1) Auburn (8-0) – Auburn just beat AP No. 6 LSU 24-17. Auburn is the only team in the AP top 25 to have 3 wins over ranked teams (South Carolina, Arkansas and now LSU, all from the SEC). Auburn has also played the toughest schedule force (24) among all undefeated teams. Oregon has beaten only one Top 25 team: Stanford.
2) Oregon (7-0) – Beat UCLA 60-13. It has beaten exactly one Top 25 team: Stanford. He visits Southern California (5-2) next and must win big or lose the position.
3) Michigan State (8-0) – Still undefeated with a Top 25 win – Wisconsin. He got the victory on the road over the high-powered Northwestern offense. He now ranks fifth in both the AP and Coaches polls. He is due to travel to Iowa this week and must win or lose third place.
4) Wisconsin (7-1): It has lost only to Michigan State and is claiming something only one other higher-ranked team can say: It has beaten two ranked teams: Ohio State and now Iowa in a road game. Can you believe NO other ranked team has more than one win against a currently ranked team? I think that makes the Badgers better than all the other unbeaten teams, who have racked up wins against a lot of unranked teams. The next game is at Purdue.
5) Missouri (7-0) – Just delivered an impressive 36-27 win over BCS number one-ranked Oklahoma. The Tigers have played the second toughest schedule strength (30) among the 7 remaining undefeated teams in major college football. With no rest for Missouri, the Tigers take on the Cornhuskers in Nebraska this week.
6) Boise State (6-0) – Inactive this week. Only here because the Broncos are undefeated and have a win over a ranked team: Virginia Tech (6-2), which isn’t a big deal. The next opponent is Louisiana Tech, which is ranked 81st.
7) TCU (8-0) – Beats a pretty good Air Force team 38-7. He remains undefeated, and the Horned Frogs can finally say they’ve beaten at least one ranked team, the Baylor Bears (6-2), who now rank 25th in the AP Poll. Next, travel to UNLV, a truly remorseful team ranked 143rd out of 120 Division 1-A schools. No wonder TCU is 8-0.
8) Utah (8-0) – Just pummeled a terrible Colorado State team 59-6. Only here because the Utes are undefeated; They haven’t beaten a ranked team yet, mainly because they’re not playing any team worth talking about. Travel to the Air Force next. They better beat the Falcons like TCU did or I’ll demote them in a heartbeat.
Disclaimer: Out of the following 17 ranked teams, you should know that ONLY 7 of them have ever beaten a ranked team.
9) Alabama (7-1): Just beat Tennessee 41-10 in a road game. The mighty Crimson Tide have yet to beat a currently ranked team. They get their chance this week when they travel to LSU (5-2). Alabama may be the best one-loss team in the country, but we don’t know that. We will inform you next week.
10) LSU (7-1) – Just lost to Auburn and may be ranked too high. The next host is Alabama and they simply have to win to stay that high in the standings.
11) Oklahoma (6-1): Couldn’t beat 18th-ranked Missouri on the road. Has a win over a ranked team, Florida State. Gets Colorado below.
12) Nebraska (6-1) – Handed Oklahoma State its first loss. The Missouri hosts are next and they better be ready to fight to the death. Let’s settle this right now about who’s better: Oklahoma or Nebraska.
13) Stanford (7-1): Beat Washington State 38-28 in a weak performance on the road. Washington hosts this week, a good benchmark team as the Huskies have beaten Southern Cal and Oregon State. The Cardinal needs to catch up with the Huskies to show they really are 7-1 and not a fraud as a Pac-10 contender. Stanford has also beaten USC, a ranked team.
14) Arizona (6-1) – Just upset Washington 44-14. Travel to UCLA this week. The Bruins, like the Washington Huskies, are an up-and-down team trying to achieve consistency. It’s hard to say how good the Wildcats are right now. Arizona has a win over Iowa, a ranked team.
15) South Carolina (5-2) – Barely beat Vanderbilt, who says nothing. They have beaten Alabama and played a much tougher schedule than Florida State. The next host is Tennessee.
16) Florida State (6-1) – Inactive this week. Miami-FL, a classified team, has been beaten. He travels to North Carolina State (5-2) next, should win big.
17) Ohio State (7-1) – Eliminate Purdue 49-0. He seems very serious, but then he travels to Minnesota, a very weak sister, so who really knows? The Buckeyes’ schedule strength is 72, and it will be worse after beating Minnesota. Ohio State must finally face Iowa and Michigan before the season ends. Ohio State has a win over Miami-FL, a ranked team.
18) Iowa (5-2): I was just upset by Wisconsin 31-30. Yes, the Badgers are bigger, better, and badder. Host Michigan State next with a chance to upset the Spartans. We’ll see if the Hawkeyes have what it takes. They have yet to win over a ranked team.
19) Oklahoma State (6-1) – Lost to Nebraska 51-41 in a shootout and lost their perfect record. So how good are the Cowboys? I don’t know. It seems they have an offense and no defense. They have yet to win over a ranked team. He travels to Kansas State (5-2) next and he better be ready or he’ll lose. The Wildcats have only lost to Nebraska (6-1) and Baylor (6-2), which jumped into the AP Poll this week at 25th.
20) Southern California (5-2) – Inactive this week. They lost to Washington and Stanford by a combined 3 points. They have yet to win over a ranked team. He’s had two weeks to prepare for the Oregon Ducks’ visit this week. This game will tell us a lot about Southern Cal, and even more so about Oregon, which has only beaten one ranked team this year (Stanford).
21) Baylor (6-2) – Should be better than the Kansas State Wildcats 5-2, the Bears just beat them 47-42. Travel to Texas next. That should be interesting since Texas has lost at home for the third time this year and is 4-3. Texas is not in my poll this week, they have too many losses. It’s like coming to our place and beating us.
22) Mississippi State (6-2): Lost to Auburn and LSU, but beat Georgia and Florida. Squeaked by the UAB this week 29-24. Six wins is a lot for the Bulldogs, who haven’t won that many since 2007. Maybe the Bulldogs have more gas in the tank. They host Kentucky this week and they need to win to stay here.
23) Hawaii (6-2): Just got a nice road win over Utah State 45-7. It’s not that Utah State is a big deal, it’s that the Warriors’ only losses are to USC and Colorado. They’ve beaten Nevada and now host Idaho in a must-win situation.
24) Nevada (6-1) – Was undefeated until the Wolf Pack faced Hawaii. The biggest victory was over California. Next up, they host Utah State and they need to win big.
25) Northwestern (5-2) – Any team that can nearly beat Michigan State has something to do, and frankly, I’m tired of other 5-2 teams, including Arkansas, Kansas State, West Virginia, Michigan, Syracuse, East Carolina , Marina and Miami-FL.
Six of the 7 unbeaten teams have road games this week, and there’s a good chance one or more will suffer their first loss. After all, the team ranked No. 1 in the last three weeks has lost the following week on the road.
Copyright © 2010 Ed Bagley
