Rankings and Ratings

October 15th

CBS Sports Rankings – Buffs down to No. 29

From CBS Sports … Ask any of the voters in the CBS Sports 129 balloting — ranking the FBS teams is never harder than in October. Preseason expectations or belief of what a team might be have to be thrown out at this point, but you can’t exactly rely exclusively on head-to-head results either. The transitive property leaves everyone’s brain spinning as you try to reconcile what to do with one-loss and two-loss teams occupying that upper crust of college football at the season’s midpoint.

LSU made one of the biggest jumps — but not the biggest, you can find that below — after its 20-point throttling of Georgia at home on Saturday, landing at No. 5 in this week’s edition of the CBS Sports 129. Taking down the then-undefeated and No. 2-ranked Bulldogs easily ranks as the best win of the season, but what’s mind-blowing is how differently the Tigers’ resume might look with a different result.

Breaking down LSU’s profile requires looking past comments like “three top-10 wins” and further evaluating the quality of those wins with more data from the 2018 season. On the same Saturday when LSU bolstered its top-five status, two of those “top-10” teams (Auburn and Miami) suffered losses that bounced them from the national rankings. LSU didn’t just need that win against Georgia to remain in the hunt for the SEC West, SEC championship and College Football Playoff, but to replace the Auburn and Miami as its best wins on the profile.

Similarly, what do we make of Ohio State’s win against TCU now that the Horned Frogs are in free-fall? Or what about Florida, who has wins against Tennessee (who beat Auburn), LSU and Mississippi State but an early season loss to Kentucky at home?

From the Pac-12 … 

12. Oregon

15. Washington

28. Washington State

29. Colorado 

30. Utah

33. Stanford

35. USC

52. Arizona State

85. Arizona

87. California

101. UCLA

106. Nebraska

108. Colorado State

119. Oregon State

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October 14th

Colorado falls out of AP top 25 … Hangs onto No. 25 spot in the USA Today/Coaches’ poll

From CBS Sports … Notre Dame and LSU had very different games in Week 7. The Fighting Irish needed a second-half rally to survive and advance over Pitt while LSU beat the doors off of Georgia in a SEC showdown. Either way, those two teams have rounded out the new top five in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll.

The Irish climbed one spot to No. 4 as they look to remain unbeaten and in the College Football Playoff hunt. LSU jumped eight spots, the most of any ranked team, all the way up to No. 5. The Tigers were previously No. 5 prior to their road loss at Florida in Week 6. Speaking of Georgia, the Bulldogs fell six spots to No. 8 and were leaped by Michigan and Texas, two teams that also made top-10 appearances in the newest coaches poll.

Ohio State and Clemson remain in the top four while Oklahoma and UCF round out the top 10. The teams with the biggest drops were a trio of former top-10 teams: West Virginia (-7), Washington (-8) and Penn State (-10), all of whom suffered losses on Saturday. Three new teams entered the top 25 on Sunday: Iowa, Michigan State and Washington State.

  1. Alabama
  2. Ohio State
  3. Clemson
  4. Notre Dame
  5. LSU
  6. Michigan
  7. Texas
  8. Georgia
  9. Oklahoma
  10. UCF
  11. Florida
  12. Oregon
  13. West Virginia
  14. Kentucky
  15. Washington
  16. NC State
  17. Texas A&M
  18. Penn State
  19. Iowa
  20. Cincinnati
  21. South Florida
  22. Mississippi State
  23. Wisconsin
  24. Michigan State
  25. Washington State

Others receiving votes: Stanford 71, San Diego St. 53, Southern Cal 53, Appalachian St. 51, Colorado 49, Utah St. 38, Miami 38, Utah 33, Duke 17, Texas Tech 8, Fresno St. 7, Houston 3, Maryland 2, Virginia 2.

USA Today/Coaches’ poll

1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Clemson
4. Notre Dame
5. LSU
6. Georgia
7. Michigan
8. Texas
9. UCF
10. Oklahoma
11. Oregon
12. Florida
13. West Virginia
14. Washington
15. NC State
16. Penn State
17. Kentucky
18. Texas A&M
19. Wisconsin
20. South Florida
21. Cincinnati
22. Iowa
23. Washington State
24. Stanford
25. Colorado

Others Receiving Votes: Miami (FL) (5-2) 124; Mississippi State (4-2) 110; Michigan State (4-2) 98; San Diego State (5-1) 71; Duke (5-1) 60; Appalachian State (4-1) 55; Utah State (5-1) 33; Utah (4-2) 32; USC (4-2) 25; Houston (5-1) 7; Fresno State (5-1) 6; South Carolina (3-3) 5; Virginia (4-2) 4; Auburn (4-3) 4; Army West Point (4-2) 4; Virginia Tech (4-2) 3; Iowa State (3-3) 3; North Texas (6-1) 3; Boston College (5-2) 1; Texas Tech (4-2) 1; UAB (5-1) 1; Buffalo (6-1) 1

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2 Replies to “Rankings and Ratings”

  1. Rankings and Ratings and other stuff oh my.
    Mighty Buffs play…..sometime……..
    Rankings ap–cp
    USC……Wash…….ASU…….Cal………WSU
    Pre season….15-15……5-5
    Week 2……….17-12….9-11
    Week 3……….22-21….10-12……23-25
    Week 4………………….10-12.
    Week 5………………….11-11………………..24-NR
    Week 6………………….10-10……..
    Week 7…………………..7-7
    Week 8………………..15-14……………………………….25-23

    Okay week 8 WSU 23 and Mighty Buffs 25 CP. lets play eh?

    Strength of schedule not good eh.

    1 and 1 vs any team ranked at any time in eit her poll
    6 games left. 3 against teams ranked at any time in either poll 2 of those are at home

    Certainly as the chipppppers whine, Mickey will get 9 and 3 at a minimum. BELIEVE THE POLLSTERS. Hope it can happen eh?

    Buffs.

    Note: Fairly poor HC and O coaching job. D coaching continues to shine.

  2. Washington falls 7 or 8 spots after an OT loss to the ducks?
    West VA still hanging in there after getting their butts kicked by Iowa St.?
    Maybe we should split the rankings up west and east of the Mississippi River.

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