The SportsRatings Top 25 is our answer to the AP and coaches' polls. This subjective "poll" properly reflects head-to-head results and give additional consideration to teams who have victories over other top 25 teams.
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#1 Alabama looked as unstoppable as ever in beating #14 Mississippi State 38-7. The big debate is about the #2 spot, and we move Notre Dame there after they beat Oklahoma 30-13. They didn't really beat the Sooners more convincingly than #3 Kansas State (24-19) did, but the final scores become our tiebreaker. The Wildcats crushed Texas Tech 55-24. Oregon moves up to #4 after yet another lopsided win (Colorado, 70-14); the Ducks schedule gets harder starting next weekend.
Georgia beat Florida 17-9 and soared to #5 as Florida dropped to #6. The Gators' résumé is still one of the country's best, which is why we keep them ahead of undefeated Ohio State. The Buckeyes, like Oregon, don't have a top 25 win, but unlike the Ducks they haven't looked like a top 5 team; they beat Penn State 35-23. LSU, who lost to Florida earlier this season, was idle and moves up to #8.
Last week there were 11 undefeated teams; now there are six, and Louisville zooms into the top ten by virtue of being one of them. They also got their first (tentative) top 25 win over Cincinnati in overtime, 34-31. Florida State rounds out the top ten after destroying upstart ACC Coastal division leader Duke 48-7.
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SportsRatings Top 25 - week nine 2012 (thru 10/27/2012)
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Résumé: Losses/important wins
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| 1 | 1 | Alabama | 8-0 | wMissSt 38-7, =Mich 41-14 |
| 4 | 2 | Notre Dame | 8-0 | w@OK 30-13, Stanford 20-13ot, Mich 13-6 |
| 3 | 3 | Kansas State | 8-0 | w@OK 24-19, TxTech 55-24 |
| 5 | 4 | Oregon | 8-0 | |
| 12 | 5 | Georgia | 7-1 | L@SCar 35-7; w=Florida 17-9 |
| 2 | 6 | Florida | 7-1 | L=Ga 17-9; wLSU 14-6, TexAM 20-17, SCar 44-11 |
| 7 | 7 | Ohio State | 9-0 | |
| 9 | 8 | LSU | 7-1 | L@Florida 14-6; wSCar 23-21, @TexAM 24-19 |
| 17 | 9 | Louisville | 8-0 | wCincy 34-31ot |
| 15 | 10 | Florida State | 8-1 | L@NCState 17-16; wClemson 49-37 |
| 8 | 11 | Oklahoma | 5-2 | L ND 30-13, KState 24-19; w@TxTech 41-20 |
| 16 | 12 | Clemson | 7-1 | L@FSU 49-37 |
| 6 | 13 | Oregon State | 6-1 | L@Wash 20-17 |
| 14 | 14 | Mississippi State | 7-1 | L@Alabama 38-7 |
| 22 | 15 | Texas A&M | 6-2 | L FLA 20-17, LSU 24-19; w@LaTech 59-57 |
| 19 | 16 | Louisiana Tech | 7-1 | L TexAM 59-57 |
| 20 | 17 | Toledo | 8-1 | L@Ariz 24-17ot; wCincy 29-23 |
| 23 | 18 | South Carolina | 7-2 | L@LSU 23-21, @FLA 44-11; wGeorgia 35-7 |
| 24 | 19 | Stanford | 6-2 | L@Wash 17-13, @ND 20-13ot; wUSC 21-14 |
| 13 | 20 | Texas Tech | 6-2 | L OK 41-20, @KState 55-24 |
| -- | 21 | Kent State | 7-1 | L@Kentucky 47-14; w@Rutgers 35-23 |
| 11 | 22 | Rutgers | 7-1 | L KentSt 35-23 |
| 21 | 23 | Cincinnati | 5-2 | L@Toledo 29-23, @Lou 34-31ot |
| 10 | 24 | USC | 6-2 | L@Ariz 39-36, @Stanford 21-14 |
| -- | 25 | Boise State | 7-1 | L@MichSt 17-13 |
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| 18 | -- | Ohio | 7-1 | L@MiamiOH 23-20 |
| 25 | -- | Michigan | 5-3 | L@Neb 23-9, =Ala 41-14, @ND 13-6 |
Oklahoma is now 5-2 with losses to two undefeated teams, so we can't drop them too far. They fall from #8 to #11. Clemson moves up to #12 after beating Wake Forest 42-13. Oregon State is another unbeaten who fell this weekend, to Washington 20-17; they fall to #13 from #6. Mississippi State holds at #14 despite their loss to Alabama. Everyone pretty much loses to Alabama badly, and the Bulldogs are 7-1.
Texas A&M pounded Auburn 63-21 and their résumé is strong with narrow losses to Florida and LSU; they jump to #15, one spot ahead of Louisiana Tech, whom they beat a few weeks ago. The Bulldogs had an off-day offensively in topping New Mexico State 28-14.
From #18 to #20 are three teams with two losses, all of whom struggled. South Carolina, whose résumé is very strong with two losses to top ten teams and a win over #5 Georgia, edged Tennessee 38-35 and lost Marcus Lattimore. Stanford escaped Washington State 24-17 at home. And Texas Tech fell from #13 to #20 after the Kansas State drubbing.
Hooray for the MAC part II: Kent State (7-1) enters at #21 after handing Rutgers its first loss of the season. Rutgers falls all the way to #22 from #11. Last week's Big East-killer, Toledo, moves up to #17 after edging Buffalo 25-20. But the league's undefeated hope, Ohio, finally got nabbed after living on the edge for weeks; the Bobcats fell to Miami of Ohio 23-20, and are replaced in the top 25 by Boise State, who also has one loss but beat the Redhawks convincingly weeks ago.
USC lost to Arizona 39-36, and with no top 25 wins they drop from #10 to #24 with Oregon looming next week. Arizona has two top 25 wins now that Toledo is in the picture, so the Wildcats could soon be in the rankings. Michigan's third loss, to Nebraska 23-9, kicks them back out of the top 25.
Next Weekend: At the beginning of the season, Alabama-LSU and Oregon-USC looked like two games that could function as a playoff for entry into the national championship game. Now they're looking more and more like blowouts, or at least not nearly as meaningful as they could have been.
#1 Alabama at #8 LSU: Though LSU can get back into the title picture with an upset. But Alabama is looking so strong that most people aren't going to give them much of a chance. And if they do somehow beat the Tide, they'd still need at least two other teams to lose to give them a title shot.
#4 Oregon vs. #24 USC: USC's 2nd loss killed their national championship hopes and beating Oregon won't reignite them. But Oregon lost when USC did, too. They might be playing the Trojans twice, and they need their schedule strength to be as high as possible in case there are more than two undefeated teams. Worse, beating the Trojans, even by a blowout, won't impress the pollsters as much as it would have before last week.
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