Photo: US Presswire
Every week Brett Harmon will bring you his NCAA Fottball Top 25. Harmon is one of the 324 voters for the reddit.com College Football Top 25 poll. You can find the rankings here.
After a week with three huge games, nothing changes at the top of the ranking this week. Alabama further solidify their position at number one. But no other team did anything well enough to oust one another from the logjam that is for the honor of playing the Crimson Tide in the National Title game.
1(1) Alabama
Alabama overcame what was going to be their greatest threat to an undefeated record when they were able to overcome LSU last week. Now unless a perfect storm of Bama taking a team too lightly and someone coming up with a perfect game-plan the Tide should be undefeated going into the SEC title game.
2 (2) Oregon
There was a lot made about how good Oregon’s defense was going into their game aginist USC. Well if what the Trojans did to the Ducks is any indication then Oregon’s D is going to have a long game on it’s hands when they play someone outside of the Pac-12.
3 (3) Kansas State
Although the Wildcats were able to overcome Oklahoma State last week they didn’t move up for one simple reason. Quarterback Collin Klein was injured in the game, and Bill Snyder would not talk about the nature of the injury. With Klein’s status unknown K-State takes a huge hit.
4 (4) Notre Dame
The Fighting Irish really need to stop playing down to their opponents, they needed triple overtime and a missed field goal to beat rival Pitt last week. On paper it should never have been a game but the Irish fell into 20-6 hole early and had to claw their way back. The question surrounding Notre Dame now is, are they the worst 9-0 team ever?
5 (6) The Ohio State
The Buckeyes are the first team to 10-0, and now they finally get a week off to rest up for their final two games of the season. It’s a shame that they are ineleigble for the Big 10 title game and any bowl games, the Buckeyes might be the only legitimate team in the Big 10 this year that would be able to put up a fight agninist the rest of the country.
6 (8) Georgia
With Auburn, Georgia Southern, and Georgia Tech remaining on their schedule the Bulldogs are just looking to build up momentum for their date with the SEC title game. In fact a win over Auburn this week will lock them into a meeting with the Champion with the SEC East.
7 (7) Florida State
Ever since their loss to NC State the wind seems to have come out of the sails for the Seminoles season this year. Although yes they have continued to win and seem to be the clear cut eventual ACC champion and BCS bowl representative. With no chance of the National Title game really just make this season now going through the motions.
8 (5) LSU
There is no fault in narrowly losing to Alabama this season, especially for a team like LSU who looked so lost weeks ago that there was a question of if they could hang with the Crimson Tide. Now with two losses in the SEC the Tigers are out of the SEC title race, but they can still make it to a big time bowl and there is no shame in that.
9 (9) Florida
What happened to the Flordia offense that was putting up the points from just a few weeks ago? Two games in a row the Gators have failed to crack 20 points. That shouldn’t be a problem though in the next two or three weeks, with Louisiana Lafayette, Jacksonville St, and Florida State all coming up.
10 (10) Clemson
Clemson sadly has not been getting the credit they deserive for being as good as they really are. After their loss to Florida State the Tigers have picked themselves up and continue to just score buckets of points week after week while allowing very few.
11 (11) South Carolina
After stopping their free fall aginist Tennessee two weeks ago the Gamecocks got a bye last week to get themselves prepared for the rest of the season. Too bad it only has one game on it that might actually be a good game to watch, November 24th versus Clemson.
12 (12) Oregon State
Being tied at the half was nothing to the Beavers who took the field in the second half last week and blew out Arizona State. The Beavers are still very much in the hunt in the Pac-12 North even with their one loss. If they can stay that way to the Civil War they can take the division away from Oregon.
13 (13) Louisville
It would be interesting to see what Louisville would look like if they played in any conference but the Big East. There are just not enough teams to challenge them, and as such we cannot jusde how good they really are, despite an undefeated record.
14 (14) Oklahoma
A nice rebound for the Sooners last week behind four touchdowns from quarterback Landry Jones. Oklahoma has now settled right into where they should be, they are good enough to beat most teams in the country, just not good enough to beat the best of the best.
15 (15) Stanford
Like so many this year Stanford basically just used Colorado as a practice game getting ready for a bigger game the next week. Oregon State is coming to Palo Alto this week, Oregon will be rooting for the Cardinal because if they can beat the Beavers the Ducks all but lock up the Pac-12 north.
16 (16) Texas A&M
The Aggies have had a nice first season in the SEC with a 4-2 record in conference in their first season. After putting down Mississippi State last week A&M get a much tough task this week, on the road aginist Alabama.
17 (20) Texas
Texas just doesn’t know how to die, after barely hanging onto a ranking following their crushing from Oklahoma the Longhorns move back into solid territory with a win over Texas Tech who were on roll the last few weeks.
18 (22) Nebraska
The Cornhuskers are the class of the rest in the Big 10. After getting clubbed by the Ohio State a few weeks ago they are thanking their lucky stars that the Buckeyes are not eligible for the postseason. It gives the Huskers a much better chance for a Rose Bowl birth.
19 (UR) Louisiana Tech
As the weeks go on, you have to look back at the game versus Texas A&M for how good LA Tech really is. It will be hard for them to climb that high in the top 25, but look forward to bowl season with this season hopefully getting an A-List opponent.
20 (UR) UCLA
The Bruins did not just beat Arizona last week. They beat them down with a 39 point lead at the half. Now the Bruins control their own destiny in the Pac-12 south, as long as they can beat USC they will be in the Pac-12 title game.
21 (17) Mississippi State
Things were looking so good for Mississippi St two weeks ago they were undefeated and looked like they might be able to make some noise in the SEC. But now after two losses to Alabama and Texas A&M, blow outs at that, things aren’t going so well for the Bulldogs. Now headed to Death Valley, things don’t appear to get easier.
22 (UR) Toledo
Undefeated before Tuesday (honestly who plays a game on election night?) Toledo was said by some to be the second or third best team in the state of Ohio. But now with their loss to Ball State don’t expect to see them here next week.
23 (18) USC
When the season started many, including myself, thought that the Trojans would be in the national title hunt. But now with three losses they are just fighting for a Pac-12 title game birth. After getting into a shootout with the Ducks last Saturday, the Trojans would love another shot to upset them.
24 (23) Kent State
This is a big week for the Golden Flashes, they play Miami (OH) who have already knocked one ranked team off this year. But Kent State cannot get complacent with Ohio coming up as the last game of the year.
25 (19) Texas Tech
Coming out of a stretch aginist five ranked teams and being 2-3, with losses to Oklahoma, K-State, and Texas, is nothing to turn your nose at. After their blow out of West Virginia though you have to think that Red Raider fans wanted more.
Dropped From Rankings: Oklahoma State (25), Arizona (24), West Virginia (21)
Also Receiving Consideration: TCU, Michigan, San Diego State
Biggest Rise: Louisiana Tech (UR) – (19)
Biggest Fall: Texas Tech (19) – (25)
Games in the top 25 this week:
(16) Texas A&M @ (1) Alabama
(21) Mississippi State @ (8) LSU
(12) Oregon State @ (15) Stanford
Add comment