CFN College Football Rankings: Week 9 Top 10
10 Auburn Tigers (6-2)
Last Week’s Ranking: 12
Week 9: Auburn 31, Ole Miss 20
Week 10 Opponent: at Texas A&M
Yeah, there’s the loss at Penn State in mid-September, but there’s no punishing the loss to Georgia. With back-to-back double-digit wins over Arkansas and Ole Miss, and with a victory at LSU, the Tigers are on a terrific run of four wins in the last five games with the lone loss coming to the Bulldogs.
9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (7-1)
Last Week’s Ranking: 9
Week 9: Notre Dame 44, North Carolina 34
Week 10 Opponent: Navy
Here’s the problem. We would LOVE to put Notre Dame in the top five with a resumé full of restaurant quality wins over at Florida State, Purdue, Wisconsin, at Virginia Tech, USC, and North Carolina, but there’s a problem.
The same reason Notre Dame deserves to be ranked a whole lot higher – the week-to-week grind means more than coming up with just one strong victory and a lot of fluff – is the reason why there’s a hard ceiling on how high it can go as long there isn’t a loss by …
8 Cincinnati Bearcats (8-0)
Last Week’s Ranking: 8
Week 9: Cincinnati 31, Tulane 12
Week 10 Opponent: Tulsa
Here’s the problem. We would LOVE to put Cincinnati a whole lot lower with a resumé full of hoo-ha and one terrific victory to pump up everything else. As long as Notre Dame keeps beating good teams, the Bearcats will continue to get credit for that one amazing win in South Bend.
However, the last two mediocre performances against awful Navy and Tulane teams aren’t good enough when the other big boys are beating each other up in Power Five showdowns.
7 Michigan Wolverines (7-1)
Last Week’s Ranking: 4
Week 9: Michigan State 37, Michigan 33
Week 10 Opponent: Indiana
There’s no punishing the Wolverines too much for a loss in a fun and wild game on the road against a top ten-caliber Big Ten team. It would be nice if there’s a better win than at Wisconsin, but that’s looking better and better as is the win over over Washington.
6 Ohio State Buckeyes (7-1)
Last Week’s Ranking: 6
Week 9: Ohio State 33, Penn State 24
Week 10 Opponent: at Nebraska
How do you know you’re good? You’re shaky, and yet you still come up with a nine-point win over a Penn State team that came in with its A effort and game. However, there needs to be a bit more than that – the best win on the slate might be that opener at Minnesota.
The wins have to stack up now with at Nebraska and Purdue before dealing with Michigan State and Michigan. For now, there’s still the problem of not being able to get past …
5 Oregon Ducks (7-1)
Last Week’s Ranking: 5
Week 9: Oregon 52, Colorado 29
Week 10 Opponent: at Washington
This continues to be a very, very shaky ranking considering the loss to Stanford and the bad performances against a slew of mediocre teams. The win at Ohio State – considering it was on the road and Texas A&M’s win over Bama was at home – is still the best victory by anyone this year, but we’re going to need more.
4 Michigan State Spartans (8-0)
Last Week’s Ranking: 10
Week 9: Michigan State 37, Michigan 33
Week 10 Opponent: at Purdue
Are you buying, Michigan State, or are you renting this high-end spot?
The win at Miami looks stronger now, but this is all about being the lone remaining unbeaten Big Ten team after the thrilling win over Michigan. Now don’t blow it in West Lafayette next week.
3 Oklahoma Sooners (9-0)
Last Week’s Ranking: 3
Week 9: Oklahoma 52, Texas Tech 21
Week 10 Opponent: OPEN DATE
9-0 is 9-0 is 9-0. The performance against Texas Tech was terrific – that’s the offense we’ve been eating for, but here we go – at Baylor, Iowa State, at Oklahoma State.
2 Alabama Crimson Tide (7-1)
Last Week’s Ranking: 2
Week 9: OPEN DATE
Week 10 Opponent: LSU
All the impressive blowouts over decent teams – Miami, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Tennessee – are enough to overcome the lone road loss to a Texas A&M team that followed that up by playing well.
1 Georgia Bulldogs (8-0)
Last Week’s Ranking: 1
Week 9: Georgia 34, Florida 7
Week 10 Opponent: Missouri
That 10-3 win over Clemson in the opener doesn’t seem like any big deal now and …
Yeah, whatever. Seven straight blowout wins since then with one of the best defenses college football has ever seen. There’s no other option for No. 1 right now.
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