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2022 TipTop 25
Week Ten
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 Arkansas was selected first, thereby
securing our
preseason #1 slot. Sadly for the Razorbacks, they were unimpressive
enough
in their opener that they fell out of the top slot immediately, and by
now they have fallen all the way out of the TipTop 25.
As the games are played, I will be ranking teams
completely
blind to their histories and "name" value, so that they are ranked
entirely based on what they do this season and, for the first half of
the season
at least, on
where they were ranked in the preseason (as well as 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 all FCS teams are at a lower power level, and
therefore it
is unacceptable for a ranked FBS team to struggle with an FCS team, let
alone lose. Similarly, 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.
Oklahoma had initially replaced Arkansas at #1, but Ohio State took
over the top slot after Oklahoma lost to Kansas State
on September 24. Ohio State has been very impressive, winning every
game by more than a touchdown, but 2 weeks ago Clemson passed them up
anyway, because Clemson had beaten 4 ranked opponents by then, Ohio
State none. However, Ohio State returned to the top spot with a win
over a top 10 team (Penn State) the next week, and there the Buckeyes
remain this week.
TipTop
25 After Week Ten Games
As stated above,
Ohio State returned to #1 last week,
and #2 Georgia's big win over Tennessee (now #3) does not change that this week.
Ohio State had been ranked #16 in the preseason, Georgia #27, and Ohio
State has won every game by more than a touchdown, while Georgia has
posted a close win (26-22) over unranked Missouri. The latest rankings:
#1 Ohio State 9-0
#2 Georgia 9-0
#3 Tennessee 8-1
#4 Michigan 9-0
#5 Oregon 8-1
#6 Texas
Christian 9-0
#7 UCLA 8-1
#8 Penn State 7-2
#9 Clemson 8-1
#10 Notre Dame 6-3
#11 North Carolina 8-1
#12 Syracuse 6-3
#13 North
Carolina State 7-2
#14 Wake Forest 6-3
#15 Florida State 6-3
#16 Louisiana State 7-2
#17 Alabama 7-2
#18 Mississippi 8-1
#19 Louisville 6-3
#20 Pittsburgh 5-4
#21 Kentucky 6-3
#22 Mississippi
State 6-3
#23 Florida 5-4
#24 Utah 7-2
#25 Southern
Cal 8-1
Notes
on Changes to This Week's TipTop 25
I moved
Tennessee ahead of Michigan this week despite their loss to #2 Georgia.
That's because Tennessee's overtime win at Pittsburgh suddenly looks a
whole lot better, as Pitt enters the top 25 this week at #20 (more on
this below). Tennessee now has 5 wins over ranked opponents, Michigan just 1, and Tennessee no longer has a poor performance against an unranked opponent.
Texas Christian drops a bit because Kansas State and Oklahoma State,
both of whom TCU had defeated, and both of whom were ranked last week,
both took upset losses to unranked teams this week, sending both out of
the TipTop 25. That leaves TCU with no wins over rated opponents, and
now they have 3 close wins (touchdown or less) over unranked teams. But
TCU isn't the only team whose rating takes a hit because of KSU's upset
loss. Tulane, ranked #12 last week, falls all the way out of the TipTop
25
due to Kansas State falling out. KSU was Tulane's one big win, and it
propped them up highly despite a loss to an unranked opponent. Without
that prop, Tulane drops like a rock.
Penn State falls back behind Oregon and UCLA because at this point,
they no longer have a win over a ranked or nearly-ranked opponent, as
Purdue and Minnesota have fallen too far off the map. Oregon and UCLA have each beaten ranked opponents.
Notre Dame spurts up highly into the rankings, all the way to #10,
thanks to a big 35-14 win over Clemson (#3 last week), but Clemson
remains ranked higher than Dame because the Irish have 2 upset losses
to unranked teams, and the Clemson win only makes up for one of them.
North Carolina rides Notre Dame's coat tails all the way up to #11, as
UNC's only loss came to Notre Dame (and Carolina was ranked #14 in the
preseason).
As mentioned above, 5-4 Pitt comes into the rankings at #20, the
result of a 19-9 upset victory over 6-3 Syracuse (who is now rated
#12). Also benefiting from Pitt's big win is 6-3 Louisville, as they
had previously beaten Pittsburgh. They come in just ahead of Pitt, at
#19.
Close
to the Top 25
These teams are
next in line to be ranked:
#26 Liberty
#27 Arkansas
#28 Washington
#29 Oregon State
#30 Troy
#31 South
Alabama
#32 Tulane
#33 Kansas State
#34 East Carolina
#35 Central Florida
#36 Cincinnati
#37 South Carolina
#38 Coastal Carolina