Chris "Rankman" Dufresne's top 25 college football teams

Rankman cleaned house with the extra time he had this week not having to move USC below Oregon in his rankings order. Anyone else already have Oregon ahead? Nothing personal, Trojans, but we had seen both defenses play. We originally ruled on the field that Iowa’s knee was down at No. 12, but the Big Ten replay crew overturned it and placed the team inside the 10. And, remember kids, have an ophthalmologist picked out in advance before jumping into a pile with Florida’s Brandon Spikes.

1; Texas 8-0; Looks like clear sailing until a stunning upset loss at Texas A&M. (No. 1 last week)

2; Florida 8-0; Gator rules: Eye gouge: one-game suspension: Maiming: extra wind sprints. (2)

3; Cincinnati 8-0; Tony Pike’s injury has slowed team’s progress down to a grinding sprint. (3)

4; Boise State 8-0; Second best Friday night show after “Washington Week with Gwen Ifill.” (4)

5; Oregon 7-1;Shaken ABC cameraman not ready to talk about trying to keep Masoli in frame. (5)

6; Alabama 8-0; No one can dispute huge away wins against…three loss Virginia Tech and Mississippi?  (6)

7; Texas Christian 8-0; Maybe being “Frogs” is reason team can’t draw flies for home games. (7)

8; Iowa 9-0; Somebody is definitely watching over this team…from the replay box? (9)

9; Georgia Tech 8-1; Never thought Jackets could knock jeans off of the Gloria Vanderbilts. (10)

10; Louisiana State 7-1; Plot to kidnap Alabama’s kicker foiled by cop in houndstooth hat. (12)

11; USC 6-2; Appeared last Saturday the Trojans had 11 true freshmen on defense. (8)

12; Houston 7-1; Police have given up the search for the “y” in Case Keenum’s first name. (13)

13; Penn State 8-1; Rose Bowl unveils “Operation Cantankerous” just in case Paterno comes back. (14)

14; Miami 6-2; Rankman would rig a BCS computer to get Miami/Notre Dame in Orange Bowl. (16)

15; Ohio State 7-2; If only New Mexico State had been opponent in those BCS title games. (18)

16; Utah 7-1; Alabama threatens restraining order if Utes moves any closer in the polls. (20)

17; Oklahoma 5-3; Instead of playing Nebraska, schools will watch an old game on scoreboard. (19)

18; Oklahoma State 6-2; Owner Pickens has reached his “Austin City limit” on losing to Texas. (11)

19; Arizona 5-2; Controls own Pac-10 destiny…and when have you ever heard that? (24)

20; Pittsburgh 7-1; Panthers deserve to be higher? Oh cry me three rivers. (25)

21; Virginia Tech 5-3; Dean Wormer considers putting Hokies on double secret ranking probation (15)

22; Notre Dame 6-2; WR Floyd returns just in time to swab deck against Navy.  (22).

23; California 6-2; “Jersey” Jeff Tedford gets off mat after gut punches from Oregon and USC. (NR)

24; Brigham Young 6-2; Twenty-five players enjoyed bye week by renewing their wedding vows. (NR)

25; Oregon State 5-3; Any team that holds off UCLA deserves to be ranked last in some poll. (NR)

Dropped out: Mississippi (23), West Virginia (21), South Carolina (17),

Moved in: California, Oregon State, Brigham Young.

Don't like the rankings? What would you change? Leave a comment and Chris Dufresne will respond.

-- Chris Dufresne

Photo: Earl Thomas of the Texas Longhorns runs for a touchdown after an interception in the third quarter against Oklahoma State. Credit: Ronald Martinez, Getty Images.

Comments

[john M. Hingst]

Typical, Iowa will never get any respect from the national press. It’s against their nature. Joe Paterno of Penn State said he always voted for Hayden Fry as coach of the year in the Big 10 because what Fry was able to accomplish with the talent he had to work with.

Kirk Ferentz has continued Fry's tradition, but his teams like Fry's teams will never get any respect from the national press.

In the Indiana game the ESPN announcers were calling for Ferentz to pull Ricky Stanzi then he turns the Iowa offense around and they change their tune. The national press just does not like teams that come from "no where".

I watched Texas on ABC the last two weekends. They played two teams that never once threaten to spoil Texas' day. Exactly who Texas has played besides Oklahoma Sooners? They probably would have lost if Sam Bradford had been his 2008 self.

I could go on about Florida and Alabama but why waste any more of my time. These teams have the national press behind them. I have one question to ask who have they played.

[Chris Dufresne]

John: Texas just beat Oklahoma State, ranked No.13 in the nation, on the road. the socre was 41-14
Iowa needed six miracles to beat unranked Indiana, at home.

it was Iowa's coach, Kirk Ferentz who said "are you kidding me?" when he found out Iowa was no.1 in the computers..

[Brian Hodges]

Why should Northern Iowa.. I mean Iowa, get any respect. They'll be a multiple loss team by seasons end, unless of course the Big 10 continues to smuggle SEC officials into their games.

Oregon was my preseason pick to win the PAC-10, and have not disappointed. I also picked Boise to beat them in Week 1. Can you imagine Craig James and Mark May preaching to the masses that every week in college football is a playoff, that every game counts.... except that is, or seems, for the Broncos and Ducks. Can you imagine when a playoff format does come into play, what power will these men have. We're going to see an undefeated Boise team this year out of a BCS game while a team they beat plays for the Roses, if not the National Championship. Every game counts Mark and Craig??? Sure.

Cincinnatti will not survive the Big East. Texas will destroy the 12. Florida will win out the SEC and brag about their strength of schedule... the same schedule of course that boasts of not one road win versus a non-conference opponent. Strong indeed. The SEC has always been boring. A bunch of stale offenses that beat up on each other all year and do not generally play anyone else of note until December and January. Why travel out of the south? You might lose.

TCU has the best defense in the land, Oregon the best offense. The Gators have the best college player in the nation, Boise State has the best team in play. It's wonderful to watch. I would miss the Bowls. They've been a part of all of us, our holidays, since we were born. And yet, a playoff I would miss them for.

[kooo]

I'll answer that question: Squaaadoosh.

[356man]

Gee, Mr. Hingst, Alabama has defeated 3 ranked teams. Who beyond Penn State has Iowa defeated? Rankman has been rank all year. Cincinnati? Puleeeze.

[Son of Tebow]

Iowa fans rooting hard for Gators to lose.
Gator fans rooting hard for Iowa to move into No. 2 by season's end.

Reality:

Ohio State will smoke Iowa, probably in the 27-10 range.

[Sam Magee]

Mississippi State has already played Ga. Tech, LSU, Florida, Houston and plays Alabama in 10 days. The toughest schedule in the country this year.

[JM]

With some of the "extra time" you had maybe you should have done a little research before talking trash about TCU. Not that you care about facts, but if you are going to trash someone's home attendance figures why don't you start with Cincinnati, which averages 1453 LESS per home game than TCU does. Of course it wouldn't be fashionable to talk bad about a BCS cartel member would it. And while your at it, a little research would show you that TCU also averages more for home games than Boise State does.
Just to help you out for next week, go ahead and mention that TCU has the #1 ranked defense in the nation... for the second year in a row.

[Matt Rogers]

This is ridiculous. Alabama at #6? Florida at #2 behind Texas? I would love to see Texas and anybody else come into the SEC and win 8 straight games. If Texas played a schedule like Mississippi State's, then they'd be sitting at best 5-3 praying for a bowl game. And I'm tired of even seeing USC in the top 25.

[Chris Dufresne]

@matt rogers.....watch your over-puffery of the SEC. It's not looking THAT great this year.

Vandy, Miss State? (shoot, Houston had no problems winning there.)...Kentucky? Ole Miss? a complete fraud. Tennessee? getting better but lost to UCLA, which is now 0-5 in the Pac-10.
Auburn? not there yet?
LSU. Solid not great?
Georgia? completely mediocre this year. should have lost to Arizona State in Athens, and ASU is in the bottom half of Pac-10.

should I stop now or is that enough?

chris dufresne

[Mike in SD]

Chris: What JM said.

Matt Rogers: Do we in the Mountain West Conference have to once again expose the SEC for what it is to make you see the light?? If you don't know, better go ask Tennessee and Alabama.

[Smitty]

How can Oklahoma be ranked ahead of BYU when the Sooners lost to the Cougars?

How can Georgia Tech be ranked ahead of Miami when the Yellow Jackets lost to the 'Canes?

How can Houston be ranked ahead of UTEP when the Cougars lost to the Broncos, er, Miners?

[Chris Dufresne]

Smitty: I'm careful about rewarding head to head matchups but that's only if everything else is equal

BYU got blown out TWICE at home...Oklahoma has lost three games by five points to BYU, Miami and Texas..

G tech vs. Miami? ok, that's a close one. Miami has two losses to GT's one.

And Houston over UTEP...you're right, that's outrageous!!

rankman

[TL]

Hey 356man - Who has IA beat? Try 3 ranked teams (PSU, UW, AZ) all by double digits, two of them on the road. Toughest schedule of any top 10 team.

Go Hawks!

[alan harris]

Have you lost your mind Alabama Should be at least number 2. Who has Boise and Cincinnati played that has a defense.

[Chris Dufresne]

Alan harris: Alabama has scored one offensive TD in its last two games. It should have lost to Tennessee at home, Tennessee lost at home to UCLA, 0-5 in Pac-10?
What don't you get?

Alabama's biggest offensive threat is the FG kicker...

the defense is awesome, ill give you that...

[GPW]

I'm so angry at you. Why? Who knows? I didn't go to the school you snubbed/ignored/ranked too low (or any school judging from my grammer), but I'm still angry. You're an idiot/homer/corrupt and I can't take it any longer.

[Beebe]

John Hingst: The reason that Texas has not been threatened by their opponents is that the Horns are THAT GOOD! Strength of conference will always be debated, but if you hand the Horns the schedule of Alabama or Florida, I don't think the records would be any different.

Thanks to Will Muschamp, Texas has an SEC worthy defense to go along with the high powered Big 12 offense. That is why they are worthy of #1!

[Chris Dufresne]

@GPW...whoa there
I can take idiot and homer, but corrupt?
i drive a 1990 Toyota, so if im corrupt im horrible at it!

rankman

[Chris Dufresne]

And for you JM, regards TCU

Team is ranked No. 70 this week in NCAA attendance statistics.....Frogs playing to 77% stadium capacity.

rankman

[WeDon'tCareWhatYouThink]

Give the Hoosiers 2 more touchdowns, Iowa still wins. Like they have done all year. Just win baby!

[Chris Middleton]

I love USC, but must admit, your rankings are brilliant...just about the only writer who understands how overrated the SEC is...

[MMS]

I just think it's funny that the writer of the article gets on here to dispute people, BAHAHAHAAAA!

[Keith Andrews]

you think Brandon Spikes/SEC/or Urban Meyer would suspend Spikes if they were playing LSU this week.......dream on

[Keith Andrews]

The Big 10 deserves NO respect from the national press because they suck....slow, cant win any big games