CFN College Football Rankings: Week 10 Top 10
10 Michigan State Spartans (8-1)
Last Week’s Ranking: 4
Week 10: Purdue 40, Michigan State 29
Week 11 Opponent: Maryland
Ehhhhhhhhhhh, if you want to argue for at least five other teams to be here, you’re probably right. The pass defense has taken the last two weeks off, the Purdue loss is unacceptable – yeah, it is – but the win over Michigan is still enough to keep the Spartans in the top ten for the moment. A slew of SEC teams – and yeah, the Wisconsin team that beat Purdue easily – are all playing better right now, though.
9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (8-1)
Last Week’s Ranking: 9
Week 10: Notre Dame 34, Navy 6
Week 11 Opponent: at Virginia
The Irish beat Purdue. They opened up a can of something in the 41-13 win over Wisconsin. Virginia Tech, USC, North Carolina, Florida State – those aren’t amazing wins like the brand names might suggest, but it’s a strong overall body of work. Notre Dame can’t move up until a certain someone starts to step up its game …
8 Cincinnati Bearcats (9-0)
Last Week’s Ranking: 8
Week 10: Cincinnati 28, Tulsa 20
Week 11 Opponent: at USF (Nov. 12)
That’s three bad performances in a row against three bad Group of Five teams, and they all happened just as we’re all begging for reasons to love this story and take up the Bearcat cause.
While Power Five teams are all beating each other up – hey Purdue, LSU, and North Carolina – all the world is asking for out of Cincinnati is to look the part, and it’s not coming remotely close.
Notre Dame and UCF are the only two teams UC has faced with a winning record. That’s fine, to a point, but there needs to be a 55-3 on the way against USF on Friday.
7 Oklahoma State Cowboys (8-1)
Last Week’s Ranking: 13
Week 10: Oklahoma State 24, West Virginia 3
Week 11 Opponent: TCU
It’s time to start giving this team a whole lot more credit, and it might be time to seriously start thinking that it could possibly end up in the big College Football Playoff top four in a few weeks. The O is okay, the D is amazing, and road wins at West Virginia, Texas, and Boise State are better than you might think – the body blows start to add up. The lone 24-21 loss to Iowa State is more than acceptable.
6 Texas A&M Aggies (7-2)
Last Week’s Ranking: 14
Week 10: Texas A&M 20, Auburn 3
Week 11 Opponent: at Ole Miss
This one is all about the right now. Losing to Arkansas by ten hurts, and losing to Mississippi State at home isn’t okay, but the Aggies beat Alabama. Stomping Missouri is no big whoop, but all of a sudden, beating South Carolina by 30 matters. The defensive gem pitched against Auburn is a big deal, too – the team has been fabulous over the last month.
5 Ohio State Buckeyes (8-1)
Last Week’s Ranking: 6
Week 10: Ohio State 26, Nebraska 17
Week 11 Opponent: Purdue
Here’s the problem. Is the win over Penn State that great? Nah, but no one has a ton of amazing wins outside of Georgia and possibly Alabama. No, the schedule isn’t full of wins over great teams – by the way, Cincinnati fans have a real beef on this – however, 1) Purdue, Michigan State, and Michigan are up next, and 2) to counter the Bearcat crowd, most of the wins have been total annihilations.
4 Oregon Ducks (8-1)
Last Week’s Ranking: 5
Week 10: Oregon 26, Washington 16
Week 11 Opponent: Washington State
Oregon is renting this space. It’s probably going to get by a rested Washington State, but that’s hardly a given. Even if it does, it’s not pushing past Utah in Salt Lake City. But for now it has the single best road win by anyone this year, but that victory over Ohio State will only carry the team so far.
3 Oklahoma Sooners (9-0)
Last Week’s Ranking: 3
Week 10: OPEN DATE
Week 11 Opponent: at Baylor
No, there isn’t a great win on the slate. West Virginia, Kansas State, Texas – yeah, remember, Oklahoma broke the Longhorns – Texas Tech, and even Nebraska are all decent enough teams to add up to this spot.
With Michigan State and Wake Forest falling, this is giving credit where credit is due. There are only two unbeaten Power Five programs left. Say what you will, but this improving team is 9-0, and unless you’re in Athens, your Power Five team isn’t.
2 Alabama Crimson Tide (8-1)
Last Week’s Ranking: 2
Week 10: Alabama 20, LSU 14
Week 11 Opponent: New Mexico State
No, the offense wasn’t good enough against LSU, and no, the defense wasn’t good enough against Texas A&M or Florida. However, The Tide beat LSU. It won at Florida – back when that meant something. It rolled Miami, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and Tennessee.
As we now know, the loss at Texas A&M really wasn’t that bad – the Aggies have been terrific since then. And deep down, we all know that this is the one team that – regardless of resumé and record – can hang with and maybe beat …
1 Georgia Bulldogs (9-0)
Last Week’s Ranking: 1
Week 10: Georgia 43, Missouri 6
Week 11 Opponent: at Tennessee
The only real knock is that the team hasn’t been tested since the opener against Clemson, and as it turned out, that Tiger team wasn’t all that great. That might seem like it’s searching for a problem, but at some point the Bulldogs will have to deal with stress – possibly this week at Tennessee – and it will have to prove it can keep it all together.
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CFN 2021 Rankings: Week 10
101-130 | 76-100 | 51-75 | 26-50 | 11-25 | Top 10
– Week 10 Scoreboard, Predictions For Every Game
– Big Game Reactions: UNC, Bama, Purdue & more
– College Football Playoff prediction: Week 10