Scott Hamilton’s College Football Rankings Week 9: Scary Wins, Frightening Losses Shake Up Top 25
Fangs: The top-six teams are the same, dug into the exact spots they were in last week. Michigan blasted Michigan State, 49-0; Georgia was off; Ohio State’s 20-12 win over Penn State wasn’t as narrow as the eight-point margin of victory; and Florida State’s 38-20 win over Duke became less competitive once Blue Devils’ QB Riley Leonard went down again with an ankle injury. Oklahoma and Washington did have to duke it out to remain undefeated, however. The Sooners held off Central Florida, 31-29, and Washington beat Arizona State, 15-7.
Bewitched: Washington didn’t lose, but it didn’t look anything like a team capable of making an argument for perhaps being No. 1. , despite one of the worst performances of Michael Penix, Jr.’s career. He entered that game having taken the lead among Heisman Trophy favorites, but it’s a more wide-open race after he went 27-42 for 275 yards, two interceptions and no touchdowns. The Huskies (and Penix) have a chance to gather themselves at Stanford this week before a season-ending stretch at Southern Cal, vs. Utah, at Oregon State and what could be the last Apple Cup against Washington State.
Brewing: Remember when we (yes, me included) began writing obits for the Alabama dynasty if not after the Crimson Tide’s Week 2 home loss to Texas? Or perhaps it was following that ugly 17-3 win at South Florida seven days later? Yeah, about that, Alabama hasn’t looked like an offensive juggernaut, but it has resembled some of its past championship teams for at least the second half of each game since that drunken stumble through Tampa. And it’s not only positioned itself atop the SEC West standings by reeling off wins against the likes of Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Tennessee. A win over LSU on the other side of this week’s bye would likely send Alabama to the conference championship game – and another shot at making the CFP’s four-team party.
Bump in the night: Penn State, despite that loss at Ohio State and the anemic 240 yards it produced at the Horseshoe, can still be a player nationally. The beauty of the round-robin tournament that pretty much summates the Big Ten East is that Penn State still has another shot of seizing a big-time win, what with a game at top-ranked Michigan in two weeks still looming. And there’s also the season-ending fistfight in Columbus between the Buckeyes and Wolverines. The best-case scenario for Penn State: A win over Michigan and a Michigan win over Ohio State, making the Nittany Lions a strong CFP contender.
Hair-raising: A third straight Pac-12 title is still out there for Utah after the Utes again beat Southern Cal again, this time 34-32 in Los Angeles. But, man, this time it needed a 38-yard field goal as time expired from Cole Becker after blowing an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter. Still, a win is a win is a win. And Utah coach Kyle Whittingham keeps proving that he does more with less than any other Power 5 coach in America.
Ghastly: North Carolina couldn’t get out of its own way, losing to poor Virginia, 31-27 – and in Chapel Hill, no less. And don’t lay it all on the defeat-clinching interception Tar Heels’ QB Drake Maye threw with 46 seconds remaining. It was a huge contributor to his 44.3 quarterback rating along with going 24-48 for 347 yards and two TDs. Rather a good part of the blame is on the UNC defense that allowed Virginia to run for 228 yards – after entering the game with an acc-worst 99.5-yard average. And it wasn’t just one Cavalier that shredded UNC, as four different players had at least 11 carries – three of which totaled 67, 66 and 66 yards respectively.
Ghosts: Nobody fell out of my Top 25, something that can be attributed to the quality of the matchups. North Carolina was the only ranked team to lose to an unranked opponent, dropping it seven spots to No. 17. Given all that, there wasn’t enough to justify a team cracking the Top 25 for the first time this year (such as a Liberty or Toledo) or returning power to more familiar territory (looking at you, Miami and Oklahoma State).
Wicked: The SEC – even in what’s been described as a “down” year for weeks – continues to lead all conferences in the rankings with seven teams. The Pac-12 has five, followed by the ACC (four). All three of the Big 10’s teams are inside the top 10, while No. 5 Oklahoma and No. 8 Texas are the lone Big 12 teams to make the rankings. Three Group of 5 teams make the cut – led by Air Force of the Mountain West Conference at No. 18 – while Notre Dame, as usual, is the lone independent.
This week’s rankings (last week):
1. Michigan (1)
2. Georgia (2)
3. Ohio State (3)
4. Florida State (4)
5. Oklahoma (5)
6. Washington (6)
7. Oregon (7)
8. Texas (9)
9. Alabama (11)
10. Penn State (7)
11. Oregon State (12)
12. Ole Miss (13)
13. Utah (14)
14. Notre Dame (16)
15. LSU (19)
16. Missouri (20)
17. North Carolina (10)
18. Air Force (21)
19. Louisville (22)
20. Tulane (23)
21. Florida (24)
22. Tennessee (15)
23. Duke (17)
24. Southern Cal (18)
25. James Madison (25)
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