College Football Top 25 Week 10 - Oh the Carnage

Before the College Football Playoff Committee releases their first rankings of the 2018 season a bit later today, let's take a look back at a crazy Week 9 of the college football season that saw unprecedented carnage as 10 teams, yes TEN of the 25 ranked teams, all lost. The number was even worse when looking at the AP top 25 as Appalachian State made it 11 that all stumbled this past week. While none of the top 5 were victims, it started right at # 7, with Texas going into Stillwater and dropping a 35-38 battle with Oklahoma State. The Cowboys raced out to a 31-14 halftime lead that proved to be a field goal too much for the Longhorns to overcome in the second half.

Right behind Texas was perhaps the game of the week in Georgia, as the Bulldogs took on # 10 Florida. The Gators were unable to overcome turnovers and poor quarterback play in a 36-17 defeat, in a game that was closer than the final margin would indicate. The impressive victory moved Georgia up two spots and into the # 6 spot in this week's rankings. # 11 Kentucky got a walk-off win as they rallied from a two-score fourth quarter deficit to win 15-14 on the last play of the game at Missouri. The victory moved the Wildcats up a spot and into the top 10. Washington St. got themselves a very solid, quality, road victory when they won a tough matchup at # 23 Stanford, 41-38. The win over the Cardinal gives the Cougars 3 victories within conference play against teams that are either ranked now or were at the time (Oregon, Utah being the other two). It also shot them up 3 spots in this week's rankings and into the top 10 at # 9. West Virginia routed Baylor on Thursday night 58-14 to move up a couple of spots to 11. # 14 Washington lost 12-10 in a surprising slugfest at Cal, dropping them down to # 25, and just barely still in the rankings. Behind the Huskies, Ohio St. was idle and took advantage of developments in front of them to move up 3 spots to # 12. Penn St., Texas, and Florida round out the top 15 at 13, 14, and 15 respectively.

Clemson is heating up as of late, but it's not quite enough to pass the Crimson Tide

The real carnage took place right outside the top 15 as # 17 Iowa lost at Penn St. 30-24 in a tough game, # 18 Oregon were completely blown-out by Arizona, # 19 Wisconsin lost by two touchdowns in a lackluster effort at Northwestern, # 20 Texas A&M lost by 15 at Mississippi St., # 21 South Florida went to Houston and were routed 57-36 in a high-scoring shootout for their first loss after living dangerously close to defeat the previous few weeks, # 23 Stanford lost as previously mentioned, and # 24 N.C. St. lost at the Carrier Dome as Syracuse won a game where defense was optional - 51-41. 7 of the final 9 teams ranked in last week's poll went down, opening the door for several new teams to jump into this week's rankings.

Fresno State jumps into the rankings for the first time this season

Oregon, Wisconsin, Texas A&M, South Florida, Stanford, and N.C. St. all dropped from the rankings this week. Which allowed Utah to move up six spots after their route of UCLA to # 16, and are followed by Houston, making their debut in the rankings at # 17, Fresno St. in for the first time as well, at # 18, Utah St. up six spots to # 19 after pounding New Mexico, 61-19, Iowa at # 20, coming off that tough 6-point loss at Penn St., Syracuse back in the rankings after a long hiatus from earlier in the season at # 21, Mississippi St., who is back in once again, for the third different time already this season at 22, Virginia, ranked for the first time in a long time at 23, Georgia Southern, who is a surprising 7-1, and completely blew out Appalachian St. last week, who came into the contest ranked # 25 in the AP poll, is in at 24, and the previously mentioned Washington Huskies round out this week's top 25. After a week that featured a bit of everything in the world of college football, here is our updated college football rankings for week 10:

<b>TOP 25</b>

1 ALABAMA (8-0)

2 CLEMSON (8-0)

3 LSU (7-1)

4 NOTRE DAME (8-0)

5 MICHIGAN (7-1)

6 GEORGIA (7-1)

7 UCF (7-0)

8 OKLAHOMA (7-1)

9 WASHINGTON ST. (7-1)

10 KENTUCKY (7-1)

11 WEST VIRGINIA (6-1)

12 OHIO ST. (7-1)

13 PENN ST. (6-2)

14 TEXAS (6-2)

15 FLORIDA (6-2)

16 UTAH (6-2)

17 HOUSTON (7-1)*

18 FRESNO ST. (7-1)*

19 UTAH ST. (7-1)

20 IOWA (6-2)

21 SYRACUSE (6-2)*

22 MISSISSIPPI ST. (5-3)*

23 VIRGINIA (6-2)*

24 GA SO. (7-1)*

25 WASHINGTON (6-3)

Dropped out: 18 Oregon, 19 Wisconsin, 20 Texas A&M, 21 South Florida, 23 Stanford, 24 N.C. St.

With all of the losses throughout the rankings last week, and so many teams falling out, the door has been opened up for several teams to possibly work their way into the poll as Boston College (6-2), Army (6-2), UAB (7-1), and Oklahoma St. (5-3) would be the next few teams just outside of the top 25, with South Florida (7-1), Cal (5-3), and Auburn (5-3) behind them. Looking ahead to this week, it will go a long way in shaping the final playoff bracket at the end of the season, as a crucial battle will take place in Baton Rouge between # 3 LSU and # 1 Alabama. The winner will be on the inside track to win the SEC West and while the loser may not be entirely eliminated from the playoff conversation, it will make their task significantly more difficult. The SEC East also features a showdown that most likely will have a massive impact on not just the winner of the East division, but the playoff picture as a whole. # 6 Georgia visits # 10 Kentucky as the Wildcats will attempt to keep their miraculous season going.

LSU is the top 1-loss team in the country and may have the most impressive resume to date, but a showdown with top-ranked Alabama looms

In the Big 12, the showdown of the week features # 11 West Virginia visiting # 14 Texas in a game that will help to clear up the muddled picture atop the conference. Iowa visits Purdue in a tricky game in the Big TEN West Division and the game of the week in the conference features # 13 Penn St. at # 5 Michigan in a matchup that will help to determine the representative of the Big Ten East Division. A win by the Wolverines would almost certainly setup a winner-take-all scenario in the season finale with rival Ohio St. 4 Notre Dame is at Northwestern, # 7 Oklahoma is at Texas Tech, and # 9 Washington St. hosts Cal in what should be another stern test for the Cougars. After last week, who truly knows what lies ahead in week 10 of the college football season, but if we've learned anything, it's that everything and anything is possible. Be sure to check back next week for an updated top 25 and see how we compare to the "official college football playoff committee". Enjoy all of the action as always, and hopefully your team won't fall victim to the wrath of last week!