This past weekend proved why college football is so unpredictable. Of the teams ranked in the AP Top 25 Poll, nine lost. Although one game didn’t end with an upset with Oregon (ranked #11) loosing to California (ranked #6); eight other ranked teams had a very disappointing week.
More surprising is that five of the ranked teams that lost were ranked in the top 10, including Oklahoma (#3), Florida (#4), West Virginia (#5), Texas (#7), and Rutgers (#10). The other losers from the Top 25 were Oregon (#11), Clemson (#13), Penn State (#21), and Alabama (#22).
Drastic changes have been made to the AP Top 25 Poll after all of these major losses, with two of the nine teams dropping from the top rankings.
The biggest surprises were Florida’s loss to Auburn and Oklahoma’s loss to Colorado. Although Auburn was ranked #18 coming into the season and lost their last two games by a total of eight points, few had predicted defending champion Florida to lose to the visiting Tigers.
Oklahoma loss to unranked Colorado was also baffling, considering that Oklahoma was a BCS title contender. Oklahoma had shown this season that they have the best all-around team on both offense and defense. The loss drops them to #10 in the rankings, making it tough to contend for the prized BCS title.
Losses by West Virginia and Texas were important, but not as surprising. Although they were ranked #5 and #7, respectively,’ both lost to quality opponents.
West Virginia faced a talented South Florida squad, ranked #18 coming into the game. South Florida was also undefeated at home, so West Virginia knew they had a tough game ahead of them, and ended up losing 21-13.
South Florida’s win moved them to #6 in the Top 25 poll and has put a lot of attention on the program. They have tough teams such as Rutgers, Cincinnati, and Louisville remaining on their schedule, so it will be interesting to see where they’ rank at the seasons end.
As far as Texas, they lost to Kansas State, and after only beating UCF by three points two weeks ago, this loss was seemed Inevitable. Although Kansas State was unranked coming in, and had a loss to Auburn from the first week of their season on their record, they were still not a team to take lightly.
The Wildcats have a well-balanced team, beating their previous two opponents by scores of 34-14, 61-10.’ Their victory over Texas was no different, as they beat the Longhorns by a score of 41-21. After this recent victory, they cracked the Top 25 rankings, at #24.
An overrated Penn State team was knocked out of the Top 25 after losing to Illinois this past weekend.’ Alabama, who started the season 3-0, also dropped out of the rankings after losing their last two contests.
Top teams LSU (#1) and USC (#2) are coasting and appear to be the two teams that will meet for the BCS championship. Both teams still have tough games remaining on their schedule, but they are by far the two most talented teams in college football.
Some games to watch this weekend are:
#11 South Carolina hosts #8 Kentucky, Thursday 7:30 p.m, EST. This is not only a game of heavyweights, but also an important match as far as the SEC standings.
#10 Oklahoma hosts #19 Texas, Saturday 3:30 p.m., EST. This game features some of last weekend’s disappointments, and teams that need to improve their standing in the Big 12 conference.
#20 Cincinnati visits #21 Rutgers, Saturday 8:00 p.m., EST. Besides being a crucial Big East match-up, it will be interesting to see if Rutgers bounces back after their loss last weekend. The Scarlet Knights will also have revenge on their minds, after losing to Cincinnati, in Ohio, which ruined Rutgers perfect record in their 10th match of the season.
#4 Ohio State visits #23 Purdue, Saturday 8:00 p.m., EST. This is probably the game most likely to end in an upset, as Purdue comes into the match-up undefeated and with home-field advantage. Ohio State also starts off slow, so if Purdue can accumulate a large enough lead in the first half, the Boilermakers will have a great opportunity to upset the powerhouse that is Ohio State.