25 - week one 2011 (thru 9/4/2011)
|
||||
|
lw
|
#
|
Team
|
Rec
|
Losses/important wins
|
| 2 | 1 | Stanford | 1-0 | |
| 3 | 2 | Alabama | 1-0 | |
| 4 | 3 | Florida State | 1-0 | |
| 5 | 4 | Oklahoma | 1-0 | |
| 6 | 5 | Boise State | 1-0 | |
| 7 | 6 | Wisconsin | 1-0 | |
| 12 | 7 | Louisiana State | 1-0 | wOregon 40-27 |
| 9 | 8 | South Carolina | 1-0 | |
| 10 | 9 | Texas A&M | 1-0 | |
| 11 | 10 | Oklahoma State | 1-0 | |
| 14 | 11 | Ohio State | 1-0 | |
| 15 | 12 | Arkansas | 1-0 | |
| 1 | 13 | Oregon | 0-1 | L@LSU 40-27 |
| 16 | 14 | California | 1-0 | |
| 18 | 15 | Missouri | 1-0 | |
| 19 | 16 | Mississippi State | 1-0 | |
| 17 | 17 | Southern Cal | 1-0 | |
| 20 | 18 | Virginia Tech | 1-0 | |
| 21 | 19 | Florida | 1-0 | |
| 23 | 20 | Nebraska | 1-0 | |
| 24 | 21 | Arizona State | 1-0 | |
| 22 | 22 | Auburn | 1-0 | |
| -- | 23 | Baylor | 1-0 | wTCU 50-48 |
| -- | 24 | South Florida | 1-0 | w@NotreDame 23-20 |
| 8 | 25t | TCU | 0-1 | L@Baylor 50-48 |
| 13 | 25t | Notre Dame | 0-1 | L USF 23-20 |
| 25 | -- | Oregon State | 0-1 | L SacSt 29-28ot |
The second ten kicks off with Ohio State, who was impressive in scoring a 42-0 shutout over Akron. Arkansas beat Missouri State 51-7—note that they are the highest-ranked team to play an FCS school; it appears that the very best teams don't feel the need to pad their schedule in this manner, at least in the first week.
We drop Oregon to #13, just ahead of Pac-12 brethren California, since the Bears have to prove they even belong in the top 25 (they were our surprise pick this year). So far the evidence is mixed; Cal beat Fresno State 36-21, a result not out of line for our expectations but not a statement. There are still questions on offense as Zach Maynard didn't exactly dazzle, and the Bear defense scored one of their touchdowns.
#15 Missouri also had a strong defensive performance and a questionable one on offense, beating Miami of Ohio 17-6. New quarterback James Franklin had a decent debut despite the low point total. #16 Mississippi State rolled up 59 points to Memphis' 14.
Southern Cal holds at #17 after edging Minnesota 19-17 and failing to put up any points in the second half. They are followed by Virginia Tech (beat Appalachian State 66-13), Florida (41-3 winners over Florida Atlantic) and Nebraska (beat Chattanooga 40-7) rounds out the top 20 as Taylor Martinez looked like his old self against the I-AA Mocs.
#21 Arizona State, who beat UC Davis 48-14, is the last of three teams to jump over Auburn, who holds at #22. The Tigers fell behind by scores of 21-7 and 38-28 before rallying in the final minutes for a 42-38 win. We figured this to be on the order of a 40-14 win despite the Tigers' downgrade from national champs to top-25 also-rans. We'll leave them in for now, as the team will improve over the course of the year but with an SEC schedule coming up their odds of remaining are nil if they keep playing like this.
New faces: Baylor, winners over previous #8 TCU, and South Florida, who beat Notre Dame in a crazy, rain-delayed game, jump into the top 25 at #23 and #24 respectively. The Horned Frogs and Irish hang on as co-#25s and don't have easier tasks next week. TCU travels to Air Force and Notre Dame heads to Michigan, so both could be 0-2 and out of the rankings next week. But TCU has had success shutting down Air Force and Brian Kelly will ride the team all week, so both teams could get lopsided wins as well.
Finally, Oregon State falls out of the top 25 after losing to I-AA (FCS) Sacramento State as the Hornets completed a 2-point extra point in overtime to stun the Beavers. It was not a good weekend for Oregon football.
Comments