Sorry for the past few weeks' absence, guys. I had some serious health issues to resolve, followed by the worst in-city move and concomitant tech issues thereafter. Since there has been a little bit of a gap, I'm going to just reboot this with the certain knowledge that I am both wrong, and that only a dozen teams deserve to be ranked.
Rank |
Team |
|
1 |
Alabama Crimson Tide |
|
2 |
Florida State Seminoles |
|
3 |
Missouri Tigers |
|
4 |
Ohio State Buckeyes |
|
5 |
Stanford Cardinal |
|
6 |
Baylor Bears |
|
7 |
Oregon Ducks |
|
8 |
Auburn Tigers |
|
9 |
Michigan State Spartans |
|
10 |
Texas A&M Aggies |
|
11 |
Clemson Tigers |
|
12 |
UCF Knights |
|
13 |
Oklahoma State Cowboys |
|
14 |
South Carolina Gamecocks |
|
15 |
UCLA Bruins |
|
16 |
Northern Illinois Huskies |
|
17 |
Fresno State Bulldogs |
|
18 |
Arizona State Sun Devils |
|
19 |
Wisconsin Badgers |
|
20 |
Ole Miss Rebels |
|
21 |
Texas Longhorns |
|
22 |
Duke Blue Devils |
|
23 |
Minnesota Golden Gophers |
|
24 |
Miami Hurricanes |
|
25 |
LSU Tigers |
Top 10
Really, at this point, put Alabama-FSU as 1/1A. Both are complete teams and indistinguishably good at slaughtering even excellent teams. Hard to see how this isn't your MNC game. Baylor's DL is surprisingly physical, and with that offense, maybe only Texas can knock them off. Stanford, given the strength of the P12 this year, may jump OSU by season's end. OSU would have a legitimate grievance given that terrible ‘Furd loss to Utah. When was the last time a BCS AQ team went undefeated two times and was left standing at the altar? Oregon and Baylor appear to be headed towards the zone-read Holy Grail Fiesta Bowl. Sparty -with Oklahoma State, is the quietest one-loss team on the planet. Even though the defense is abominable, the Aggies are up here for an offense that can hang 50 on anyone in the country: They have to be touching themselves looking at LSU's secondary. Auburn is regressing in the passing game, but if you run for 444 yards, you don't have to complete many passes either. Missouri is silently blowing people out of the water. Iron Bowl winner gets to face those monster WRs in Atlanta.
11-20
If 3-loss LSU is ranked, and they are, then you have to put the Rebels, who beat them head-to-head, and only lost to three top-11 teams. Of the trio of one-loss teams, Clemson is the most talented, UCF plays better football (in streaks) and Oklahoma State is an enigma in a very-down Big 12. NIU is still undefeated in B1G play, and Fresno is looking like your 2013 BCS buster. The final three, all sporting two-losses, are guys that you actually don't want to face: South Carolina, with the best single win; Arizona State with the better overall notches on the bed post; and Wisconsin, despite two early losses may not only be the best of this bunch, but is playing better B1G ball than anyone outside of tOSU.
21-25
You can make an argument for any or none of these teams (as well as the ones, like UGA, who just missed). Duke and Minnesota have two-losses apiece...in football, even with some incredibly mediocre performances and underwhelming production. Still, they have won the games that mattered. Duke has the better single win, but Minnesota is probably playing a little better (and just MANBALLS in old B1G fashion). Miami is this low because it's not to whom they lost, it's how they lost. This is Clemson-lite, only a worse team. Texas got off to a rocky start with bad losses to BYU and Ole Miss; rattled off 7-straight since then, and is easily the most improved team in the country at this point. And, ahhhh, LSU: A "bad" loss to rival Ole Miss on the road; to rival Alabama on the road; and to a healthy UGA on the road: That is inexperience, not necessarily signs of the apocalypse. Ahead of UGA, because LSU did not, in fact, lose to Vandy.