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2017 TipTop 25 Week Eight

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 last 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.

Georgia Remains #1

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 then they waited at #4 for a couple of weeks before all 3 of the teams that had been ranked ahead of them took upset losses, enabling Georgia's rise to the top. Bolstering Georgia's rating is Notre Dame, who has won each of the rest of their games by more than a touchdown, including a big 49-14 pasting of #25 Southern Cal this week. The Irish are now ranked #3.

TipTop 25 After Week Eight Games

Last week we saw a massive reshuffling of teams in our rankings, but this week not so much. This week's TipTop 25 is as follows:

	Team	Record	LW	This Week's Result
#1	Georgia	7-0	1	Did not play
#2	Central Florida	6-0	2	Won 31-21 at #43 Navy
#3	Notre Dame	6-1	3	Won 49-14 over #25 Southern Cal
#4	Texas Christian	7-0	4	Won 43-0 over Kansas
#5	Penn State	7-0	6	Won 42-13 over #12 Michigan
#6	Alabama	8-0	5	Won 45-7 over Tennessee
#7	Wisconsin	7-0	8	Won 38-13 over Maryland
#8	South Florida	7-0	7	Won 34-28 at Tulane
#9	Miami (Florida)	6-0	9	Won 27-19 over Syracuse
#10	Michigan State	6-1	10	Won 17-9 over #22 Indiana
#11	Michigan	5-2	12	Lost 42-13 at #6 Penn State
#12	Clemson	6-1	13	Did not play
#13	Virginia Tech	6-1	14	Won 59-7 over North Carolina
#14	West Virginia	5-2	15	Won 38-36 at Baylor
#15	Oklahoma State	6-1	16	Won 13-10 in OT at Texas
#16	Washington	6-1	(31)	Did not play
#17	Auburn	6-2	18	Won 52-20 at Arkansas
#18	Oklahoma	6-1	19	Won 42-35 at Kansas State
#19	Ohio State	6-1	21	Did not play
#20	Indiana	3-4	22	Lost 17-9 at #10 Michigan State
#21	Northwestern	4-3	Unrated	Won 17-10 in OT over #11 Iowa (now #21)
#22	Iowa	4-3	11	Lost 17-10 in OT at unrated Northwestern
#23	Iowa State	5-2	20	Won 31-13 at #17 Texas Tech (now #23)
#24	Texas Tech	4-3	17	Lost 31-13 to #20 Iowa State
#25	Fresno State	5-2	Unrated	Won 27-3 at #27 San Diego State

Notes on Changes to This Week's TipTop 25

Washington did not play this week, yet they vault all the way from #31 to #16! That's because Fresno State defeated San Diego State this week. San Diego State, you see, had previously defeated Arizona State, who had previously defeated Washington. And Washington had previously defeated Fresno State by the resounding score of 48-16. Washington is thus freed from having to be ranked behind Arizona State, shooting them upward like a geyser. They go in front of Auburn because Auburn also has an upset loss to an unranked opponent, and Auburn had been rated #14 in the preseason, Washington #9. Washington also has a victory over a current top 25 team (Fresno State, now #25), while Auburn does not.

Michigan remains ranked ahead of Clemson because Clemson has taken a loss to an unrated team, and Michigan's losses have both come to top 10 teams.

Indiana remains ranked despite being 3-4. All 4 of their losses have come to top 11 teams, and this week they lost to the #10 team by just a touchdown on the road. That is the performance of a #20 team, which is where they are ranked.

The Northwestern-Iowa-Iowa State-Texas Tech group is hanging on by a thread. Their current rankings rest mostly on the fact that 3 of them were ranked in the preseason top 50. But Iowa State does also have a big upset win over #18 Oklahoma.

Close to the Top 25

The following teams are next in line to be ranked:

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

Looking Ahead to Next Week's Games

This week we have a big 5 games matching ranked opponents: #4 Texas Christian at #23 Iowa State, #5 Penn State at #19 Ohio State, #10 Michigan State at #21 Northwestern, #15 Oklahoma State at #14 West Virginia, and #24 Texas Tech at #18 Oklahoma. In addition, we have the following games that could impact the rankings: #1 Georgia vs. #41 Florida, #44 North Carolina State at #3 Notre Dame, #37 Houston at #8 South Florida, #26 Washington State at #38 Arizona, #27 Southern Cal at #32 Arizona State, #39 UCLA at #16 Washington, and #33 Mississippi State at #40 Texas A&M. That's a whole lot of action amongst our top 44 teams!

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

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