College Football Rankings: Projected Week 10 AP Top 25
Texas A&M may have given LSU all they needed to fire Brian Kelly, Alabama fans were hanging onto the edge of their seats against South Carolina, Oregon was somehow not pulling away from Wisconsin, Ole Miss was delivering the final nail in Oklahoma's College Football Playoff coffin, and so much more in a wild Week 9. While there weren't too many upsets to speak of when it comes to teams in the AP Top 25 college football rankings, it still felt chaotic, and in a way that could shake up the rankings.
If there are two things that we can be sure of, though, it's that Texas A&M and Ole Miss are legitimate threats in the SEC. It's seemed like people have been slow to believe in the Aggies and that the Rebels' loss last week to Georgia soured some on them as well, but they responded with loud statements in Week 9 on Saturday. And when you look at teams like Alabama and Texas struggling mightily in the same conference against the bottom of the league, that's a feather in their respective caps.
But our job is to figure out what that all means for the AP Top 25 college football rankings. Did Texas A&M do enough to jump up? Will teams like Alabama, Texas, Oregon and many others drop despite not losing? There are a lot of questions to answer, and we're doing our best to project the rankings for Week 10.
Dropped out of rankings: LSU Tigers (20), Illinois Fighting Illini (23), Arizona State Sun Devils (24)
No. 25-21
25. Utah Utes
I initially believed that South Florida still had a chance to hang on as a Top 25 team, but then Utah took the field on Saturday night at Rice-Eccles against Colorado and I no longer feel the same. Even without Devon Dampier in this game, the Utes completely drubbed their longtime conference foes in Big 12 action, taking a 40-0 lead into halftime — not a typo. While Utah might not be the Big 12 favorite I believed they were coming into the season, they are as dangerous as any team in the conference.
24. Memphis Tigers
In what is surely going to be one of the highest-stakes and best Group of Five games we’ll see this season, it was Memphis that handed South Florida the tough loss on Saturday. The fight of this Tigers defense was on full display, as was the consistent big-play ability of Brendon Lewis in this offense. With the tiebreaker over USF now in-tow, Memphis is the driver’s seat to represent in the G5 in the CFB Playoff, but they have to avoid any landmines over the final few weeks of the season, and also be sure to secure the American title in early December.
23. USC Trojans
After taking a tough loss to Notre Dame last week in South Bend, USC was off on Saturday, but still moves back into the rankings. Point blank, the Trojans should be getting more credit than they are, even as a two-loss team, especially when you compare their résumé to the likes of a Tennessee or a Michigan — a team they already beat! — through this point in the season. That won’t happen entirely, but it should be enough to get USC back into the AP Top 25.
22. Houston Cougars
At long last, Houston is going to get their flowers. Willie Fritz’s team came into Week 9 with only one loss on the ledger, but still weren’t getting much respect at all in the way of national attention. They should get their due now after going on the road and delivering the death knell to the reigning Big 12 champion Sun Devils. Conner Weigman certainly played well, but Houston’s defense was the real star, coming up with one timely stop after another, and now cracking the rankings for the first time this season.
21. Texas Longhorns
It almost feels dirty to move Texas up a spot in the rankings considering that they needed a 17-point fourth-quarter comeback and an overtime out-of-bounds call to beat Mississippi State. Yet, here we are. Somehow, the Longhorns keep finding ways to win and retain their spot in the AP Top 25. In no way does it feel sustainable for another month in the season, especially with Georgia and A&M still ahead, but there is some credit due for still finding the win column.
No. 20-16
20. Missouri Tigers
Taking the loss at Vanderbilt was always a possibility, but it feels especially bad for Missouri after breakout star Beau Pribula was forced to leave Saturday’s game in an air cast after suffering a second-half injury. Credit to the Tigers for still hanging tough, particularly with a gritty defensive performance, but they simply didn’t have enough. The question now, however, is how they move forward with Pribula likely out for a long time.
19. Michigan Wolverines
Things are always going to get a bit wonky whenever you put Michigan and Michigan State on the same field, no matter how far apart the two teams are in a given season. What we saw on Saturday night in East Lansing was no different. However, we also saw the Wolverines’ blueprint to winning games against inferior competition. They bent but never broke. They delivered body blows throughout the game. And when they got their window, they put it out of reach. I’m still not sure what Michigan’s ceiling is, but the floor remains exceptionally high.
18. Louisville Cardinals
If you were looking, this was an obvious trap game for Louisville. Yes, Boston College has been downright awful this season, but the Cardinals were coming off the high of upsetting Miami and then had a sleepy night game against a bad opponent. That’s always dangerous, especially in conference play. But kudos to Jeff Brohm’s team for fighting through that to stave off the Eagles, especially with an incredible 200-yard rushing performance from Isaac Brown.
17. Oklahoma Sooners
We knew that Oklahoma would start to feel the weight of the body blows that the most difficult schedule in the country would deal out against them, and the loss to Ole Miss on Saturday certainly felt like a result of that in part. It should be said that the Rebels were able to put the OU defense on its heels in a way we really haven’t seen this season, which was surprising and too much for John Mateer and Co. to overcome. But in a close loss to a Top 10 team, you can only penalize the Sooners but so much.
16. Virginia Cavaliers
If it wasn’t for several teams ahead of Virginia previously losing, they absolutely would’ve dropped in the projected rankings. This is a team that already is perceived by many people as a paper tiger that all but affirmed that by getting into an overtime thriller with hapless North Carolina. The Cavaliers survived to keep a zero in the loss column in ACC play, but after what we saw in Chapel Hill, it’s getting harder to believe that continues for much longer if they keep playing with fire in such a manner.
No. 15-11
15. Cincinnati Bearcats
This is the week, especially with plenty of losses ahead of them, that Cincinnati could make a sizable jump up further into the AP Top 25 rankings. Not only have they kept along with their winning ways, but they just unfurled an emphatic win over a good, albeit imperfect Baylor team. Things are about to get far more difficult for the Bearcats with matchups at Utah and against BYU looming large, but we have no choice but to take Scott Sattefield’s team seriously at this point.
14. Tennessee Volunteers
The vibes for Tennessee were admittedly strange in the first half against Kentucky. Everything the Vols were getting was off of explosive plays, but the Wildcats weren’t letting them entirely pull away. The good news, though, is that changed after halftime, particularly with the Tennessee defense buckling up and putting the clamps on to run away with a big road victory in Lexington. Even with two SEC losses, the Vols are still laying in the weeds ready to strike as a real threat still in the conference.
13. Texas Tech Red Raiders
Coming off of the disheartening loss to ASU last week, you had to know that Texas Tech was going to be aiming to get things right against lowly Oklahoma State. And that’s exactly what the Red Raiders did in a 42-0 drubbing. While they were trying to recapture the good vibes, though, it was also obvious that Joey McGuire balanced that with keeping bullets in the chamber as two tough matchups at Kansas State and home for BYU await this Texas Tech team next.
12. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
On the heels of the big win over USC a week ago, Notre Dame got another bye and has to be feeling great about what’s ahead of them. The Fighting Irish have one of the most manageable schedules of any Top 25 team in the country remaining. They seem destined for the CFP barring a truly shocking upset loss, and that’s especially true when you consider their only two losses came to Miami and Texas A&M, two Top 10 teams, by a combined four points.
11. BYU Cougars
To put it as simply as possibly, things looked scary for BYU right up until they didn’t. After trailing by a touchdown at halftime, the Cougars put the pedal down behind Bear Bachmeier and simply didn’t look back after that. They outscored Iowa State in Ames by a count of 24-3 in the second half to secure a huge road victory that keeps them in line to take the Big 12’s autobid for the College Football Playoff. More importantly, though, it sets the stage for a titanic conference showdown with Texas Tech in two weeks after BYU’s bye.
No. 10-9
10. Miami Hurricanes
One of the biggest questions for a team midway through the season is how they get off the mat or respond to a loss that, frankly, shouldn’t have gone that way. That’s obviously what happened to Miami eight days prior to welcoming Stanford to Hard Rock Stadium, but the Canes came out and more than handled their business.
Let’s be clear, I’m not going to propose that Mario Cristobal hangs a banner for beating an admittedly bad Stanford team. At the same time, there have been Cristobal teams of yesteryear that absolutely would’ve crumbled in this exact spot. The fact that they didn’t speaks volumes about how valuable having someone like Carson Beck is for this offense, and also just how simply talented this defense is. Miami’s postseason hopes are far from dead at this point, and this was the response they needed to make you feel good about that.
9. Oregon Ducks
Especially with big wins by their neighbors in the AP Top 25, what we saw on Saturday night in Eugene was the last thing that Oregon needed to maintain its spot at No. 6 in the country. Instead, they allowed a previously lifeless Wisconsin team to keep hanging around and hanging around with the Ducks never pulling away. They never felt like they were in danger of losing but, in a parity-driven Top 10 in the rankings, the fact of the matter is that style points count, and Dan Lanning’s team isn’t exactly racking them up right now.
It’s also not out of the question for anyone to consider Oregon’s résumé at this point. Does the win over Penn State actually mean anything? The rest of the Ducks’ wins have come against teams that are going nowhere fast this season, which doesn’t create a ton of intrigue with this team. And, if we’re being honest, after what we saw against Wisconsin, this team’s trip to Iowa after the bye is a lot more interesting than anyone would’ve thought or even wants to admit.
No. 8-7
8. Vanderbilt Commodores
Run from it if you must, but we have to start considering the exceedingly real possibility that Vanderbilt is going to be in the College Football Playoff. After taking down LSU last week, the Dores once again answered the call, albeit in a much different game, against a talented Missouri team that was hungry. Yes, they did see Beau Pribula go down and leave the game for Mizzou in the second half, but against one of the country’s stingiest defenses, Diego Pavia and Co. found a way.
Offense was often hard to come by for Vandy, which in year’s past might’ve doomed them. But one thing that stands out about this iteration of the Commodores is that they have the defensive personnel and scheme to get into a rockfight and still prevail. Of course, things don’t let up for Vanderbilt, as they go on the road to face Texas next week with Auburn at home and on the road against rival Tennessee still on the schedule, but they’ve passed so many tests this season already, you’re a fool if you’re not taking this team seriously.
7. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Not that we’d seen anything from Syracuse since the Steve Angeli injury that would make you think the Orange would give Georgia Tech any real kind of scare, but it was impressive to see Brent Key’s team take the field as a heavy favorite with the pressure mounting as the current ACC favorites and answer the call. This Yellow Jackets team still isn’t perfect, but they know how to win and have more than enough talent to make that happen.
The path to a perfect conference record still looks quite enticing for this group, with road games against struggling NC State and Syracuse next up before finishing the ACC slate at home against Pitt. Getting to Charlotte still seems like the Jackets’ best path to the College Football Playoff, to be sure, but if they can finally knock off rival Georgia once again in the regular-season finale, people will start taking Georgia Tech seriously as an at-large candidate as well.
No. 6-5
6. Ole Miss Rebels
Amid the rumors that Lane Kiffin could be bound for Gainesville at season’s end, it was an impressive performance from Ole Miss on Saturday. Not only was this a team still licking its wounds after the loss to Georgia in a close one last week, but they had to stay on the road as they went to Norman. So to go to such an unfriendly environment and continue to produce offensively behind Trinidad Chambliss and come up with stops against John Mateer deserves a ton of credit.
Perhaps the best news for the Rebs is that this opens doors for them in a massive way to finally get into the CFB Playoff. Ole Miss has now completed the heart of their SEC schedule and came out with a win over LSU and Oklahoma along with the loss to Georgia. While a loss to South Carolina, Florida or Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl obviously won’t help their case, the fact that they have these quality wins under their belt gives them a résumé to possibly still sneak in if they were to finish 10-2 instead of 11-1, while the latter would all but make them a lock.
5. Georgia Bulldogs
After playing a rivalry game against Auburn on The Plains before the huge showdown with Ole Miss last week, it’s safe to say that Kirby Smart and Georgia earned themselves a bit of a break, and they got it on Saturday with a bye. That was scheduled strategically before they head down to Jacksonville next week for the Cocktail Party against rival Florida, but the schedule has largely opened up beautifully for this Bulldogs team.
That’s not to say they absolutely needed that, however. Georgia isn’t the world-beater of old that boa-constricts opponents with their defense and then slowly wears down the opposing defense as well. Gunner Stockton appears to be coming into his own as a pure playmaker with each week, especially as he builds a stronger rapport with the weapons around him. They have Florida and at Mississippi State in the next two weeks before welcoming Texas to Athens, which will be their last big test before an increasingly intriguing edition of Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate.
No. 4-3
4. Alabama Crimson Tide
There’s something in the water wherever Alabama matches up with South Carolina, because once again the Crimson Tide and Gamecocks engaged in an ugly affair with one another for the second straight year, and it’s fair to say that Kalen DeBoer and his team got a scare put into them. But with one late defensive stand and then a bit of late Germie Bernard touchdown, the Crimson Tide walked out of Columbia unscathed, but only barely.
There’s absolutely no reason to feel bad about Alabama surviving in a road SEC game against a team that’s admittedly underperformed this season. At the same time, though, it was concerning to see the struggles of this team when Ty Simpson isn’t just dotting up opposing defenses seemingly at will. If anything, this was a reminder that the Crimson Tide are, in fact, mortal, which makes things interesting going into the bye before playing LSU and Oklahoma in back-to-back weeks.
3. Texas A&M Aggies
When you look at how this game ended, it’s honestly kind of funny to think that Texas A&M was actually trailing by four points at halftime on the road against rival LSU. But Mike Elko and Collin Klein clearly made the right adjustments in the locker room, because they came out for the final two quarters and completely took it to the Tigers to give the Aggies their first win in Death Valley since the program joined the SEC.
Marcel Reed and the offense had their way in the second half, the defense was swarming everything LSU was trying to do with a fury, and A&M was even dominating their rivals on special teams. It was an all-out bloodbath in the third quarter, and things were simply done after that. The Aggies keep checking boxes week after week, especially as we continue to see this defense play up to its talent. If you’re not talking about them as a viable contender to win the SEC, you should probably start.
No. 2-1
2. Indiana Hoosiers
There were some people who, though they were stopping short of calling for UCLA to pull off an upset in Week 9 in Bloomington, thought that the upstart Bruins under new leadership might be able to at least put up a fight against Indiana. It was evident almost immediately that wouldn’t be the case as the Hoosiers took a pick-six to the house on Nico Iamaleava’s first pass of the day and then never looked back.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway is that Fernando Mendoza didn’t even need to be a world-beater — which, for him, means still throwing three touchdown passes — and Indiana still rolled to a 50-point victory. It was actually him and his brother, who came in as garbage-time relief, that kept pouring it on the Bruins. But it’s yet another week in which Indiana only seems to keep confirming that they’re not just a flash in the pan, but one of the best teams in the entire sport that are beelining toward Indianapolis for the Big Ten title game and the College Football Playoff thereafter.
1. Ohio State Buckeyes
Ohio State enjoyed a week off on Saturday after an admittedly tough road trip to Illinois and Wisconsin in back-to-back weeks. That’s all ahead of what was supposed to be a high-profile showdown with Penn State, but that, of course, looks far less daunting than it did several weeks ago with James Franklin out in Happy Valley, Drew Allar out for the season, and the Nittany Lions more or less cratering at this point.
Even if that weren’t the case, though, I’m not sure it would matter. While many are quick to point out a soft schedule for the Buckeyes to this point, they’ve been pure dominance to this point. Julian Sayin is playing like one of the best quarterbacks in the country, the defense under Matt Patricia is as ferocious as they come, and we all know about the Jeremiah Smith-led group of weapons. Trouble is waiting for Penn State next week, and that may well just be the case for anyone standing in Ohio State’s path.