Mid-Season CFB Report
By Razor Sharp Sports
Freeplays.com
Wow we have hit Week 7 of the College Football season. Most of the teams have 5 or 6 games in the books. Now I know most of them are non-conference games and very few had national ramifications. Still by seeing how the teams have looked in the first half of the season sets up the way the second half of the year will play out. Taking a look at the rankings and we have seen very little major moves. As a matter of fact when comparing the AP Top-25 pre-season ranking compared to the current Week 7 rankings and overall they look very similar. Of the Top 10 teams from the Pre-season, only 2 teams have dropped out of the current Top-10 and both of those, South Carolina (PS #6) & Florida (PS #10) have one loss. Both of those loses came to ranked opponents. There are a few changes in the lower ranking but that is where you always see the movement. So who are the big movers both up and down?
First lets take a look big UP movers. It starts with #3 Clemson. They started the season with a huge win over Georgia and jumped up from their #8 Pre-Season ranking. #6 Florida St has moved up in a little different way. Their only win over a ranked opponent was against #25 Maryland. Instead of a win over a big opponent, they have won big over all their opponents. These 2 ACC teams meet up in 2 weeks to see who will be atop of the conference. Other big up movers include #11 UCLA who has moved up from #21. They have both #5 Stanford and #2 Oregon back to back on Oct. 19th & 26th, so that will be their true test. Oklahoma has gone from #16 to #12 and may be the top team in the Big-12. Then we have 3 teams that were not ranked in the Top-25 in the pre-season, but have risen quickly into the teens! Miami-FL used a big win over Florida to make there mark. They are now at #13 up from PS #29. Baylors high-flying offense has them jumping up the rankings. They have scored at least 69 points in all 4 of their games this year, though their opponents have been Wofford, Buffalo, UL-Monroe and West Virginia. They are at #15 from PS #27. The third team is Washington which is at #16 up from PS #34. They are the only team we have talked about that have moved up and still has a loss. Last week, Washington lost to Stanford and it doesn’t get any easier with Oregon on deck this weekend. The final big jumper is #20 Texas Tech. The Red Raiders did not receive a vote in the pre-season, but a win over TCU and a 5-0 start has voters taking notice. They do have a string of Oklahoma St, Oklahoma and Baylor in a 4 week span coming up.
So on the other end of the spectrum we have the droppers. As we mentioned before the 2 biggest droppers out of the PS Top-10 are South Carolina (from PS #6 to #14) and Florida (from #10 to #17). Not only have these two teams gotten beaten, but have also looked less than dominant in other appearances. Oklahoma St has also dropped quite a bit from PS #13 to #22. The upset loss to West Virginia and less than impressive win over Kansas St caused the fall. The 2 highest pre-season ranked teams that have dropped out of the rankings altogether are #14 Notre Dame, who has lost to ranked Oklahoma and Michigan, & PS #15 Texas, who’s two losses came to BYU and Mississippi.
Looking at the top of the rankings and Alabama remains at #1. The others have mixed around a bit. #2 Oregon has used their high-powered attack to move up from #3, jumping Ohio St. As we mentioned before, Clemson used the big win over Georgia to move up to #3 from PS #8. Ohio St has done everything they could including 2 wins over ranked teams, but just by not big enough, to stay where they started. So instead of PS #2 they have come down to #4. Stanford also got jumped by Clemson, falling from PS #4 to #5, even though they have 2 wins over ranked opponents. Mark down Nov. 7th on your calendar when Stanford hosts Oregon!
I like to think of the first half of the season, much like the foundation of a house. You have to have a strong start if you are going to come up with a great finished product. There are currently 16 undefeated FBS teams remaining with plenty of big games to go. This year, winning every game is so important if you plan on playing a National Championship. Next year, when the 4-team playoff starts, you may be able to afford a hiccup. So who will be the last teams standing? Will we have 3 or 4 undefeated make it thru? Will someone get left out again? I would love to hear your opinion. I will stick with my pre-season prediction of Alabama over Oregon in the National Championship.