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2017 TipTop 25 Week Two

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 a big 14-6 win over #3 Auburn this week, 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 Two Games

For the 2nd week in a row, the TipTop 25 took a beating. 7 of our top 25 teams took "upset" losses, and another 5 teams that had been close to being ranked were "upset" as well, and that leads to another big shake-up in the rankings this week. After this 2nd week of carnage, this week's TipTop 25 is as follows:

	Team	Record	LW	This Week's Result
#1	Clemson	2-0	1	Won 14-6 over #3 Auburn
#2	Mississippi	2-0	2	Won 45-23 over an FCS team
#3	Auburn	1-1	3	Lost 14-6 at #1 Clemson
#4	Texas Tech	1-0	4	Did not play
#5	Wisconsin	2-0	5	Won 31-14 over Florida Atlantic
#6	Washington	2-0	6	Won 63-7 over an FCS team
#7	Kansas State	2-0	8	Won 55-7 over Charlotte
#8	Toledo	2-0	10	Won 37-24 at Nevada
#9	Georgia	2-0	11	Won 20-19 at #13 Notre Dame
#10	Southern Cal	2-0	Unrated	Won 42-24 over #12 Stanford
#11	Notre Dame	1-1	13	Lost 20-19 to #11 Georgia
#12	Oregon	2-0	25	Won 42-35 over #14 Nebraska
#13	Central Florida	1-0	18	Did not play
#14	Michigan	2-0	19	Won 36-14 over Cincinnati
#15	Coastal Carolina	1-0	20	Did not play
#16	Houston	1-0	Unrated	Won 19-16 at #9 Arizona
#17	Arizona	1-1	9	Lost 19-16 to unrated Houston (now #16)
#18	Louisville	2-0	16	Won 47-35 at North Carolina
#19	Nebraska	1-1	14	Lost 42-35 at #25 Oregon (now #12)
#20	Arkansas State	0-1	15	Did not play
#21	Iowa	2-0	21	Won 44-41 in overtime at #38 Iowa State
#22	Colorado	2-0	Unrated	Won 37-3 over #23 Texas State
#23	Wake Forest	2-0	Unrated	Won 34-10 at #24 Boston College
#24	Tennessee	2-0	22	Won 42-7 over an FCS team
#25	Miami (Florida)	1-0	26	Did not play

Notes on Changes to This Week's TipTop 25

Auburn remains #3 because a 14-6 loss at #1 Clemson is about what you'd expect from the #3 team.

It doesn't take long for the "Little Big Teams" to fall from the rankings, something we see every year. Our preseason top 25 only had 12 major conference teams, but after just one week, that number had already jumped to 18 (counting Notre Dame), and this week the number has increased to 20.

Close to the Top 25

The following teams are next in line to be ranked:

#26 Oklahoma
#27 Oklahoma State
#28 South Carolina
#29 North Carolina State
#30 Virginia Tech
#31 Minnesota
#32 UCLA
#33 Iowa State
#34 San Diego State

Also, the following teams have each won 2 games by more than a touchdown against FBS opponents, so bear watching: Alabama, Michigan State, and Penn State.

Looking Ahead to Next Week's Games

This is a dud week coming up for the TipTop 25, with only one game matching ranked teams (even if you include the 9 teams next in line to be ranked). That game is a 2nd straight bout against a ranked foe for #1 Clemson, as they visit #18 Louisville this week.

But it's still early, and we are sure to see some more "upsets" this week. Join me next week as we continue to hone the top 25 that was born from my magic hat.

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