It says something about the state of college football when two unbeaten, top-10 teams go down on the same weekend ... and that's somehow not even the most chaotic Saturday we've had this month. Week 8 didn't give us quite the carnage of Week 7, but there were still plenty of topsy-turvy results — and, thus, plenty of opportunity for AP voters to make some wild choices in building the latest top 25 rankings.
Sure enough, they didn't disappoint. We don't envy the voters, who have the unenviable task of trying to make sense of a limited number of at times mutually contradictory data points, all on very little sleep and in addition to their actual day jobs. Still, we've once again got some questions about this week's poll, from Indiana defying gravity to disrespect for two of the nation's three remaining unbeatens. Let's dive in.
AP Top 25 college football rankings after Week 8
- Miami Hurricanes (7-0)
- Ohio State Buckeyes (6-1)
- Georgia Bulldogs (6-1)
- Indiana Hoosiers (7-1)
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish (6-1)
- Utah Utes (7-0)
- UCLA Bruins (7-0)
- BYU Cougars (6-1)
- Kentucky Wildcats (7-1)
- Alabama Crimson Tide (6-2)
- Texas Longhorns (5-2)
- Ole Miss Rebels (6-2)
- Texas Tech Red Raiders (6-1)
- Wake Forest Demon Deacons (6-1)
- LSU Tigers (6-2)
- Tennessee Volunteers (6-2)
- Florida Gatos (5-2)
- Houston Cougars (6-2)
- SMU Mustangs (6-1)
- Boise State Broncos (6-1)
- Northwestern Wildcats (6-1)
- Boise State Broncos (5-1)
- Arizona Wildcats (6-1)
- Missouri Tigers (5-2)
- Oklahoma State Cowboys (5-2)
- Wisconsin Badgers (5-2)
What has Indiana done to deserve being ranked No. 4?
I never thought I'd see the day where I complained about Indiana getting preferential treatment, and yet here we are. All due respect to the Hoosiers for grinding out a win against a desperate Michigan team in the Big House when QB Josh Hoover was clearly not 100 percent. But man, it came ugly, requiring overtime despite the fact that the Wolverines true freshman Tommy Carr looked every bit like a guy making his first career start.
At this point, what in the Hoosiers' resume is propping up their No. 4 ranking? Indiana now has three one-score wins against power-conference competition (Michigan, Nebraska and Northwestern), plus a blowout of Rutgers. Yes, they came within inches of beating Ohio State, but that also required an injury to Buckeyes starting QB Julian Sayin. This is a far cry from last year's national championship squad, yet they're getting the benefit of the doubt anyway.
Why should this team be ranked above unbeaten UCLA and Utah? Heck, at least Notre Dame looked more commanding in its wins and has a last-second loss at BYU that's probably even more respectable.
Alabama and Texas are both getting too much love
Can we figure out what we think of these teams, please? Alabama and Texas were ranked 13th and 19th, respectively, last week, and now they're 10th and 11th despite ... not looking all that different on the field.
The Tide needed 14 unanswered points in the fourth to beat a Texas A&M team that's actively crashing and burning. And while Texas upset Ole Miss, Arch Manning and the offense still have all the same problems that led voters to bury them after losses to Oklahoma and Florida. There's just no reason for them to make significant leaps like this, even if it's admittedly tricky to leave the Horns behind Ole Miss based on the head-to-head result. Speaking of which: Tennessee also has two losses and is now six spots behind the same Alabama team it just blasted at home last weekend.
Arizona deserves more attention from AP voters
If Arizona had, say, Notre Dame's logo, where do you tink they'd be ranked? The Wildcats are now 6-1 after blasting Iowa State on Saturday, and while the schedule hasn't been overly daunting, they've also won all six games by double digits. That includes a win over the same Cincinnati squad that just upset Texas Tech this weekend.
It's not even like Arizona has a bad loss holding them back; their lone defeat came at BYU, 28-17, in what was a four-point game entering the fourth quarter. This is simply a very good team, and while they'll have chances to prove themselves more forcefully in the coming weeks, it's silly that they're not already in the top 20.
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