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Mike's NCAA college football power rankings for the top 25 NCAA college football teams before Week 8 of the 2024 season. Which teams are the best contenders for the expanded playoff?
It was another week of chaos, which could be the new normal in college football. Mega conferences have churned up some good regular season games, even if they are cheapened a bit by the expanded playoff.
These rankings will vary from the AP ones because I don't go off speculation. I go by what happened on the field only. They will stabilize as the season goes on, but the AP doesn't value the wins that BYU and Iowa State have as much as I do.
I understand that teams can only beat who is scheduled. These are going to look a little strange through September and maybe even into October, but I hope it serves to highlight wins that others may not have noticed.
(25) Navy (5-0) (NR)
Last week: Bye
The win over Memphis gives Navy the leg-up over Army. Beating Air Force by the largest margin since 1978 is also a good look.
(24) Arizona State (5-1) (NR)
Last week: W 27-19 vs. Utah
The Fun Devils beat a sneaky-good Texas State team in San Marcos and they broke Cam Rising. In turn, they broke Utah and we might see college football's first eighth-year senior next year.
Year Eight? ? Instead of NIL he’ll be earning Social Security. ? pic.twitter.com/zOnGCpHpMq
— Lori Burkhart (@loriburkhart) October 14, 2024
(23) Texas Tech (5-1) (NR)
Last week: W 28-22 at Arizona
Tech's only loss is to Washington State and they are the best team in Arizona. Tech is lurking near the top of the Big 12 and they avoid Kansas State and BYU. We might need to have a conversation about how good Texas Tech is.
(22) Washington State (5-1) ⇑1
Last week: W 25-17 at Fresno State
How important is a win at Fresno? I don't know. All I know is that this world needs more John Mateer on TV. The resurrected Pac-12 should help with that.
John Mateer with some magic pic.twitter.com/nOpuY6nwPD
— Greg Woods (@GregWWoods) October 12, 2024
(21) Missouri (5-1) ⇓1
Last week: Bye
We are going to learn a lot about Missouri this weekend.
(20) Illinois (5-1) ⇓1
Last week: W 50-49 vs. Purdue (OT)
Yeah, Purdue is a much better team with Ryan Browne at quarterback. That still doesn't excuse blowing a 24-point lead to only win because the other team missed a two-point conversion in overtime. Illinois played a weak non-conference schedule as well. The win over Kansas isn't holding up.
(19) LSU (5-1) ⇑5
Last week: W 29-26 vs. Mississippi (OT)
LSU doesn't jump a lot in my polls since Ole Miss was unranked by me following the Kentucky loss. The loss to USC is one of the worst among my ranked one-loss teams. Ole Miss stumbling and playing an embarrassingly soft non-conference schedule is hurting LSU in my rankings.
(18) Indiana (6-0) ⇓1
Last week: Bye
Indiana is 6-0 for the second time in school history. That should count for something even if it has a Stay-Puft schedule right now.
(17) SMU (5-1) ⇓2
Last week: Bye
The win over Louisville is better than anything Indiana has. Their one loss has turned out to be a pretty good one as well.
(16) Notre Dame (5-1) ⇔
Last week: W 49-7 vs. Stanford
The Irish rattled off 49 straight points to embarrass an embarrassing Stanford team.
(15) Boise State (5-1) ⇓1
Last week: W 28-7 at Hawaii
At this point, the Broncos just want to keep Ashton Jeanty healthy enough to win the Heisman in these blowout games. They'll give him around 200 yards and sit him the rest of the game. Jeanty played longer than usual with Hawaii keeping it close. That allowed him to top 200 yards again.
When Ashton Jeanty is invited to the Heisman ceremony, he should simply grab the trophy and run off with it regardless of whose name they call. It’s not like anyone will be able to stop him.
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) October 9, 2024
(14) Kansas State (5-1) ⇑8
Last week: W 31-28 at (21) Colorado
Winning at a place where you are 5-27 in school history is a big deal, especially against a solid team. The loss to BYU doesn't look bad anymore. The Wildcats are also the team that sent the other Wildcats (Arizona) spiraling out of control.
(13) Tennessee (5-1) ⇔
Last week: W 23-17 vs. Florida (OT)
Opposing teams have figured something out with Tennessee. The Vols have only scored 62 points in the last three games after piling 71 on Kent. See? Being a bully doesn't pay!
(12) Clemson (5-1) ⇔
Last week: W 49-14 at Wake Forest
Wake is not a strong team this year, but beating anyone by 35 points on their own field isn't easy. The Clemson offense keeps rolling through the ACC.
(11) Texas A&M (5-1) ⇔
Last week: Bye
The Notre Dame loss turned out to be a respectable loss, at least for now.
(10) Pittsburgh (6-0) ⇔
Last week: W 17-15 vs. California
How good is Cal? How good are any of these teams that Pitt has beaten? 6-0 is impressive. Pitt's ability to win close games is impressive. The schedule? Not so much anymore.
(9) Alabama (5-1) ⇔
Last week: W 27-25 vs. South Carolina
Can we talk about the big red elephant in the room? Alabama is really lucky to escape this one. You can argue rather convincingly that LaNorris Sellers outplayed Jalen Milroe. The lack of a consistent run game is hurting the Tide. The Alabama defense was great in this one though.
(8) Miami (FL) (6-0) ⇔
Last week: Bye
Well...at least Miami didn't win a game embroiled in controversy this week.
(7) Georgia (5-1) ⇔
Last week: W 41-31 vs. Mississippi State
Carson Beck has his best collegiate game. Perhaps the telling fact is that he needed his best collegiate game to beat a 1-4 Mississippi State team. The Bulldogs have a good one in Michael Van Buren Jr. I don't care who you are, where you coach, or who you coach, this is NEVER okay. How can the officials allow something like this? Disgusting!
— Dayne Young (@dayneyoung) October 12, 2024
The restraint shown by Van Buren can't be understated either. Anyone who has played football knows how high emotions can run during a game whether the game is at a high level or not. I commend Van Buren for how he handled this. Very impressive from the young man. If he would have turned around and shoved Smart back, I would have completely understood it.
Yes, it's good that Kirby Smart apologized. My case is that Smart never should have shoved anyone like that! It doesn't matter if it's one of his players, his coaches, an official, sideline reporter, or anyone else. There's really no excuse. It's a bad look.
(6) Ohio State (5-1) ⇓1
Last week: L 31-32 at (3) Oregon
The Buckeyes lost a one-point game on the road against a top 5 team. That loss is just a touch better than Georgia's. Georgia not looking great on defense keeps them a bit behind, but honestly, these two are almost interchangeable right now.
(5) Penn State (6-0) ⇓1
Last week: W 33-30 at USC (OT)
Everyone with eyes knows that those were two missed calls against Penn State in the top of the overtime. My steadfast rule amidst trash officiating is that I go by the official ruling regardless of my feelings about it unless it can be determined without a doubt that the other team should have won. I've only reached that conclusion twice in the last 20 years.
One was the Cooper DeJean touchdown return against Minnesota that was errantly called back last year. The other was Oklahoma/Texas Tech in 2005 on a play that was clearly not a touchdown by Taurean Henderson on the last play of the game. A bad as these no-calls were, we can't prove that USC would have won this game. Did it alter the outcome? Maybe, but we'll never know.
(4) Iowa State (5-0) ⇓1
Last week: W 28-16 at West Virginia
Iowa St is 6-0 for the 1st time since 1938.
Indiana is 6-0 for the 1st time since 1967.
Pitt is 6-0 for the 1st time since 1982.
Army is 6-0 for the 1st time since 1996.A generational season of college football.
— Ben Stevens (@BenScottStevens) October 13, 2024
Another road win looks good on the ol' resumé for the Cyclones. The quality of opponents is dwindling though.
(3) BYU (6-0) ⇓1
Last week: W 41-19 vs. Arizona
This is another strong win for the Cougars as Arizona was thought to be a contender in the Big 12 (14). BYU has one of the more opportunistic defenses in the country.
(2) Oregon (6-0) ⇑4
Last week: W 32-31 vs. (5) Ohio State
The Ohio State win is better than any of Texas's singular wins, but a road win at Michigan and a neutral site win against Oklahoma keep Texas up top. Both of Oregon's big wins (Boise, Ohio State) were at the Zoo.
(1) Texas (6-0) ⇔
Last week: W 34-3 vs. (18) Oklahoma
Another win against a ranked foe on a road or neutral site keeps Texas looking strong. We'll find out this week just how strong they are. We thought the Alabama game in Austin in 2022 was the biggest game at DKR. Is this one bigger?
Should I make the trip down to ATX for Texas vs. Georgia? ? ? #HookEm pic.twitter.com/j6jmSjU4By
— Peyton Yager (@peytonyager) October 14, 2024
Others Receiving Votes
- Army
- Liberty
- Nebraska
- Vanderbilt
- Syracuse
- Mississippi
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