College Football Rankings - 20 Sep

The Ohio State Buckeyes struggled to hold of Northern Illinois yesterday, beating the Huskies by a single touchdown despite being favored by many more. The Ole Miss Rebels, meanwhile, upset Alabama on the road, an upset that I predicted, so the huge gap between #1 and #2 that has existed for the first couple weeks of the season is almost completely gone now. Here are this week's full rankings:

				Rec		ProjRec
TW	LW	Team	Rating	W	L	W	L	SOS	MOV
1	1	Ohio State	-27.274	3	0	12	0	11
2	2	Ole Miss	-23.511	3	0	11	1	87
3	3	Oklahoma	-21.378	3	0	11	1	13
4	4	LSU	-20.758	2	0	10	1	6
5	14	Georgia	-17.279	3	0	10	2	44
6	10	Mississippi State	-17.219	2	1	9	3	30
7	5	USC	-17.092	2	1	9	3	68
8	6	Georgia Tech	-17.002	2	1	9	3	93
9	15	Clemson	-16.503	3	0	10	2	63
10	7	TCU	-16.426	3	0	10	2	101
11	9	California	-15.9	3	0	10	2	89
12	12	Florida State	-15.034	3	0	10	2	37
13	13	Tennessee	-14.716	2	1	9	3	46
14	11	Alabama	-13.808	2	1	8	4	1
15	35	Stanford	-12.311	2	1	9	3	8
16	16	Texas A&M	-12.1	3	0	9	3	88
17	19	Memphis	-11.644	3	0	10	2	107
18	29	Baylor	-11.054	2	0	9	3	116
19	18	Notre Dame	-11.052	3	0	9	3	18
20	33	Virginia Tech	-10.966	2	1	8	4	48
21	25	West Virginia	-10.05	2	0	9	3	117
22	28	Michigan State	-9.9699	3	0	10	2	21
23	63	Texas Tech	-9.1135	3	0	9	3	105
24	34	Northwestern	-8.8956	3	0	10	2	36
25	40	Middle Tennessee	-8.6986	2	1	9	3	92
26	30	Brigham Young	-8.5561	2	1	10	2	2
27	65	Arizona	-8.2067	3	0	9	3	123
28	36	Nebraska	-7.8529	1	2	7	5	19
29	21	UCLA	-7.5576	3	0	8	4	56
30	51	Oregon	-6.8183	2	1	7	5	94
31	8	Toledo	-6.522	2	0	10	1	25
32	26	Louisiana Tech	-6.4952	1	2	8	4	50
33	64	North Carolina	-6.3598	2	1	8	4	84
34	23	Arkansas	-6.3586	1	2	5	7	47
35	50	Florida	-6.1392	3	0	7	5	98
36	22	Temple	-5.9184	3	0	10	2	26
37	27	Miami (FL)	-5.8162	3	0	7	5	91
38	20	Duke	-5.7392	2	1	8	4	100
39	42	Appalachian State	-4.1415	1	1	10	2	45
40	44	North Carolina State	-3.7169	3	0	8	4	122
41	56	Penn State	-3.5708	2	1	7	5	23
42	37	Wisconsin	-3.5059	2	1	8	4	80
43	48	Bowling Green	-3.5042	1	2	8	4	4
44	24	Boston College	-2.8297	2	1	6	6	114
45	31	Air Force	-2.771	2	1	8	4	78
46	86	Northern Illinois	-2.6888	2	1	9	3	58
47	38	Washington	-2.6472	2	1	6	6	90
48	54	Navy	-2.6425	2	0	9	3	127
49	53	Southern Miss	-2.4508	2	1	8	4	57
50	62	Boise State	-2.1028	2	1	9	3	55
51	17	Illinois	-2.089	2	1	6	6	85
52	58	Utah	-1.8689	3	0	7	5	74
53	47	Colorado	-1.8056	2	1	7	6	40
54	45	Kansas State	-1.3178	3	0	7	5	110
55	57	Tulsa	-1.257	2	1	8	4	12
56	39	Western Kentucky	-1.0841	2	1	8	4	20
57	43	Michigan	-0.9846	2	1	6	6	67
58	80	Oklahoma State	-0.5899	3	0	7	5	124
59	67	Houston	-0.4849	2	0	9	3	95
60	32	Minnesota	0.3358	2	1	6	6	22
61	41	Colorado State	0.7475	1	2	8	4	76
62	84	Louisville	0.8516	0	3	5	7	15
63	72	Buffalo	1.1161	2	1	9	3	77
64	61	Kentucky	1.1724	2	1	7	5	27
65	73	Rice	2.1	2	1	8	4	103
66	96	Arkansas State	2.2674	1	2	7	5	51
67	81	Texas	2.3773	1	2	4	8	5
68	88	Arizona State	2.6356	2	1	5	7	66
69	76	Marshall	2.739	2	1	8	4	108
70	78	Pittsburgh	2.8556	2	1	5	7	75
71	82	Georgia Southern	3.381	2	1	8	4	65
72	74	Vanderbilt	3.9092	1	2	3	9	60
73	70	South Carolina	4.4811	1	2	4	8	3
74	90	Auburn	4.5716	2	1	5	7	29
75	49	Hawaii	4.5973	2	1	8	5	24
76	59	Missouri	4.6186	3	0	5	7	113
77	68	Ohio	4.9803	3	0	8	4	118
78	55	Cincinnati	5.2329	2	1	6	6	112
79	60	New Mexico	5.4901	1	2	7	5	71
80	71	Rutgers	5.7092	1	2	5	7	96
81	85	Iowa	6.4444	3	0	7	5	104
82	66	San Diego State	6.8705	1	2	6	6	62
83	52	Syracuse	6.9123	3	0	5	7	121
84	79	Louisiana-Lafayette	7.1054	1	1	6	6	97
85	46	South Florida	7.3133	1	2	5	7	41
86	75	Louisiana-Monroe	7.6417	1	1	6	7	42
87	97	Akron	7.6529	1	2	6	6	35
88	95	Western Michigan	8.2281	1	2	5	7	61
89	83	Texas State	8.3855	1	2	6	6	39
90	99	Maryland	9.4128	2	1	4	8	102
91	92	Florida International	9.6692	2	1	6	6	106
92	103	Indiana	10.836	3	0	6	6	109
93	69	Virginia	11.808	1	2	2	10	34
94	115	South Alabama	11.875	2	1	6	6	54
95	101	Utah State	12.123	1	2	5	7	43
96	110	Iowa State	12.487	1	2	3	9	69
97	113	Southern Methodist	12.903	1	2	4	8	17
98	89	Purdue	13.262	1	2	3	9	59
99	117	Massachusetts	13.444	0	2	4	8	10
100	93	East Carolina	13.481	1	2	4	8	33
101	105	Oregon State	13.569	2	1	3	9	99
102	77	Wake Forest	13.701	2	1	3	9	115
103	87	San Jose State	13.902	1	2	4	8	70
104	114	Nevada	13.961	1	2	5	7	32
105	106	Kent State	14.338	1	2	4	8	52
106	107	Central Michigan	14.839	1	2	4	8	83
107	102	Washington State	15.092	2	1	3	9	125
108	91	UCF	15.601	0	3	3	9	64
109	100	Troy	16.155	1	2	5	7	38
110	94	Florida Atlantic	17.892	0	3	2	10	16
111	104	Ball State	18.226	2	1	4	8	81
112	109	UNLV	18.46	0	3	4	8	7
113	116	Georgia State	21.285	1	2	3	9	79
114	119	Tulane	21.832	1	2	3	9	31
115	121	UTEP	21.879	1	2	4	8	14
116	111	Fresno State	22.324	1	2	3	9	28
117	123	North Texas	22.729	0	2	2	10	49
118	112	Old Dominion	23.27	2	1	4	8	111
119	124	Connecticut	23.493	2	1	3	9	119
120	98	Charlotte	24.098	2	1	4	8	73
121	108	UTSA	27.646	0	3	1	11	9
122	126	Miami (OH)	28.364	1	2	2	10	72
123	125	New Mexico State	28.376	0	3	1	11	82
124	120	Eastern Michigan	28.568	1	2	3	9	128
125	118	Idaho	29.815	1	2	2	10	53
126	127	Army	30.453	0	3	1	11	120
127	122	Kansas	31.345	0	2	0	12	86
128	128	Wyoming	37.449	0	3	0	12	126

New to the top 5 this week is Georgia, which crushed South Carolina 52-20 yesterday. The Bulldogs were in my preseason top 10, but dropped out for the past two weeks after playing weaklings, and only beating Vandy by 17, but after they roasted the Gamecocks (mmm), they are back where they belong.

Clemson is the newest addition to the top 10, thanks to a big road win in their first real game of the season. They had big victories over Wofford and Appalachian State in the first two weeks, but going to Louisville and winning, even in a close game, shows just how good these Tigers can be.

Reaching the top 15 this week is Stanford, which had dropped from #10 in my preseason rankings clear out of the top 25 after losing to Northwestern in week 1. It turns out that the Wildcats are better than anybody thought, and the Cardinal may be who we thought they were originally, especially after they beat USC on the road by 10 to open their conference schedule.