We are down to 13 undefeated teams in college football and only 8 from the Power 5 conferences. The biggest news from week 6 was the toppling of Alabama at the hands of Texas A&M. On the bright side, this prevents an unwanted scenario where the Tide and Georgia face off in the SEC Championship with basically nothing on the line.
Let’s take a look at the latest Top 20 poll from 18 Stripes.
18 Stripes Top 20 Poll
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | RESULT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Georgia (+1) | 6-0 | 34-10 W at Auburn |
| 2 | Iowa (+2) | 6-0 | 23-20 W vs. Penn St. |
| 3 | Cincinnati (+2) | 5-0 | 52-3 W vs. Temple |
| 4 | Oklahoma (+2) | 6-0 | 55-48 W vs. Texas |
| 5 | Alabama (-4) | 5-1 | 41-38 L at Texas A&M |
| 6 | Penn State (-3) | 5-1 | 23-20 L at Iowa |
| 7 | Oregon | 4-1 | BYE |
| 8 | Ohio State | 5-1 | 66-17 W vs. Maryland |
| 9 | Michigan (+1) | 6-0 | 32-29 W at Nebraska |
| 10 | Oklahoma State (+1) | 5-0 | BYE |
| 11 | Coastal Carolina (+1) | 6-0 | 52-20 W at Arkansas St. |
| 12 | Wake Forest (+1) | 6-0 | 40-37 W at Syracuse |
| 13 | Notre Dame (+1) | 5-1 | 32-29 W at Virginia Tech |
| 14 | Michigan State (+1) | 6-0 | 31-13 W at Rutgers |
| 15 | Kentucky (+5) | 6-0 | 42-21 W vs. LSU |
| 16 | Arizona State (+1) | 5-1 | 28-10 W vs. Stanford |
| 17 | Ole Miss (+1) | 4-1 | 52-51 W vs. Arkansas |
| 18 | BYU (-9) | 5-1 | 26-17 L vs. Boise St. |
| 19 | Florida (NR) | 4-2 | 42-0 W vs. Vanderbilt |
| 20 | UTSA (NR) | 6-0 | 52-46 W at Western Kentucky |
I guessed Georgia would be the one who would be upset this past weekend and whoops that ended up being Alabama right after I just talked about them possibly breaking the modern-era record for most wins in a row. Now, we get pissed of Bama!
Only Vanderbilt and Colorado remain worse than Iowa in offensive yards per play and yet the Hawkeyes pull out yet another close win. How much longer can it last?
Oklahoma benched their 5-star recruit for an even better 5-star recruit and it paid off handsomely in an epic comeback versus Texas. Caleb Williams threw for 212 yards, ran for 88 yards, while scoring 3 total touchdowns. As the kids say, sheeeeesh!
For a while, it seemed like Nebraska was on the cusp of upsetting Michigan and spreading joy all throughout the country. Sometimes the bad guy wins, though.
Wake Forest sidestepped an upset inside the Carrier Dome to remain undefeated.
LSU has fallen to 3-3 on the season with (checks notes) 5 more currently ranked teams remaining on their schedule. Those boosters need to get started on collecting buyout funds for Ed Orgeron.
Also falling to 3-3 on the year is Stanford and you hate to see it.
Ole Miss hung on in a wild one over Arkansas which featured the Hogs going for the 2-point conversion with time expired and the win. Unfortunately, their line didn’t block very well and it forced a poor throw and incompletion.
Clark Lea has been out-scored in his first 2 SEC games by a combined score of 104-0. I’m sure he didn’t expect to be setting these kinds of school records in his first year.
OUT: Arkansas, Auburn
A pair of SEC teams drop out of our rankings this week due to their recent losses. As it happens, they face each other on Saturday.
Week 7 Games to Watch
Last Week: 2-4
Overall: 23-21
UCF (+20.5) at Cincinnati
Oh baby, I know UCF is a bit of a shell of themselves without their star quarterback but this is a crap ton of points for programs with very similar talent levels. This also should be Cincinnati’s toughest home game for a good long while (SMU comes up on November 20th) and I’m expecting a tight game. Bearcats win 27-16.
Michigan State (-4.5) at Indiana
Last call for Indiana being a relevant team in 2021. Although this does feel like one of those dumb B1G losses for a team like MSU I’m torn by the fact that Indiana quarterback Michael Penix is either hurt and/or maybe not that good. Michigan State is also sneaky good in a way virtually no one was expecting. Spartans win 33-24.
Oklahoma State (+5.5) at Texas
So, the Horns have to pick themselves up after *that* loss last week and host one of the remaining undefeated teams in the country and a stumbling block to their hopes of ever getting back into the Big 12 title race. I actually like the rebound here for Texas and their more potent offense. Longhorns win 39-27.
Auburn (+3.5) at Arkansas
The Arkansas offense came back to life last week after being subjected to the darkness that is Georgia. However, I’m a little concerned that the Hogs’ defense is getting more exposed as SEC play continues with 89 points surrendered over the last 2 games. A team like Auburn isn’t going to pour on the points it seems but I do like the road upset nonetheless. Tigers win 29-28.
Florida (-10) at LSU
Last week was an especially ugly loss for LSU who have now given up at least 20 points in 5 out of 6 games including a season-high 42 to Kentucky. The Tigers are also having a tough time running the ball and that’s bad news facing a visiting Florida team with all sorts of weapons on the ground. Gators win 34-19.
Kentucky (+23.5) at Georgia
A top 15 matchup according to 18 Stripes and Georgia has this game acting like a MAC team is coming to Sanford Stadium. I’m going to keep hammering away on the Dawgs having a really bad day on offense until I end up being right, damn it. Bulldogs win 26-13.
BYU (+6) at Baylor
We still have BYU ranked but I don’t think they are that good this year and certainly a step or two worse than last year. Baylor is right there in the mix for the Big 12 title and this begins an absolutely brutal stretch of games through mid-November that will define their season. I like Sic ‘Em to hold on but just barely. Bears win 41-39.
I’d rank Oregon the highest of the 1-loss teams at this point. Their win over Ohio State in Columbus is rapidly being forgotten, which I think is (1) unfair and (2) disincentivizes high-quality scheduling, which is exactly the opposite of what this sport needs.
100%
Big time out of conference early season bout? More of those please, and winning in Columbus, especially as a west coast team is massive!
It’s the classic judging teams on who has the best loss, not the best win. At least 18S has Oregon ahead of tOSU, unlike the AP poll.
I don’t think anyone wants a ranking based on just best win, right? Outside of that win, Oregon’s resume is pretty light so far.
Why would you exclude that one win from your analysis though?
I did?
Well, what does “outside of that win” mean? That win is 20% of Oregon’s games to this point, and again, it is far and away the best win of the 1-loss teams.
It means I’m not just looking at one game. It appears, you just want to look at one game/win.
Yes, they have the best win of the 1-loss teams. They also have a pretty bad loss, haven’t looked great at all in their other non-OSU games, and they’re maybe the most overrated team in that mix according to the advanced stats.
It all matters, not just the OSU win.
Is PSU’s resume good so far?
Define good?
Exactly
This seems like that thing where people have this historical version of what the No. 6 team in the country should look like in their head at this point in the season and if the current team doesn’t meet that it’s a problem.
Maybe it’s a down and weird year so PSU doesn’t seem that good. Could be true, but you still have to rank the teams and argue for and against each one in a way that isn’t just about one game right?
I would argue you don’t have to rank the teams. It’s just the way it’s always been done.
That said, don’t stop these articles. It keeps us up to date on what has been happening outside of ND, so I always appreciate the effort. And most importantly, what else would we argue about in the middle of the week after ND wins?
In general, I hate that the coaches and AP polls come out every week. They just take the old one and say, so and so lost, they move down, everyone else moves up, with an occasional big win getting a few spot jump. No one in those polls ever stops and actually assesses the actual quality or accomplishments of the teams. Fortunately, you and the playoff committee do.
The rankings that I hate most are NFL power rankings. Talk about the stupidest creation of all time. There is no more useless thing in the world. Just a way to sell magazines.
That’s why the playoff rankings have been a breath of fresh air because they are willing to re-analyze things from week to week.
They also beat Fresno State by 7 and led FCS Stony Brook, who is 1-4 in FCS games so far, only 17-7 at the half before pulling away. Plus the loss to 3-3 Stanford… As Eric alluded to, the advanced stats really don’t like them – they’re 39th in SP+, 21st in FEI, and 15th in FPI. Alabama is 3rd, 2nd, and 2nd, respectively. Penn State is 6th, 7th, and 12th. Georgia is the clear #1. After that everyone has warts, for the most part significant warts, and exactly who should slot where becomes pretty challenging.
And so on. After Georgia you could pretty much toss the next eight or ten teams up in the air and go with any order they come down in.
I don’t think it’s being forgotten at all. It’s what’s keeping Oregon from being much lower in the rankings.
That doesn’t make much sense to me. Oregon has unquestionably the best win of the 1-loss teams, therefore, they are a middle of the pack 1-loss team that could easily be much lower?
Oregon lost their best RB, I wonder if that’s factoring in. If you’re not going strictly on schedule and looking at the strength of the team right now and moving forward, I could see the case for having Oregon down a bit.
Do agree though that there’s some inherent silliness to ranking them below a team they recently just beat (in their house, too). But the Ducks kinda opened the door to that by losing themselves.
Glad to see this argument get settled last night
Do Michigan next
If only…
Meep meep.