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2017 TipTop 25 Week One

 Clemson is the first school picked at random from my hat

Welcome back to the college football ranking system that began with a preseason top 25 that was based solely on picking teams at random out of a hat, as shown above. You can see that Clemson was selected first, thereby securing our preseason #1 slot, and after an impressive 56-3 win in their opener, they remain our #1 team!

As the games are played, I am also ranking teams completely blind to their histories and "name" value, so that they are ranked solely based on what they do this season and, for now at least, on where they were ranked in the preseason (and on where their opponents were ranked in the preseason). Eventually, where teams were ranked in the preseason should have little or no impact on their current rankings.

All unranked FBS teams are treated the same here, but this ranking assumes that FCS teams are a level below, and therefore it is unacceptable for a ranked FBS team to struggle with an FCS team, let alone lose. On the other hand, beating an FCS team, regardless of how "impressive" the score, means nothing and is treated the same as though the winner did not play a game at all.

TipTop 25 After Week One Games

This year 9 of our preseason top 25 teams took a loss in week one, a new record for the TipTop 25! In addition, 5 of our top 10 teams took a loss, another record. After the opening week's carnage, this week's TipTop 25 is as follows:
Team Record LW This Week's Result
#1 Clemson 1-0 1 Won 56-3 over Kent State
#2 Mississippi 1-0 3 Won 47-27 over South Alabama
#3 Auburn 1-0 14 Won 41-7 over #2 Georgia Southern
#4 Texas Tech 1-0 6 Won 56-10 over an FCS team
#5 Wisconsin 1-0 18 Won 59-10 over #5 Utah State
#6 Washington 1-0 9 Won 30-14 at #24 Rutgers
#7 Western Kentucky 1-0 4 Won 31-17 over an FCS team
#8 Kansas State 1-0 11 Won 55-19 over an FCS team
#9 Arizona 1-0 12 Won 62-14 over an FCS team
#10 Toledo 1-0 13 Won 47-13 over an FCS team
#11 Georgia 1-0 17 Won 31-10 over #29 Appalachian State
#12 Stanford 1-0 Unrated Won 62-7 over #10 Rice in Australia
#13 Notre Dame 1-0 Unrated Won 49-16 over #8 Temple
#14 Nebraska 1-0 Unrated Won 43-36 over #7 Arkansas State
#15 Arkansas State 0-1 7 Lost 43-36 at unranked Nebraska (now #14)
#16 Louisville 1-0 16 Won 35-28 over Purdue in Indianapolis
#17 Idaho 1-0 23 Won 28-6 over an FCS team
#18 Central Florida 1-0 36 Won 61-17 over #19 Florida International
#19 Michigan 1-0 26 Won 33-17 over #47 Florida in Texas
#20 Coastal Carolina 1-0 28 Won 38-28 over #21 Massachusetts
#21 Iowa 1-0 43 Won 24-3 over #20 Wyoming
#22 Tennessee 1-0 15 Won 42-41 in overtime at Georgia Tech
#23 Texas State 1-0 25 Won 20-11 over an FCS team
#24 Boston College 1-0 27 Won 23-20 at #40 Northern Illinois
#25 Oregon 1-0 31 Won 77-21 over an FCS team

Notes on Changes to This Week's TipTop 25

It's not just losing that will cause a team to drop in the rankings: struggling to beat an FCS team or an unranked (in top 50) FBS team will do it too. So Louisiana (Lafayette), who had been ranked #22, is out of the rankings because they edged an FCS team 51-48 at home. And Tennessee, who had been rated #15, drops to #22 after beating unranked Georgia Tech by just 1 point.

In addition to previously-#22 Louisiana, the following teams fall out of the top 25 this week: #2 Georgia Southern, #4 Western Kentucky, #8 Temple, #10 Rice, #19 Florida International, #20 Wyoming, #21 Massachusetts, and #24 Rutgers. You'll notice that only one of those teams is from a major conference. Our preseason top 25 only had 12 major conference teams, but after just one week, that number has already jumped to 18 (counting Notre Dame).

Close to the Top 25

The following teams are next in line to be ranked:

#26 Miami (Florida)
#27 Oklahoma
#28 Rutgers
#29 Oklahoma State
#30 Hawaii
#31 Virginia Tech
#32 Minnesota
#33 Marshall
#34 Missouri
#35 Northern Illinois
#36 New Mexico
#37 Miami (Ohio)
#38 Iowa State

Also, the following teams all won by more than a touchdown against FBS opponents this week, so bear watching: Vanderbilt, Boise State, Northwestern, Southern Cal, Alabama, Maryland, Michigan State, Penn State, Colorado, Navy, Eastern Michigan, Ohio State, South Florida, and Louisiana State.

Looking Ahead to Next Week's Games

The AP poll's preseason #1 and #3 teams, Alabama and Florida State, clashed last week. Alas, neither of those teams was ranked in the preseason TipTop 25 (or even 50), so that game didn't matter much around here. But this week, we have our own clash of titans, #3 Auburn at #1 Clemson. The winner will surely claim next week's #1 slot. In addition, this week gives us #11 Georgia at #13 Notre Dame, #14 Nebraska at #25 Oregon, #26 Miami (Florida) at #15 Arkansas State, and #21 Iowa at #38 Iowa State. Join me next week as we continue to hone the top 25 that was born from my magic hat.

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