1. Alabama Crimson Tide (10-0) Survive
and Advance… It wasn’t pretty, but the Tide got a tough road win on Saturday
over Mississippi State. They now have
their annual late November cupcake game vs Mercer, before the Iron Bowl vs
Auburn in 2 weeks.
2. Miami Hurricanes (9-0) I have been
critical of the Canes all year (until the beatdown vs VT) but the performance
Miami had last week vs Notre Dame was one of the best of the season. The defense carried them for the first half
of the season. Now the offense is
playing well. Look out The U is back! They look to stay unbeaten vs Virginia (NOON, ABC) Saturday.
3. Oklahoma Sooners (9-1) Back to back
wins over ranked teams and OU is now in the driver’s seat for a playoff spot
and yet another Big XII Title. A win at Kansas (3:30, ESPN) will clinch a spot
in the Big XII Championship game.
4. Clemson Tigers (9-1) The Tigers
clinched the ACC Atlantic division once again, beating Florida State on
Saturday. Showing that they are a true
southern school, Clemson will play The Citadel of the FCS this week, before
closing the regular season with rival South Carolina.
5. Auburn Tigers (8-2) The only team
that could rival Miami for the Team of the Week honors (if that were a thing)
would be Auburn. The Tigers crushed
Georgia for 60 minutes, handing the Bulldogs their 1st loss of the
season. Auburn has Louisiana Monroe (NOON, ESPN2) this week, before hosting a winner
take all matchup with Alabama for the SEC West Title, and possibly much more.
6. Georgia Bulldogs (9-1) The Bulldogs
had been one of the best defenses in the country before last week’s beatdown by
Auburn. Georgia allowed nearly 500 yards
of offense, including 237 on the ground.
The Bulldogs have already clinched the SEC East, but need to get
themselves right vs Kentucky (CBS, 3:30)
if they want to get back into the playoff picture.
7. Ohio State Buckeyes (8-2) Which
Buckeye team will show up this week when they host Illinois (ABC, 3:30) the one that got blasted by an average Iowa
team, or the one that blasted a tough Michigan State defense to the tune of 48
points? The good news for Ohio State is
that Illinois is so awful it won’t matter.
8. Wisconsin Badgers (10-0) Another
win. Another win over an unranked
team. Wisconsin is 10-0 now on the
season and has still yet to beat a team currently ranked. That trend could continue this week when they
host Michigan (NOON, FOX). Michigan
is ranked 19th in the most recent AP poll, but if they were to lose
to the Badgers, they will likely drop out, meaning Wisconsin could end the
regular season without a win over a ranked team.
9. TCU Horned Frogs (8-2) The Horned
Frogs were the surprise team of the 1st half of the season. Now they are coming off their 2nd
straight road loss and trying to hold to a spot in the Big XII Championship game
to revenge this week’s loss to Oklahoma.
They’ll try to snap their road struggles this week in Lubbock as they
take on Texas Tech (NOON, FS1).
10. Oklahoma State (8-2) The team the Horned
Frogs are fighting with for that 2nd spot in the Big XII
Championship game is Ok State. The Cowboys
came from down 14-0 to Iowa State to secure a 49-42 shootout win. The win puts OSU tied for 2nd
place in the conference with West Virginia and TCU. The Cowboys host Kansas State (3:30, ESPN2) this week.
11. Central Florida Knights (9-0) It
almost seems like UCF has become bored with their opponents this season. The Knights jumped out to a 21-3 1st
Q lead over UCONN and toyed with them for the middle two quarters, before
putting up 21 more in the final quarter of play for an easy win. UCF has a cold-weather test at Temple (NOON, ESPNU) on Saturday.
12. Notre Dame (8-2) Just when I start
to believe in Notre Dame (something I try to never do) they get bombed on a big
stage. The Irish were never in their
game with Miami on Saturday. ND has
another challenge this week, that is bouncing back to face the unorthodox
offense of Navy (3:30, NBC).
13. Washington State Cougars (9-2) The Cougars
hit a rough spot with tough bad road losses in October, but the pirates Mike
Leach has righted the ship (yes, I know that was awful). Washington State with a much-needed late
season BYE week this week before the Apple Cup in 2 weeks, which could decide
the PAC12 North Champion.
14. USC Trojans (9-2) Have I mentioned
how bad the PAC-12 is this season? USC is in cruise control in the PAC12 South,
having already clinched the division. This
week they will host UCLA (8p, ABC) in
what is the annually the greatest uniform match-up in college football, as both
LA schools where their home colors for the game.
15. Penn State Nittany Lions (8-2) Penn
State keeps doing what they do best, which is winning the games they should
win. The Nittany Lions fell behind 6-0
to Rutgers in State College before rattling off the final 35 points of the game
for an easy win. PSU has another easy one at home this week when Nebraska (4p, FOX) visits Happy Valley.
16. Mississippi State (7-3) The Bulldogs
played a great game on Saturday and almost took down the #2 team in the nation. Although they didn’t pull it off, they may
have given the blueprint to teams like Auburn or Georgia, who still might see
Alabama. They may have also just lost
their head coach as teams like Florida and Tennessee watched him nearly pull
off the upset. Miss State goes to Arkansas (NOON, CBS) to get back on the
winning way.
17. Stanford Cardinal (7-3) I’m not
sure there is a more unpredictable team in the country than Stanford. When healthy and playing well, they are as
good as anyone. But they haven’t been
healthy much and certainly haven’t played the way many are used to seeing
Stanford play. Stanford host Cal (8p, FOX) in The Big Game Saturday.
18. Washington Huskies (8-2) With all
the chaos that took place on Saturday Washington would have been in a great
position to move up in the rankings.
That is, if they hadn’t laid an egg against Stanford the night
before. The Huskies host Utah (10:30, ESPN) this week as they
try to stay alive in the PAC12 North race.
19. Memphis Tigers (8-1) Memphis is silently sitting at 8-1 hoping to
get another shot at UCF in the AAC Championship Game and sneak into a New Year’s
Six game as the Group of 5 rep. The
Tigers face a high-powered SMU (NOON,
ESPNN) offense this Saturday. A win
and the Tigers clinched their division and a spot in that championship game.
20. Arizona Wildcats (7-3)
The Wildcats have the most exciting player in college football in Khalil
Tate and have won 5 of 6 games since he entered the lineup. The lone loss was on the road to USC. Tate and the Wildcats go to Eugene to take on
Oregon (7p, PACN) this week.
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