Week 8 rankings

Pow! Right in the kisser!

Anyway, rankings:

Rkg Team                        Rating   Record   SOS   PF/PA   LW (Chng)   Next Game (10/25)
  1 Texas                       8.5894     7-0     18    2.74     1 (0)     Oklahoma State
  2 Alabama                     8.0935     7-0     63    2.24     2 (0)     @ Tennessee
  3 Boise State                 7.6420     6-0     99    3.10     3 (0)     @ San José State (10/24)
  4 Oklahoma State              7.6290     7-0     96    2.26     5 (+1)    @ Texas
  5 Oklahoma                    7.5430     6-1     21    2.26     9 (+4)    @ Kansas State
  6 Pennsylvania State          7.4822     8-0    109    3.86     6 (0)     @ Ohio State
  7 Utah                        7.4562     8-0    106    2.09     7 (0)     IDLE (@ New Mexico, 11/01)
  8 Southern California         7.4473     5-1     43    5.30     4 (-4)    @ Arizona
  9 Georgia                     7.4231     6-1     29    1.79    14 (+5)    @ Louisiana State
 10 Ohio State                  7.3738     7-1     44    2.01    15 (+5)    Pennsylvania State
 11 Texas Tech                  7.2859     7-0    113    2.17    10 (-1)    @ Kansas
 12 Florida                     7.2158     5-1     47    2.96    13 (+1)    Kentucky
 13 Pittsburgh                  7.0969     5-1     51    1.29    21 (+8)    Rutgers
 14 Ball State                  7.0619     7-0    118    2.43    11 (-3)    Eastern Michigan
 15 Tulsa                       6.9487     7-0    120    2.08    27 (+12)   Central Florida (10/26)
 16 Texas Christian             6.9149     7-1     82    3.08    30 (+14)   Wyoming
 17 Minnesota                   6.8460     6-1     74    1.60    25 (+8)    @ Purdue
 18 Georgia Tech                6.6964     6-1     87    2.14    26 (+8)    Virginia
 19 Missouri                    6.6937     5-2      6    1.74    16 (-3)    Colorado
 20 Northwestern                6.6209     6-1     92    1.54    29 (+9)    @ Indiana
 21 Boston College              6.5968     5-1     88    2.24    39 (+18)   @ North Carolina
 22 South Florida               6.5832     6-1     98    2.02    23 (+1)    @ Louisville
 23 Florida State               6.4868     5-1    104    2.33    31 (+8)    Virginia Tech
 24 Michigan State              6.4857     6-2     34    1.33    12 (-12)   @ Michigan
 25 Cincinnati                  6.4469     5-1    102    1.53    33 (+8)    @ Connecticut

Dropped out: #8 Wake Forest (to #29), #17 North Carolina (to #31), #18 Virginia Tech (to #28),
#19 Brigham Young (to #27), #20 California (to #34), #22 Vanderbilt (to #30), #24 Connecticut (to #40)

Bottom 10:

111 Louisiana - Monroe          2.1928     2-5    114    0.84   116 (+5)    Florida Atlantic
112 Alabama - Birmingham        2.1388     2-6     75    0.72   119 (+7)    IDLE (@ Southern Mississippi, 11/01)
113 Eastern Michigan            2.0546     2-6     86    0.70   110 (-3)    @ Ball State
114 San Diego State             2.0172     1-6     62    0.48   112 (-2)    Colorado State
115 Army                        1.9856     2-5    117    0.77   111 (-4)    Louisiana Tech
116 Southern Methodist          1.8786     1-7     22    0.61   114 (-2)    @ Navy
117 Washington State            1.8764     1-7     20    0.29   115 (-2)    IDLE (@ Stanford, 11/01)
118 Kent State                  1.8459     1-6     72    0.68   118 (0)     @ Miami (OH)
119 North Texas                 1.3061     0-7     33    0.33   117 (-2)    Troy
120 Idaho                       0.9954     1-7     91    0.44   119 (0)     New Mexico State

Thoughts:

• Um, wow. That was not the game I was expecting.
  
  Whatever questions anyone had about how Texas would handle being the #1 team for the first time during the regular season in 25 years were answered about as well as they could have been yesterday. The Longhorns played a near-flawless game for three quarters before putting in the subs and cruising to a 56-31 victory over the smouldering remains of the Missouri Tigers. Colt McCoy completed 90.6% of his passes (29-of-32) for 337 yards and two touchdowns, and added two more scores on the ground. I called his performance in Dallas "masterful," so I'm not left with much in the way of vocabulary to describe the game he had yesterday. Superlative? Transcendent? Magisterial? I can't yet find a video of the play late in the second quarter, where Colt fumbled the ball after getting some pressure, then calmly picked it up and flicked it downfield to Quan Cosby for a 23-yard gain, but...Jeebus...there are no words in the English language for that kind of performance. None.
  
  Well, one, maybe: Heisman.
  
  But as ridiculous as Colt's performance was, the defense held up their end of the bargain by keeping Mizzou's offense out of the game from the very beginning. Missouri had had only had three three-and-outs the entire season up to this point, but yesterday failed to make a first down on three of their first four drives, and on their fifth drive, couldn't convert a fourth down inside the Texas 10 yard line.
  
  It looks like the poll voters all watched the game (and why wouldn't they?). Texas took all 65 first-place votes in the AP poll, and all but three of them in the USA Today ranking (Alabama took one, Penn State had two). In the Harris Poll, Texas has 104 of the 115 possible first-place votes, Bama has six, Penn State has three, and some random idiot put Utah, of all things, at the top (the Utes are #12 in the poll).
  
  
• Vandy played Georgia tight again, but couldn't pull off the same upset they did two years ago in Athens. Trailing 21-14 late in the game, Vandy was driving for the tying score when Bulldogs corner Asher Allen tackled receiver Jamie Graham half a yard short of the sticks on fourth down to seal the game. Georgia then put it away with a field goal. Mackenzie Adams, given his first start over increasingly mediocre former starter Chris Nickson, did about as well as can be expected, completing 50% of his passes for 131 yards, two scores, and two interceptions. Nickson got in for one snap, and he managed to fumble it on third-and-one early in the third. It wasn't a blowout, though, which is good. I can't be too broken up about this since it was completely expected, and wasn't one of the games I was counting as winnable at any point in the season.
  
  
• Georgia Tech struggled a bit, but still pulled out the victory against a reeling Clemson team. The Tigers turned it over six times, and their first-half drive log isn't pretty: punt, punt, fumble, interception, interception, punt, punt, fumble, field goal, interception. Clemson came to life in the third quarter and managed to take a 17-14 lead, but it didn't last. Josh Nesbitt put the go-ahead touchdown into Demaryius Thomas's hands with a little more than five minutes to go, then forced James Davis to cough it up on a hook-and-ladder attempt in the ensuing drive. Clemson's last-second hail-mary was intercepted well short of the goal line to end the game.
  
  
• I don't talk about the NFL much, but this season is starting to look like fun for Titans fans. They went to 6-0 today and remain the last undefeated team in the league after demolishing Kansas City. They lead the AFC South by 2½ games, and the division isn't anywhere near as strong as it's been in recent years. Now have to run the gauntlet of Indianapolis, Green Bay, at Chicago and at Jacksonville.
  
  
• A quick look at the conference races:
  
  
  • ACC: Four teams are tied for the Atlantic Division lead at 2-1, although Wake Forest is on a serious backslide right now and will almost certainly not be able to keep pace. Maryland is schizoid and could do anything at all, so it's probably going to come down to the BC/FSU game in Tallahassee on 11/15. In the Coastal, Georgia Tech currently leads by half a game over UVA and Virginia Tech, but if it comes down to it, the Hokies hold the head-to-head tiebreaker.
    
    
  • Big East: It's still too early to mean much, but Pitt and WVU are tied at 2-0, with Cincinnati right behind at 1-0. Still a wide open league.
    
    
  • Big Ten: We'll find out soon. Penn State and Ohio State both demolished their run-up opponents this week, are both 4-0, and play in the Horseshoe next week. Sparty is still Sparty (lost 45-7 at home to tOSU after opening the season 6-1). Northwestern and Minnesota are quietly waiting in the wings at 2-1, although neither plays Penn State this season.
    
    
  • Big 12: The South is where it's at, as usual. Three undefeated teams, all of which will play each other within the next three weeks. If Texas keeps playing the way they have been, there isn't anyone in the country that can beat them. In the North, Kansas holds a one-game lead over the rest of the field. It's well within the realm of possibility that the North champion will have four league losses.
    
    
  • CUSA: The East Division isn't particularly good. It's ECU and Marshall currently on top at 2-1. The Tulsa/Houston game in Houston on 11/15 will decide the West Division.
    
    
  • MAC: Again, the East Division is weak, and may send a four-loss team to Detroit. The West comes down to the CMU/Ball State game in Mount Pleasant on 11/19.
    
    
  • MWC: It's still kinda wide open, but it'll probably come down to TCU and Utah in Salt Lake City on 11/06. TCU may have an emotional leg up on everyone after exposing BYU last Thursday evening.
    
    
  • Pac-10: Oregon State currently holds the tie-breakers, but this conference is so mediocre from top to bottom that pretty much anyone except the Washington schools could still win it. USC is probably the best team, if by nothing else than default.
    
    
  • SEC: The East comes down to Georgia/Florida once again, although Vandy is (surprise!) still in it. Vandy would have to win out and hope Georgia loses twice. The West is pretty much a two-team race, and the only game that really matters is Bama's trip to Baton Rouge on 11/08.
    
    
  • Sun Belt: Troy and ULL are both 3-0 and play late, but this conference is pointless to predict, since none of these teams are any good.
    
    
  • WAC: Boise State seems set to reclaim its league dominance, and appears to be by far the best team in the conference. The Broncos visit 3-0 SJSU next Friday. Whoever wins that game will have the inside track on the title.
  
  
• Next week's games:
  
  
  • Texas hosts Oklahoma State. Texas leads the series 20-2 and has won ten in a row. It's been pretty nutty lately. OSU has led at the half in five of the last six games, only to see Texas come back to win. The Cowboys have a high-flying offense, but are more run-oriented than Mizzou or Oklahoma. That plays well into Texas's defensive strengths. It also doesn't hurt that Texas is playing like a national champion right now.
    
    
  • Georgia Tech hosts Virginia. Virginia leads the series 15-14-1 and has won five of the last 16 meetings, including four of the last five. Tech blew out UVA in Atlanta two years ago. The Wreck seems to be rambling, but the Scissorheads are in the midst of another run to save Al Groh's job. For whatever that's worth.
    
    
  • Vanderbilt hosts Duke. Vandy leads the series 7-3, and has won the last six meetings. The last Duke win against the 'Dores came in 1991, and had 45 points hung on them in Durham two years ago. Vandy is playing at home for bowl eligibility, something that hasn't happened within the lifetime of any current Vanderbilt undergraduate student. That stadium is going to be rocking out.