College Football Rankings - 3 Nov

November is here. This is the month when most teams finish their regular seasons, and the true identity of the top teams starts to take shape. Last year at this time we had 6 undefeated teams, 5 from the major conferences, and this year we have 7, still with 5 AQ schools among them. Last year, however, Ohio State was ineligible for a bowl game, so only 5 of those teams counted. The two non-AQ unbeatens, Fresno State and Northern Illinois, will likely lose by season's end, but I still see 4 of the other 5 remaining unbeaten when it comes time to pick the top 2 teams for the title game. If Alabama loses, do you take the undefeated champs of two other conferences? Luckily there's still a lot of football left to play, and a lot can change in a month. Here are this week's full rankings:

Rank	LW	Team	Rec	Rating	Pred	Change	Undef %
1	1	Oregon	8-0	-40.9855	13-0		59.2
2	2	Baylor	7-0	-40.193	12-0		90.2
3	3	Florida State	8-0	-39.8326	13-0		91.1
4	4	Alabama	8-0	-32.0751	12-1		49.2
5	5	Arizona State	6-2	-29.3232	9-4
6	7	Ohio State	9-0	-27.4885	13-0		82.1
7	9	Wisconsin	6-2	-25.8291	10-2	+1
8	8	Missouri	8-1	-25.4502	10-2
9	6	Stanford	7-1	-25.2821	10-2
10	20	Clemson	8-1	-23.2563	10-2
11	10	Georgia Tech	6-3	-21.8367	8-4
12	14	Washington	5-3	-21.5744	8-4
13	11	Brigham Young	6-2	-21.2129	9-3
14	12	Miami (FL)	7-1	-21.1783	10-3
15	13	LSU	7-2	-20.5834	9-3
16	16	UCLA	6-2	-19.9417	8-4
17	17	South Carolina	7-2	-19.8074	9-4
18	19	Louisville	7-1	-19.7866	11-1
19	15	Auburn	8-1	-19.483	10-2
20	21	Utah State	5-4	-19.4646	8-4
21	25	Oklahoma State	7-1	-19.1413	10-2	+1
22	22	Utah	4-4	-18.2256	6-6
23	18	Arizona	6-2	-18.001	8-4
24	28	USC	6-3	-17.8898	9-4	+1
25	24	Texas A&M	7-2	-17.6172	8-4
26	26	Georgia	5-3	-17.6139	8-4	+1
27	27	Florida	4-4	-15.9795	6-6	-1
28	30	UCF	6-1	-14.6287	11-1
29	23	Houston	7-1	-14.1835	10-2
30	31	Ole Miss	5-3	-14.1137	8-4
31	29	Virginia Tech	6-3	-13.1952	8-4	-1
32	36	Boise State	6-3	-11.7071	10-3	+1
33	32	Duke	6-2	-11.1587	8-4	-1
34	34	Oregon State	6-3	-10.8443	6-6	-1
35	46	Michigan State	8-1	-10.7652	10-3
36	38	Marshall	5-3	-10.4243	9-4
37	33	Texas Tech	7-2	-10.2332	8-4
38	35	Texas	6-2	-10.1843	7-5	-1
39	43	Kansas State	4-4	-9.85001	7-5
40	39	Oklahoma	7-1	-9.69193	8-4	-1
41	40	Mississippi State	4-4	-9.31211	6-6
42	37	Tennessee	4-5	-9.25089	6-6
43	42	North Carolina	3-5	-8.81051	6-6
44	48	Notre Dame	7-2	-8.50142	8-4	+1
45	41	Washington State	4-5	-8.0825	5-7
46	50	Iowa	5-4	-6.77908	7-5
47	44	Michigan	6-2	-6.71426	8-4
48	53	Pittsburgh	4-4	-6.48032	6-6
49	47	East Carolina	6-2	-5.90599	9-3
50	49	Indiana	3-5	-5.87235	5-7	-1
51	52	North Texas	6-3	-5.77874	9-4	+1
52	51	Ball State	8-1	-5.24865	10-2
53	54	Nebraska	6-2	-5.05448	8-4
54	61	Boston College	4-4	-4.90554	7-5	+1
55	45	Louisiana-Lafayette	6-2	-4.49713	9-3	-1
56	56	Navy	4-4	-4.27819	7-5
57	55	Vanderbilt	4-4	-3.94066	6-6
58	68	Northern Illinois	9-0	-3.7184	12-1	+1	13.0
59	57	Fresno State	8-0	-3.61403	10-2		8.0
60	65	Northwestern	4-5	-3.61391	6-6
61	59	Toledo	6-3	-3.48294	8-4
62	73	Minnesota	7-2	-2.32952	8-4	+1
63	70	Syracuse	4-4	-2.2471	6-6	+1
64	64	Ohio	6-2	-2.17115	9-3
65	63	Penn State	5-3	-1.72727	7-5
66	78	Cincinnati	6-2	-1.56027	8-4	+1
67	60	Bowling Green	5-3	-1.53089	8-4
68	58	TCU	3-6	-1.49428	4-8	-1
69	69	Wake Forest	4-5	-1.34483	5-7
70	66	Rice	6-3	-1.29576	9-3
71	74	Kentucky	2-6	-1.20203	3-9
72	72	Buffalo	6-2	-0.37643	9-4
73	77	San Jose State	5-3	0.326304	8-4	+1
74	76	Maryland	5-3	0.529568	7-5
75	71	Western Kentucky	5-4	0.663864	7-5
76	80	Florida Atlantic	3-6	0.678642	6-6
77	62	Virginia	2-7	1.909734	2-10	-1
78	75	Arkansas State	4-4	2.060274	7-5	+1
79	67	Memphis	1-6	2.353943	4-8	-1
80	86	North Carolina State	3-5	2.356476	4-8
81	82	Colorado State	4-5	2.571436	6-7	-1
82	87	Colorado	3-5	2.748835	4-8
83	79	Middle Tennessee	5-4	2.847866	8-4
84	88	West Virginia	4-5	3.019082	6-6	+1
85	89	Illinois	3-5	3.396027	4-8
86	81	Rutgers	5-3	3.852238	7-5
87	90	UTSA	4-5	3.906303	6-6	+1
88	84	South Alabama	3-5	4.150237	5-7	-1
89	85	Tulane	6-3	4.622733	8-4
90	91	Wyoming	4-4	5.393642	5-7
91	83	Troy	5-4	5.434536	6-6	-1
92	95	California	1-8	6.47921	1-11
93	94	Louisiana-Monroe	5-4	6.493573	6-6	+1
94	92	Arkansas	3-6	6.786763	3-9
95	96	Nevada	3-6	8.449884	4-8
96	93	Iowa State	1-7	9.015332	2-10
97	99	Texas State	6-3	9.825996	7-5	+1
98	101	Temple	1-8	10.22874	2-10
99	100	UNLV	5-4	10.71221	6-6	-1
100	97	Southern Methodist	3-4	10.98464	4-8	-1
101	102	Hawaii	0-8	11.17459	2-10
102	98	Army	3-6	11.26012	4-8	-1
103	103	Kansas	2-6	11.55165	3-9
104	107	San Diego State	4-4	11.62732	5-7	+1
105	106	New Mexico	2-6	11.72202	3-9	-1
106	105	Akron	3-7	12.5232	4-8
107	111	South Florida	2-6	13.87678	3-9
108	109	UAB	2-6	13.88765	3-9
109	108	Kent State	2-8	14.02312	3-9
110	104	Tulsa	2-6	14.68546	3-9
111	110	Louisiana Tech	3-5	16.68978	5-7
112	114	Air Force	2-7	16.7786	3-9	+1
113	113	Central Michigan	3-5	18.83392	5-7
114	112	Purdue	1-7	18.98756	1-11
115	115	Connecticut	0-7	20.98993	1-11	+1
116	117	UTEP	1-7	22.74885	2-10
117	118	Western Michigan	1-8	23.8852	2-10
118	116	Massachusetts	1-8	24.37071	2-10
119	121	Miami (OH)	0-8	25.86314	0-12
120	119	Idaho	1-8	26.15118	2-10
121	122	Georgia State	0-9	26.28529	0-12
122	120	Eastern Michigan	1-8	26.58123	2-10
123	124	New Mexico State	1-8	30.18806	2-10	+1
124	123	Southern Miss	0-8	31.85213	0-12
125	125	Florida International	1-7	31.93222	1-11

Three of the top 4 teams had a bye this week, leaving only Florida State to play for their lives on Saturday, and they continued to make their case for inclusion in the BCS title game with a big win over Miami. The other 3 face their toughest tests to this point in the upcoming week, with Oregon visiting Stanford, Baylor hosting Oklahoma, and Alabama welcoming LSU. This weekend will be huge in showing us how good these teams really are.

Clemson returned to the top 10 this week with a dominant performance at Virginia yesterday, moving the Tigers to 8-1 on the season, with the lone blemish coming against Florida State, which has beaten all comers decisively this year. Clemson takes a week off before finishing the conference schedule against a tough Georgia Tech team next week, then they close the season 2 weeks later at in-state rival South Carolina. Winning both of those would make them a sure BCS at-large team.

Look who's ranked for the first time all season. It's the USC Trojans, who are usually not strangers in these parts. They have been rejuvenated since the firing of Lane Kiffin, winning 3 of 4, and nearly taking out Notre Dame on the road as well. Their 2 remaining tough games both come at home, with visits from Stanford and UCLA, so it is possible that USC could still make a run at the Pac 12 South title and a shot at Oregon in the title game.