College football rankings: Projected Top 25 rankings after Week 11
By Jack Crosby
Week 11 of the college football season brought upon the biggest shake up that we’ve seen yet.
On Thursday, the second-ranked Oregon Ducks were defeated for the first time this season, when they fell to the Stanford Cardinal. The favorite among many to reach the BCS National Championship Game, Oregon will now more than like fall far enough in the rankings where a second chance for them is all but non-existent.
Speaking of rankings, let’s take our weekly look at how the AP polls may look when they’re released later on today:
1) Alabama Crimson Tide: After the beating they gave LSU, especially in the second half, there’s absolutely no debate now that the Tide are still the best in the land.
2) Florida State Seminoles: With Oregon’s loss, the Seminoles are now the definitive number two in the country, and should stay here unless defeated, which doesn’t look like a possibility in the near future.
3) Ohio State Buckeyes: So close, yet so far away. Ohio State was one a bye this week, but we also helped mightily by Oregon’s loss as they’re dangerously close now to regaining their preseason number two ranking.
4) Baylor Bears: Everyone wanted these guys tested. They were on Thursday against Oklahoma and they passed with the blowout victory over the Sooners. They’re legitimate.
5) Stanford Cardinal: Other than stating the fact of, “They scored more points,” please stop trying to figure out how Utah beat these guys, because I can’t for the life of me.
6) Auburn Tigers: These guys improve more and more every week. After the obliteration of Tennessee, Alabama may want to keep an eye on their rivals before they have those championship hopes dancing in their heads.
7) Clemson Tigers: With the week off, it might be close between these Tiger and the ones from Mizzou, but they should be able to keep this slot for now.
8) Missouri Tigers: Gary Pinkel’s crew handled Kentucky easily on Saturday and are still in position to win the SEC East.
9) Oregon Ducks: A lot of voters are probably going to be unimpressed with the way Oregon lost to Stanford. While the final score was close, the football game itself wasn’t. The Ducks were dominated on the field by a superior football team.
10) Texas A&M Aggies: Only two close losses separate the Aggies from being in a position right now as being undefeated.
11) South Carolina Gamecocks: Steve Spurrier had a bye week which means that some golf course got paid today.
12) Oklahoma State Cowboys: It was easy on Saturday against Kansas, but now things get harder as games against Baylor and Texas are upcoming.
13) UCLA Bruins: It was a tough one, but the Bruins survived a nice effort from Arizona.
14) Fresno State Bulldogs: The BCS hopes are still alive after the win over Wyoming.
15) Michigan State Spartans: After a week off this week, a date with Nebraska looms next weekend for this phenomenal defense.
16) UCF Knights: With the win over Houston, George O’Leary and his group appear to be BCS bound as the winner of the AAC.
17) LSU Tigers: They put up a fight in the first half, but they showed that they’re not on the level of the Tide as they were the latest victim of Nick Saban and company.
18) Louisville Cardinals: They played this week. They beat UConn. I’m still not sure anyone watched (See last week’s rankings).
19) Wisconsin Badgers: This may be one of the best two-loss teams in the country and they proved that again by beating BYU.
20) Northern Illinois Huskies: They didn’t play this week, but they have the toughest test of the season upcoming this Wednesday against 9-1 Ball State. #MACtion is coming full force this week.
21) Oklahoma Sooners: They were tasked with the job of showing America that Baylor was a fraud and they failed miserably.
22) Arizona State Sun Devils: The hottest team in the Pac-12 almost suffered the same fate as Stanford did against Utah, but they were able to rally to avoid that.
23) Miami Hurricanes: Two straight weeks. Two straight blowouts. The ‘Canes aren’t back yet.
24) Texas Longhorns: Whether or not you want to admit it, they still have yet to lose a game in Big 12 play, but they’ll be tested within the next few weeks.
25) Minnesota Golden Gophers: This team is now riding a four-game winning streak and are 8-2 on the season. Also, they’re one of the best stories in college football, which is what we love the most in the end.