Three more top-10 teams in the AP Top 25 poll lost this week, including my No. 1 team, BYU.
My head hurts!
My AP Top 25 poll after Week 8
Ohio State, 2. Notre Dame, 3. BYU, 4. Miami, 5. Georgia, 6. Indiana, 7. Utah, 8. Ole Miss, 9. Alabama, 10. Texas, 11. Arizona, 12. UCLA, 13. LSU, 14. Tennessee, 15. Houston, 16. Kentucky, 17. Florida, 18. Texas Tech, 19. Missouri, 20. Wake Forest, 21. Northwestern, 22. Oklahoma State, 23. Wisconsin, 24. Cincinnati, 25. SMU
Just missed: Boise State, Nebraska, Mississippi State and South Carolina
Newcomers: Wisconsin, Cincinnati and SMU
Dropped from last week: Mississippi State, Auburn and Oregon
Another top-5 shakeup
Begrudgingly, Ohio State is my new No. 1 team. The Buckeyes’ only loss came to No. 10 Texas, and they took down No. 6 Indiana on the road. They’ve dominated everyone else besides those games, and even if they’re turning to backup quarterback Luke Fahey for the foreseeable future, I can’t say for certain that he’s fundamentally changed Ohio State’s overall quality.
Notre Dame’s blowout win over Wisconsin helped the Fighting Irish. The Badgers made my rankings this week after whipping Southern Cal, so Notre Dame’s lopsided victory over them and an airtight road loss to top-5 BYU were good enough results resume-wise to place the Irish at No. 2.
When you watch them, it’s hard to find many weaknesses with this Notre Dame team. And again, the eye test matters when so many resumes are littered with upsets and confusing results.
If you think about it, BYU’s loss to UCF isn’t as bad as it looks. It was a double-overtime, cross-country road loss to a team that was relatively competitive against Oklahoma State and Houston.
I don’t think UCF is good, especially since starting quarterback Alonza Barnett is on the shelf. But Texas Tech’s lopsided loss to Cincinnati was more destructive than BYU’s loss to UCF, as were Texas’ defeat to Oklahoma and Georgia’s home loss to Auburn.
BYU still holds wins over Notre Dame (top-5 caliber) and Arizona (top-15). Saturday’s defeat put a major dent in the Cougars’ College Football Playoff hopes, but I still think they should be ahead of Miami in the rankings. The Hurricanes still haven’t beaten a top-20 team and barely took down Florida State at home.
As Alabama continues to look shaky on the field, Georgia’s signature win over the Crimson Tide looks less and less convincing. The Bulldogs have a lot of stock invested in that win since they haven’t beaten any other good team, and their home loss to Auburn is even worse now after LSU smacked Auburn on The Plains this weekend.
I briefly considered moving Indiana past Georgia, Miami or BYU since the Hoosiers were literally a foot away from beating my new No. 1 team last week. It was just hard to get excited about Indiana when wins over struggling Michigan and offensively challenged Nebraska were so hard to come by.
Let’s talk about the Big 12
BYU had a rough week, but so did Texas Tech. Coach Joey McGuire’s team wasn’t even competitive at Cincinnati this weekend, falling to a team that had lost to Arizona (by a lot) and West Virginia (by a little) in consecutive matchups.
The Bearcats probably have the most underrated offensive line in college football, and they can really run the ball. But for Texas Tech to get crushed by such a one-dimensional team is inexplicable, even if McGuire’s team had to travel across the country to play this game.
Combine this result with Houston’s loss to Utah, and it’s hard to argue that Texas Tech should remain in the top-15, let alone the top-10.
Houston’s only losses have been one-score road games at Texas Tech and Utah. Combine those results with a win over Oklahoma State, and that was enough for me to keep the Cougars in my top-15 this week.
Utah, meanwhile, climbed up to No. 7 in my rankings after finally earning a win that was better than beating Iowa State on the road. The Utes have a shaky passing game, and I still wish their schedule was tougher, but they’re still one of only three remaining undefeated Power-5 teams and have a top-15 win. That was good enough for me to place them in my top-10.
More SEC chaos
LSU took care of business, and so did Alabama and Kentucky (eventually), but the rest of the SEC was relatively chaotic again.
It turns out quarterback Kamario Taylor wasn’t actually healthy for Mississippi State, and the Bulldogs lost to lowly Oklahoma at home. Having trouble scoring against the Sooners is one thing, but giving up nearly 500 yards to this version of Oklahoma’s offense at home is embarrassing.
Tennessee, meanwhile, suffered a letdown loss to South Carolina a week after taking down Alabama. The Volunteers had endless chances to put the game away in the second half, but the Gamecocks pulled off the upset thanks to a game-winning field goal in the final seconds.
It’s a rough loss for Tennessee, but I still think coach Josh Heupel’s team deserves a top-15 ranking. They decisively took down Alabama, and their only other loss was to Texas by one score. Quarterback George MacIntyre isn’t perfect, but the offense has been at least functional since he took the starting job, and the defense is already elite.
Texas jumped from No. 19 to No. 10 in my rankings this week after upsetting Ole Miss at home. The Longhorns’ resume has higher highs than anyone (beating Ole Miss, Ohio State and Tennessee) and low lows (falling to Oklahoma and Florida at home), but the bottom line is that Texas, at its best, might be the No.1 team in the nation. Adding another top-10 win on Saturday proved again that coach Steve Sarkisian’s team can beat anyone.
Other notes
Wake Forest jumped up a couple of spots in my rankings this week despite not playing, because I think I’ve been underrating the Deacons in my rankings. They’ve crushed their last three opponents, and their only loss came to Miami. With meager financial resources, Jake Dickert has done an incredible job in leading this program.
SMU snuck into my poll because the Mustangs only have one loss and demolished California this weekend. Ideally, they’d have more blowout wins given how weak their schedule has been, but beggars can’t be choosers, and somebody had to be the last team in my rankings.
Nebraska would have been in my top-25 if it hadn’t suffered that mind-numbing loss to Oregon last weekend.
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