Thursday
25Oct2007
CFR's 2007-2008 Top Teams List: Week Eight
Thursday, October 25, 2007 at 09:33AM As always these are power rankings
- LSU - By a hair over No. 2 . . .
- Florida - Improving by the week, finding a way to win on offense and defense
- Oregon (+1) - LSU can have Gary Crowton as I think the Ducks like their new offensive coordinator
- Auburn (+5) - Scorching hot. Got worn down a bit in the second half by LSU but clearly this is a team with its act together after stumbling out of the gates. Power rankings love a team like this.
- Kentucky (+2) - Toppled LSU and hung tough the very next week against Florida. This is a good football team, but now they have to avoid letdowns.
- Oklahoma - In a bit of disarray at the moment. Having lightweight Iowa State on the schedule on their bad week is a saving grace.
- Ohio State (+1) - Big Ten coaches continue to rave about the Buckeye defense. We'll see ...
- USF (-3) - This is probably a more appropriate position for the Bulls who are good but not yet elite.
- West Virginia (+1) - Have quietly gotten back to their winning routine after a disastrous showing against USF several weeks back.
- Boston College (+1) - Ho hum. Eventually they'll get some scares, as you can't go an entire year without B.J. Raji and Brian Toal and not suffer some breakdowns on the defensive side of the ball.
- California (-8) - They're not themselves right now.
- Missouri (+1) - Still waiting for that collapse.
- USC (+1) - Here comes the meat of the schedule. Mistake-prone but the offensive parts are finally revealing themselves with McKnight, Johnson, Havili, Hazelton, Davis and Johnson. Recruiting!
- Kansas (+1) - Facing opponents with a pulse they're no longer dominant. Winning will suffice in the meantime.
- Arizona State (NEW) - The loss of the great Ryan Torain hurts, but the defense has been a revalation to this point.
- - - L u r k i n g - - -
(In no particular order) Texas, Rutgers, Illinois, Boise State, Virginia, Michigan, Kansas State
- - - O u t - - -
Cicinnati, South Carolina
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Reader Comments (9)
To tell you the truth though, LSU, Florida, Kentucky and Auburn have demonstrated over the last few weeks they're all playing at about the same level.
Combine that with this year there just not being many quality teams ... whoever's better than "good" is going to be up there. I keep trying to find a way to get USC out of my top 15 but who else is there, ya know?
If they miraculously get well then they can break that SEC thing up a bit, same with Cal and whatever funk they're in, maybe Oklahoma picks it up.
Anyway, the difference between myself and the SEC hacks/honks is that I don't proclaim any kind of superiority. Much of the SEC is quite average and I really don't see Vanderbilt as some proof of the greatness of the conference. I've seen them play, they're just a team that's there when the shakier "good" SEC teams like South Carolina have a bad day. More vulture than hunter/predator if you will.
AMEN AMEN AMEN
If USF were to play Auburn...uhhh...USF would win. Isn't that a power ranking?
Since then, their offense has improved although it's still not great and the defense is probably the best in the country at the moment (at worst top five).
So if USC played Stanford right now, do you think Stanford would win?
Look, college football is going to produce some weird results. Power rankings help balance out some of the weird results and attempt to get a bigger picture of what exactly a team is.
The Auburn team that started the year was playing crap football. The USF team that started the year was playing great football. In the weeks since, USF's dropped off a bit and teams are finding ways to slow them down and even beat them. I still think they're one of the elite so they're definitely in my rankings here, but I'm hard pressed to find many teams that can beat Auburn right now.
It literally took that ridiculous play by LSU to beat them, they did a great job against Florida and snuck out of there with a win. That's a hell of a team right now and one I'm quite comfortable putting ahead of USF given what they're doing.
As always, things can change. Teams don't remain static week-to-week, and it's insane to rank teams as if that were the case. If Auburn's level of play drops off and USF returns to form a bit, maybe their positions will switch.
2. Florida
5. Kentucky
8. USF
11. California
13. USC
All lost. Boston College, Kansas, and Arizona St are all going to have to get some love.
So what's the point of playing the games if you just rank them on what you think will happen, or would happen a second time? I don't get it. Stanford and USC played, on USC's field, and Stanford won. Why play a what if game?