Week 5 turned out to be a more exciting week than I had originally anticipated. All of the games I watched (or watched parts of) came down to the wire (Wisconsin - Minnesota; KSU-ISU, Washington - Notre Dame, Oklahoma - Miami).
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| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida | |
| 2 | Alabama | |
| 3 | Texas | |
| 4 | LSU |
 1 |
| 5 | Boise State |
 1 |
| 6 | Cincinnati | |
| 7 | Southern Cal |
3 |
| 8 | Miami (Florida) |
5 |
| 9 | TCU |
1 |
| 10 | Virginia Tech |
1 |
| 11 | Oklahoma |
4 |
| 12 | Oklahoma State |
1 |
| 13 | Ohio State |
1 |
| 14 | Iowa | |
| 15 | Brigham Young |
1 |
| 16 | Kansas |
2 |
| 17 | Nebraska |
3 |
| 18 | Penn State |
3 |
| 19 | Mississippi |
3 |
| 20 | Georgia |
5 |
| 21 | Auburn |
2 |
| 22 | South Carolina |
2 |
| 23 | Oregon |
2 |
| 24 | South Florida | |
| 25 | Boston College | |
Thoughts on Week 5 After The Jump!
Below is my breakdown as to how I've ranked the teams:
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1-5: The teams stay the same, with swapping LSU and Boise State. LSU picked up a tough road SEC win against Georgia, so I give them the nod.
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6-10: Cincy stays in the same spot, picking up a win as expected. USC and Miami move up, picking up big wins, TCU moves down slightly because of default, while Virginia Tech moves down because they struggled on the road against Duke. With Miami, I think they deserve to be ranked that high, as they went 3-1 against ranked opponents. Before the season started, many had Miami at 0-4 right now. Miami isn't quite National Championship-Ready yet, but I think they have BCS Bowl talent.
- 11-15: Oklahoma moves out of the Top 10 down to 11. I think Oklahoma can beat Oklahoma State, Ohio State, Iowa, etc., so that's how I determined how far down they would move. Oklahoma State on a bye week, moves down, mostly due to Miami leap-frogging them. Ohio State gets a very expected win, but moves down because of Miami moving into the Top 10. Iowa stays idle, as they almost look past Arkansas State to Michigan. BYU takes Georgia's former spot at #15.
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16-20: Kansas, Nebraska, Penn State, and Mississippi all stay same relative to each other, but move up due to Georgia, Houston, and Cal losses. I moved Georgia only down five, as they could've beat LSU, and from what I have seen, I think are a better team than the teams ranked #21-25. Georgia is a good team; The SEC is just tough that most teams will have at least 1-2 losses.
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21-25: Auburn, South Carolina, and Oregon all pick up expected wins, and stay in the same spots relative to each other. South Florida and Boston College get into my Top 25 for the first time, as both of these teams have been hot, and the teams on my watch list haven't had a statement game yet.
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Watch List:
- Missouri: because they have looked good for the most part, are 4-0, but they haven't beat anyone yet. They will have their chance to prove themselves against Nebraska on Thursday night.
- Notre Dame: Talented, but have won some games very closely recently, and these are games that they should be winning by more, in my opinion. They also have a bye followed by a big matchup in USC in two weeks.
- Georgia Tech: Too one dimensional in my opinion. Their wins against Clemson and/or North Carolina, don't look all that amazing now. At times they didn't look like they should be on the same field as Miami. If this team gets down by a couple of scores, it's too tough for them to get back into the game, as their passing game is horrible. With Florida State and Virginia Tech on thier schedule in the next two weeks, they will have a chance to show how good they really are.
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Wisconsin: They are 5-0, but their biggest win was against a Minnesota team that is probably a 7 win team. They've got Ohio State and Iowa these next two weeks, and that will go a long way in showing us if they're a Big 10 contender or not (probably not).
- Stanford: It's early, but they have a 3-0 record in the Pac 10, and the road to the Rose Bowl right now is through them. Just sayin'
So hopefully you can see what I'm getting at with the ballot. It's still going to be somewhat tough. Early in the season, it makes sense to do resume rankings, as there isn't enough data to see how good a team is. Now that we are almost halfway through the college season, the process is a mix of what we're seeing on the field with resume ranking being more of a tie-breaker.
I try to rank the teams the best I can, using power rankings and using the team's overall resume to break ties. I power rank between the teams I feel belong in the Top 25. I use the a team's resume to determine whether or not they belong in the Top 25, but even at this point in the season, the last two spots will likely be whichever teams are hot at the moment.
Also, I try to come out with the ballot late on Saturday or early Sunday. The main reason is that I do not want to know how the AP and Coaches are ranking teams, because I don't want them to influence my ballot. Honestly, I could not tell you most of the AP and Coach rankings, as I try to stay away from it as a whole.
Hopefully it makes some sense. If people want to have a discussion on the rankings, I'm more than open for a debate in the comments!
Other Week 5 thoughts:
- What is going on with Florida State? To start the year, they looked pretty good against Miami and BYU. They also looked so, blah, against South Florida and Boston College.
- Florida State? What about Cal? I feel douped by this team. They just aren't as good as I thought they would be. Losing two weeks in a row is bad enough, but two blowouts in a row? Sheeh!
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Notre Dame is just barley getting by. If you're a fan, you're happy they are executing down the stretch, but if they keep playing like this, another team is going to bite them. If a couple plays go differently, this is a 1-4 team.
- High School and College QB's should study Jacory Harris' performance against OU. After throwing 2 interceptions in Miami's first two possessions, he did not lose his composure, continued to make plays, and led Miami to a huge win. In the college game, so many QB's and teams lose confidence after two straight interceptions, and it would all spiral downwards. You have to maintain confidence, trust the coaches and team, and continue to make big plays. Overall huge for a young guy like in a pressure-packed situation with his back against the wall.
I think that's pretty much a wrap for Week 5 for the most part. The ISU loss definitley stinks, but hopefully this team continues to improve and can be competitive against KU this week.