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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.
Louisiana State finally reaches our top spot after beating former #1 Alabama 9-6 in overtime in Tuscaloosa. Not a particularly convincing win, but the Tigers have the nation's best résumé and if they win out they're a shoo-in for the BCS championship game, as they should be. The question is, where should the Tide rank? And what are the prospects for a rematch of last night's game, next time for the national title?
Well, if you believe that "every game counts" and that the regular season "is" the playoff, then Alabama should not get another chance if there is a viable alternative. The Tide lost at home, and no matter how close it was, if you lose at home you can't make excuses. If they'd lost in overtime at LSU, then they'd have a great argument that—if Stanford and Oklahoma State lose—there should be a rematch. As it stands, I'd rather have Boise State get their shot. We keep the Cardinal at #2, move the Cowboys (who beat Kansas State 52-45) to #3, and hold Boise at #4.
There's no question, however, that Alabama should be the top 1-loss team. They're the only team to beat Penn State and Arkansas, and lost to the #1 team in overtime. #6 Oregon also lost to LSU—in what was essentially a road game—but it wasn't nearly as close. And their victims include just two borderline top 25 teams that fall out this week. As mentioned the Tide beat #7 Arkansas convincingly, and we move the Razorbacks up to #7, jumping Oklahoma, after their win over South Carolina. The Sooners have two murderous top 25 wins but a bad loss to Texas Tech. Idle Clemson has a résumé similar to Arkansas', but their loss is worse and Auburn gave them more trouble.
Houston breaks into our top 10. The Cougars weren't playing great football earlier in the season but have come on stronger lately, and there's no need for Penn State and Virginia Tech—neither of whom have top 25 wins—to be ahead of them just for losing to good teams. The latter two were idle this week and hold at #11 and #12.
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SportsRatings Top 25 - week 10 (thru 11/05/2011)
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Losses/important wins
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| 3 | 1 | Louisiana State | 9-0 | w@Alabama 9-6ot, Oregon 40-27, Auburn 45-10 |
| 2 | 2 | Stanford | 9-0 | w@USC 54-46ot, Wash 65-21 |
| 5 | 3 | Oklahoma State | 9-0 | w@Texas 38-26, KState 52-45 |
| 4 | 4 | Boise State | 8-0 | w@Georgia 35-21 |
| 1 | 5 | Alabama | 8-1 | L LSU 9-6ot; wArk 38-14, @PennSt 27-11 |
| 6 | 6 | Oregon | 8-1 | L@LSU 40-27; wASU 41-27, @Wash 34-17 |
| 9 | 7 | Arkansas | 8-1 | L@Alabama 38-14; wSCar 44-28, Aub 38-14 |
| 8 | 8 | Oklahoma | 8-1 | L TxTech 41-38; w@KSt 58-17, =Texas 55-17 |
| 10 | 9 | Clemson | 8-1 | L@GTech 31-17; w@VTech 23-3, Aub 38-24 |
| 14 | 10 | Houston | 9-0 | |
| 11 | 11 | Penn State | 8-1 | L Alabama 27-11 |
| 12 | 12 | Virginia Tech | 8-1 | L Clemson 23-3 |
| 16 | 13 | Wisconsin | 7-2 | L@OSU 33-29, @MichSt 37-31; wNeb 48-17 |
| 7 | 14 | Nebraska | 7-2 | L N'west 28-25, @Wisc 48-17; wMichSt 24-3, Wash 51-38 |
| 15 | 15 | Michigan St | 7-2 | L@ND 31-13, @Neb 24-3; wWisc 37-31, Mich 28-14 |
| 13 | 16 | South Carolina | 7-2 | L Auburn 16-13, @Ark 44-28; w@Georgia 45-42 |
| 20 | 17 | Georgia Tech | 7-2 | L@Virg 24-21, @Miami 24-7; wClem 31-17 |
| 21 | 18 | Georgia | 7-2 | L SCar 45-42, BoiseSt 35-21 |
| 23 | 19 | Cincinnati | 7-1 | L@Tenn 45-23 |
| 24 | 20 | Southern Miss | 8-1 | L@Marshall 26-20 |
| 22 | 21 | Southern Cal | 7-2 | L@ASU 43-22, Stan 54-46ot |
| 18 | 22 | Kansas State | 7-2 | L Oklahoma 58-17, @OKst 52-45 |
| 25t | 23 | Texas | 6-2 | L=Oklahoma 55-17, OKst 38-26 |
| -- | 24 | Auburn | 6-3 | L@Clem 38-24, @Ark 38-14, @LSU 45-10; w@SCar 16-13 |
| 17 | 25 | Michigan | 7-2 | L@Iowa 24-16, @MichSt 28-14 |
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| 19 | -- | Arizona State | 6-3 | L@UCLA 29-28, @ILL 17-14, @Oregon 41-27; wUSC 43-22 |
| 25t | -- | Washington | 6-3 | L@Neb 51-38, @Stan 65-21, Oregon 34-17 |
With Nebraska's loss to Northwestern, the Cornhuskers fall into an A > B > C > A trap with Wisconsin and Michigan State. Since the Badgers destroyed Nebraska, and Nebraska beat Michigan State convincingly, we rank them in that order, disregarding MSU's last-second hail-mary win over Wisconsin. The Spartans also struggled against Minnesota this weekend and hold at #15.
South Carolina falls three spots to #16. They hold a win over #18 Georgia, and since their losses are both to ranked teams we keep them ahead of #17 Georgia Tech, also.
Southern Cal moves up to #21 but their résumé is dinged by Arizona State's loss to UCLA. Both 7-1 Cincinnati and 8-1 Southern Miss jump the Trojans, landing at #19 and #20. Kansas State falls from #18 to #22, essentially into a tie with Texas. Both teams lost to Oklahoma badly and fared a lot better against Oklahoma State, but neither has a marquee win.
Michigan is fortunate to stay in the top 25; only Arizona State's loss kept them in. They fell to Iowa in a close game on the road, but without any big wins their résumé is weaker than Auburn's. The Tigers re-enter at #24; they've lost to three top 10 teams and beat South Carolina.
As mentioned ASU lost to UCLA and falls out, along with Washington who lost their third game to a ranked team when they fell to Oregon. The Huskies can jump back into the rankings with a win over USC next weekend, and 7-2 TCU will try to upset Boise State for their own spot. The only other unranked 2-loss teams are Arkansas State and Louisiana-Lafayette. They play next week and the winner will probably be ranked (here, if nowhere else). One of the Red Wolves' losses is to Virginia Tech, and the Ragin' Cajuns fell to Oklahoma State earlier in the year.
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