1 Miami
2 Georgia
3 Utah
4 BYU
5 Notre Dame
6 Kentucky
7 UCLA
8 Ole Miss
9 Indiana
10 Alabama
11 Wake Forest
12 Texas Tech
13 Texas
14 Ohio St
15 LSU
16 Missouri
17 Arizona
18 Tennessee
19 Houston
20 New Mexico
21 Boise St
22 Iowa
23 USC
24 Northwestern
25 Florida
Others getting votes: South Carolina
Added: USC, Iowa
Dropped: Oklahoma St, SMU
Biggest Winners: New Mexico (5), Texas Tech (3)
Biggest Losers: Ohio St (12), Florida (7), Arizona (4)
This week was the eye of the storm, a calm in between the chaos of previous weeks and the most consequential week I’ve seen in quite a long time. Miami escapes again but still pull out a win over a sneaky solid UNC team. Georgia smokes Florida. Utah smokes Cincy. BYU takes a bye and Notre Dame has a slow start vs Navy. Nothing really changed in my eyes between these teams this week. Kentucky also gets a bye while UCLA basically gets a bye week vs Nevada. There was a slight moment where I thought about sliding Notre Dame below these two but that would’ve out of spite more than anything so I didn’t. Ole Miss smokes Auburn. Indiana has to hit a 60 yard field goal after Minnesota hits a 60 yard field goal just to force OT, I’ve been wanting to drop them for a couple weeks now but losses around them wouldn’t let me. Not this week. They had the backup QB save the day but its just too many ugly slim wins for me to think that highly of them. Thought about sliding Alabama over them too but with the 2 losses I just couldn’t bring myself to do that. Wake keeps demolitions of teams going vs UVA, could they make a run at the playoffs?? They look legit. Texas Tech slaps in ineligible but eligible Tommy Castellanos at QB and Tech runs all over Arizona, quite the box score in that game. But they do pull off a big win, enough to push them over hot and cold Texas. Texas beats MS St who has a walk on freshman playing QB right now. Ohio St looked very poor against a not strong USC team, I am not sure Feahy is the option there, their schedule does not get easier. LSU has a bye and Mizzou embarrasses Arkansas so no need to shuffle them around. So glad to see Ahmad Hardy back. Arizona losses to TTU, but I just think they are better than Tennessee at this stage of the season. Houston bye week. We have a new G6 leader in the NMP in New Mexico, really due to the slippage of Boise St the past few weeks, blow a 28-3 lead to then come back from double digits down to win by 1. Both I think have their ceiling, just not enough meat on the bone from a schedule standpoint to see them moving higher, they would have to start destroying teams to really see a change upward in rankings. Iowa pulls Wisconsin’s pants down and shuts them out 30-0, so they come back in the top 25, USC also hops back in with the win over Ohio St, I am giving them less credit than I normally would just due to the backup QB effect. Northwestern sees a big road win slip through their hands over Oregon, still a really solid team to me. Florida rounds out the 25 as the lone 3 loss team. Their wins carry the day for them. HUGE week incoming, I am expecting this week’s rankings to be completely obliterated, but man am I looking forward to it. This is what college football is about. SEVEN ranked vs ranked NMP games…
Heisman Rankings:
1 Darian Mensah, Miami
2 Malachi Toney, Miami
3 Jeremiah Smith, Ohio St
4 Trinidad Chambliss, Ole Miss
Hard to deny what the Miami guys have done this year. Both are putting up insane numbers, giving the edge to Mensah really because he’s the QB, 80% completion percentage speaks for itself. Jeremiah rounds out the top 3, basically identical numbers to Toney but with the backup now playing for Ohio St, I have less faith in him being able to put up numbers. Just outside of the top 3 is Trinidad, obviously an electric player, has that “bad” game vs Texas but also doesn’t have the numbers that Mensah does. Would not be shocked if he plays his way up the ranking, would be shocked if one of these 4 don’t win the Heisman.
Key Games:
4 BYU @ 3 Utah
7 UCLA @ Minnesota
13 Texas @ 16 Mizzou
10 Alabama @ 15 LSU
Oregon @ 14 Ohio St
Cincy @ 19 Houston
6 Kentucky @ 18 Tennessee
1 Miami @ 5 Notre Dame
2 Georgia @ 8 Ole Miss
22 Iowa @ 24 Northwestern