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2017 TipTop 25 Week Seven

 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 they held on to that spot for 6 weeks, beating 3 ranked opponents along the way. But this week, they took an upset loss at 4-3 Syracuse, finally giving up their hold on #1.

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. Eventually, where teams were ranked in the preseason should have little or no impact on their current rankings.

We Have a New Team at #1

MS Paint of Georgia player 2017

As noted, previous #1 Clemson took an upset loss at 4-3 Syracuse on Saturday, so this week we have a new team at #1. And as you can see by my MS Paint commemorating the event, that team is Georgia. Georgia started the season ranked #17. They beat #29 Appalachian State 31-10 in their opener, while a bunch of other teams took upset losses, and Georgia moved up to #11 after the first week. They beat #13 Notre Dame 20-19 on the road in their next game, but fewer teams ahead of them took upset losses that week, so they only moved up to #9.

Georgia has not beaten a ranked team since, but they rose to #4 as other teams took upset losses, and they had been stuck at #4 for the previous 2 rankings. This week, all 3 of the teams that had been ranked ahead of them took upset losses, so Georgia simply rises up to replace them. Bolstering Georgia's rating is Notre Dame, who has won each of the rest of their games by more than a touchdown. The Irish are now ranked #3.

TipTop 25 After Week Seven Games

Last week was a quiet one for the TipTop 25, the rankings seeing relatively little change from the previous week. I even wrote, "Things are finally starting to stabilize." Well, I spoke too soon, because this week our top 3 teams all took upset losses to unranked opponents, and another 3 ranked teams took such losses as well, so this week we have a massive reshuffling of teams in our rankings  This week's TipTop 25 is as follows:
Team Record LW This Week's Result
#1 Georgia 7-0 4 Won 53-28 over Missouri
#2 Central Florida 5-0 6 Won 63-21 over East Carolina
#3 Notre Dame 5-1 7 Did not play
#4 Texas Christian 6-0 8 Won 26-6 at Kansas State
#5 Alabama 7-0 10 Won 41-9 over Arkansas
#6 Penn State 6-0 11 Did not play
#7 South Florida 6-0 13 Won 33-3 over Cincinnati
#8 Wisconsin 6-0 5 Won 17-9 over Purdue
#9 Miami (Florida) 5-0 9 Won 25-24 over Georgia Tech
#10 Michigan State 5-1 14 Won 30-27 at Minnesota
#11 Iowa 4-2 18 Did not play
#12 Michigan 5-1 15 Won 27-20 in OT at unrated Indiana (now #22)
#13 Clemson 6-1 1 Lost 27-24 at unrated Syracuse
#14 Virginia Tech 5-1 16 Did not play
#15 West Virginia 4-2 17 Won 46-35 over #23 Texas Tech
#16 Oklahoma State 5-1 19 Won 59-16 over Baylor
#17 Texas Tech 4-2 23 Lost 46-35 at #17 West Virginia
#18 Auburn 5-2 3 Lost 27-23 at unrated Louisiana State
#19 Oklahoma 5-1 (29) Won 29-24 over Texas in Dallas
#20 Iowa State 4-2 (28) Won 45-0 over Kansas
#21 Ohio State 6-1 (27) Won 56-14 at Nebraska
#22 Indiana 3-3 Unrated Lost 27-20 in OT to #15 Michigan
#23 Virginia 5-1 Unrated Won 20-14 at North Carolina
#24 Washington State 6-1 12 Lost 37-3 at unrated California
#25 Southern Cal 6-1 20 Won 28-27 over #24 Utah

Notes on Changes to This Week's TipTop 25

6-0 Wisconsin drops this week because of their close win over unrated Purdue, and also because they have not beaten a team that is even remotely close to being ranked right now. 6-0 South Florida has played an equally weak schedule, but no one has come within a touchdown of them, so they slip past Wisconsin this week.

Clemson drops from #1 to #13, but they are the highest ranked team that has taken a loss to a team that remains rated lower. Other teams carrying upset losses are #18 Auburn, #19 Oklahoma, #20 Iowa State, and #24 Washington State. Iowa State defeated Oklahoma 2 weeks ago, but this week Oklahoma defeated Texas, who had previously defeated Iowa State, so I moved the Sooners back ahead of Iowa State (as well as Ohio State, whom Oklahoma defeated in week 2). I moved Iowa State just ahead of Ohio State because ISU beat Oklahoma and Ohio State did not.

3-3 Indiana moves into the rankings because of Boise State's upset of previous #21 San Diego State: 5-1 Virginia has previously beaten Boise State, and Indiana has previously beaten Virginia. Indiana's 3 losses have come to 6-1 Ohio State, 5-1 Michigan, and 6-0 Penn State. And the loss to #12 Michigan, this week, came in overtime, an impressive performance. Virginia comes into the rankings at #23. Boise State, San Diego State, and Stanford (who has lost to San Diego State) sit just outside the top 25 now.

Close to the Top 25

The following teams are next in line to be ranked:

#26 Boise State
#27 San Diego State
#28 Stanford
#29 Utah
#30 Arizona State
#31 Washington
#32 Mississippi State
#33 Louisiana State
#34 Houston
#35 Arizona
#36 Memphis
#37 UCLA
#38 Texas A&M
#39 Florida
#40 Kentucky
#41 South Carolina
#42 North Carolina State
#43 Navy

Looking Ahead to Next Week's Games

We have 4 games matching ranked opponents this week, twice as many as we've had each of the previous 3 weeks: #25 Southern Cal at #3 Notre Dame, #12 Michigan at #6 Penn State, #22 Indiana at #10 Michigan State, and #20 Iowa State at #17 Texas Tech. In addition, we have the following games that could impact the rankings: #2 Central Florida at #43 Navy, #30 Arizona State at #29 Utah, #40 Kentucky at #32 Mississippi State, and #36 Memphis at #34 Houston.

Join me next week as we continue to hone the top 25 that was born from my magic hat.

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