1) Mississippi Rebels (4-0, 2-0, +373) - The Mississippi Rebels finally made a monkey out of me on Saturday when they defeated the Tulane Green Wave 45-10 after I had picked them to be upset. Lane Kiffin must read this blog. Also, my lonely "Jake Retzlaff for Heisman" crusade took a big hit after the Tulane quarterback went 5/17 for 56 yards and 0 touchdowns and ended up getting benched in the fourth quarter. Mississippi has now scored 40 or more points in three of their four games this season, and the Rebels have also now won 20 consecutive non-conference regular season games. Their last loss? August 31st, 2019 at Memphis.
2) Miami Hurricanes (4-0, 0-0, +330) - Miami took care of business, smothering the Florida Gators en route to a convincing 26-7 win. Miami held Florida to 141 total yards for the game. The Hurricanes get next week off before they travel to Tallahassee to take on the Florida State Seminoles, with the winner of that game taking the inside track to the ACC Championship. Meanwhile, Florida's season from hell continues. They have now lost three straight, and they host AP No. 8 Texas next week. I expect them to play with a chip on their shoulder in that game.
3) Oklahoma Sooners (4-0, 1-0, +292) - One of the (many) drawbacks to the new Super Conferences in college football are the unbalanced schedules. This year, this particularly hurts the Oklahoma Sooners, who - even though they are easily one of the ten or twelve best teams in the country - will be hard pressed to reach ten or even nine wins, because they have to play Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, and LSU. Oklahoma was able to beat a good Auburn team at home, 24-17, and they host Kent State next week before the Red River Rivalry. I honestly believe that the Sooners defense might unalive Texas quarterback Arch Manning in that game, as the kids say these days.
4) Georgia Tech (4-0, 1-0, +246)
5) Iowa State (4-0, 1-0, +241)
6) LSU Tigers (4-0, 1-0, +238) - LSU won their bye week against Southeastern Louisiana, 56-10. This sets up one of many big games in the SEC next week, when the Tigers play at Mississippi on ABC at the 2:30 slot. This should be a fun game of contrasting styles of play, with Mississippi averaging 47 points and 543 yards per game, and LSU giving up 9 points and 225 yards per game. The big question will be: Can LSU's offense - which looked anemic at times against Clemson and Florida - be productive against Ole Miss?
7) Texas A&M (3-0, 0-0, +225)
8) Missouri (4-0, 1-0, +222)
9) Ohio State (3-0, 0-0, +215)
10) USC Trojans (4-0, 2-0, +202) - One of the biggest beneficiaries of uneven scheduling this year has got to be the USC Trojans, who defeated the Michigan State Spartans 45-31 on Saturday night in a classic re-creation of The Iliad. And even though USC now has to play three consecutive games against three (previously) ranked AP teams in Illinois, Michigan, and Notre Dame, they also get to avoid playing Indiana, Ohio State, or Penn State, and they get both Northwestern (No. 93 in my rankings) and UCLA (No. 112). The Playoff Committee could be in a pickle if USC finishes, like, 10-2.
11) Vanderbilt (4-0, 1-0, +201)
12) Houston (3-0, 1-0, +198)
13) Texas Tech Red Raiders (4-0, 1-0, +197) - The Texas Tech Red Raiders made perhaps the second biggest impression of the weekend with an emphatic 34-10 win at Utah, after Indiana. The final score is slightly misleading, as the Utes defense kept it close until the fourth quarter, when you could tell they just ran out of gas, and the Texas Tech offense scored 21 points in the final 8:29 of the game. The Red Raiders now emerge as the temporary favorites in the Big 12, but they still have a lot of work ahead of them, starting with a trip to undefeated Houston in two weeks. A special shoutout should be given to the Texas Tech defense, which held Utah to 3.8 yards per play, and caused 4 turnovers. Don't be surprised if you see these two team play each other again in the Big 12 Championship.
14) South Florida (3-1, 0-0, +183)
15) Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (3-1, 2-0, +170) - Look, the G5 representative to the College Football Playoff this year will almost certainly come from the American Conference. However, should the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs run the table, and finish as C-USA champions at 12-1, with their only loss being to LSU, they might have a compelling case to make to the committee. They defeated the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles on Saturday 30-20, despite giving up 514 total yards of offense, and gaining only 58 yards themselves and scoring 0 points in the second half. Louisiana Tech should be favored in all of their remaining games, with a tricky trip at the Delaware Blue Hens on November 8th, followed by a game at Washington State the next week, for whatever that will be worth. For the record, that means that the Bulldogs will have to travel 1,293 miles from Ruston, LA to Newark, DE one week, and then 2,076 miles in the opposite direction to Pullman, WA the next week.
16) Memphis Tigers (4-0, 0-0, +165) - Like I said, the AAC Champ should become the next G5 representative to the Playoff this year, whether that is Memphis or South Florida or Navy or North Texas or Tulane. Memphis made their case this weekend, with a 32-31 win at home against the Arkansas Razorbacks. The Tigers rallied from a 28-10 first half deficit, and took the lead on a 64-yard touchdown run by running back Sutton Smith. Arkansas was then driving, and looked poised to hit the game winning field goal, before they fumbled it and Memphis recovered on their own 9-yard line to seal the game.
17) Arizona State (3-1, 1-0, +164)
18) Indiana Hoosiers (4-0, 1-0, +160) - Hoo boy, I did not see that coming. Even though I picked Indiana to beat my hometown Illinois Illini, I did not expect them to do so by 50 and, to be fair, I don't think anyone outside of Bloomington did. The Hoosiers completely dominated this game, controlling the ball for 39:42 of game time, holding Illinois to 1/10 on third down conversions, and allowing only 161 total yards of offense, 159 of them through the air. (You do the math.) After the game, Indiana coach Curt Cignetti referred to Illinois' offensive struggles by saying "Put the Duke game on. The difference in that game was that Duke turned it over." And, I guess it goes without saying that, in the 126 years of this rivalry, this is the worst loss that Illinois has ever suffered, topping a 45-14 Indiana win in Champaign in 1979. That Indiana team was coached by Lee Corso.
19) Tulane (3-1, 0-0, +156)
20) Auburn (3-1, 0-1, +155)
21) Florida State (3-0, 0-0, +154)
22) Georgia (3-0, 1-0, +152)
23) North Texas (4-0, 1-0, +150)
24) Syracuse (3-1, 1-0, +149)
25) Maryland (4-0, 1-0, +147)
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