Prior to Saturday's action, Baylor moved to #1 in our power ratings after clubbing Buffalo 63-21 on Friday night, breaking the near-four-way tie that existed at the top of our rankings. Or rather, it's still a near-four-way tie, but Baylor is the team du jour at the top:
# Team Rec Rating
1. Baylor 2-0 70.95
2. Oregon 2-0 70.28
3. Florida St 2-0 70.22
4. Alabama 2-0 70.03
With Florida State idle, the pre-season #1 will have to settle for being #2 at best prior to next week's game vs. Clemson. The other teams—Alabama and Oregon—have opportunities to gain the #1 spot if they are able to overwhelm their overmatched opponents to a greater degree than Baylor did.
Obviously these early games have less "meaning" in that a touchdown here or there is a lot more random. Does Oregon score 42 or 69 against Wyoming? Will Alabama win 35-0 vs. Southern Miss and say that's good enough, or push for 56? But the best teams tend to win their games effortlessly, and any sign of struggle or not getting on track against a very inferior opponent is evidence that maybe they aren't #1.
The real difference between these teams will be revealed when they start facing good competition regularly. Originally #1 and #2, Florida State and Alabama both already had a test against Power Five conference opponents, and both looked beatable. Pre-season #4 Oregon had a big win over a top 25 team, beating Michigan State 46-27. So now all three are basically tied.
Pre-season #6 Baylor has skated by with wins over SMU, Northwestern State, and Buffalo. They ease into their conference schedule with Iowa State next week, then Texas and TCU follow. The only top 25 AP teams they face this year are Oklahoma and Kansas State, but they do face both of the teams that gave Alabama and FSU such fits on opening week, West Virginia and Oklahoma State.
So there will be ample opportunity for comparison. Last year Baylor looked unbeatable early against 2nd- and 3rd-rate competition, but they were down a notch in conference play and finally lost a game. This year Baylor again looks fantastic after three games but will have to prove they deserve to hold the #1 spot; then they might be more than the "temporary" #1.
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