Welcome back everyone! After a week off, I am back to it with another edition of the Ultimate College Football Top 25. What a weekend it was in NCAA football. It was the first real wknd that produced movement throughout the top 25 - from top to bottom with all kinds of re-shuffling and new teams jumping into the rankings. There is a ton to cover, so let's jump right into it.
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First, we start in Las Vegas. Wait, what, Las Vegas? What are you talking about Chris? There weren't any marque matchups taking place this past weekend at the oasis in the desert, so what gives? Well, that's where I was this past weekend throwing down college football parlays and watching games all day long from the city that never sleeps. What made the trip so special was the opportunity to enjoy it with my younger brother and our dad. My lil bro and I had both been to Vegas a few times before, but never together, and it was the old man's first time to soak in all of the lights and everything that Vegas has to offer.
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His weapon of choice was the dice at the craps table and I've got to say my brother and I had an awesome time watching him take care of business. He did pretty darn good on a couple of occasions, especially at Palms the last night (Saturday) that we were there. For a first time Vegas gambler, he threw those dice like a seasoned pro.
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We spent the first two nights (Thurs and Fri) at Caesar's Palace right in the heart of the strip. We hit every main casino in the vicinity - Flamingo, Bellagio, Paris, Plant Hollywood, MGM Grand, Cosmopolitan, The Linq, The Mirage, etc, etc between the two nights and we all threw together a handful of college football parlays for Saturday. And that is where we get back to the top 25 action from this past week.
The top-ranked Crimson Tide fell behind very early at Texas A&M, and Tua Tagovailoa threw his first pick of the season - in the end zone none-the-less, but the Tide ultimately rolled past the Aggies 47-28 in College Station. #2 Clemson absolutely demolished Florida State, 45-14, in a game that wasn't even that close. Honestly, it could have been 70-0 if the Tigers really wanted, FSU wasn't able to do anything until going to transfer QB Alex Hornibrook & Clemsom going to the bench for a good portion of the second half after building a huge lead by early in the 3rd quarter.
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At number 3 is where we have our first major upset of the season. The #3 Georgia Bulldogs looked painfully inept on offense for most of the second half and especially so in both overtimes. QB Jake Fromm made a surprising back-breaking mistake when he threw a pick-six late in the first half to give the Gamecocks a shocking 17-10 halftime lead. Remember, Georgia was a 23 point + favorite in this game. A late TD from Georgia, coupled with a missed FG by South Carolina that would have won it at the end of the 1st OT, gave UGA some momentum. They were able to hold SC to a FG attempt again, and this time kicker Parker White was true from 33 yards. After Georgia's offense could not gain a single yard, it was up to kicker Rodrigo Blakenship, but his 42 yard field goal was off the mark, setting off a wild celebration on the Gamecocks' sideline after completing the 20-17 double-OT shocker. Congrats to the Gamecocks, who may have just saved their season with the surprising victory. As for Georgia, they are still really good, and can still make the playoff by winning out, but that is going to be a tall task in what is a very competitive & loaded SEC.
For now, they drop 9 spots this week to #12. I am still high on Georgia at this point, but the polls are currently overvaluing them at 10. A home loss to a 2-3 South Carolina team is a far worse loss than that of Oregon, who blew a lead to lose their opener to Auburn on a neutral field. Therefore, Oregon is up three spots this week to #11 after trouncing what had been a decent Colorado squad 45-3. Auburn also stays ahead of Georgia at #10. The Tigers' only loss at Florida, certainly is not a bad one by any means, and with a
more impressive overall resume than that of the Dawgs', puts Auburn ahead of UGA and up two spots to #10 this week.
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Back to Vegas - my brother's response to the Georgia- South Carolina game probably best summed up what the college football world was thinking as a whole (outside of maybe South Carolina) - 'Are you ******* me?' Of course, Georgia was one of his "safe", "sure-thing" bets - why wouldn't they be, playing at home as a massive favorite against a 2-3 team, whose previous road game ended with a 34-14 rout by Missouri. Their loss ended a couple of my parlays too. It was still early in the day, and already a couple of parlays shot. That was alright though, things were about to get better. It was time for the three Badger fans to checkout Wisconsin taking on Michigan State. Sparty had been dominated the week before at Ohio State, and the line had been bet down 1-2 points before kickoff, which offered a few pregame nerves, but we were all confident Wisconsin would prevail.
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Back to the top 25 -
Wisconsin went ahead and put a complete domination on the Spartans. It was effectively over by halftime, and the Badgers went on to record their fourth shutout of the season in just the first 6 games! No team has managed that feat since 1967 - and keep in mind this has come against no FCS opponents. The Badgers are up a pair of spots to #6 this week, as they look to keep cruising along at Illinois tomorrow.
Oklahoma & Texas also had an early start on Saturday in the 'Red River Showdown'. In what was an excellent game, the Longhorns somehow were unable to tackle Sooners' WR CeeDee Lamb, who literally ran circles around Texas' defense all afternoon long to the tune of 10 catches for 171 yards and 3 scores. OU had to hold off a late charge from Texas, but got another strong output from QB Jalen Hurts (4 total TDs, 131 rush yards) in the massive victory. The Sooners are now in the driver's seat for the Big XII Title game, and are up two spots to #5 this week. The Longhorns have a pair of losses by a touchdown in each to two of the best teams in the country- as they dropped to #19. They are easily the best 2-loss team in the country to this point, and could get still get another crack at their rivals in the Big XII Title game.
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Ohio State was idle and moved up a spot to #4. They have a massive showdown looming next weekend in Columbus vs the Badgers. And now to the other big game from this past weekend - where the crowd was in a frenzy as usual in Death Valley for LSU's highly anticipated showdown with Florida.
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After a back and forth first half, the Gators came out and took the lead early in the 3rd quarter - 28-21. Both offenses had surprisingly easy times maneuvering up and down the field, and LSU was quick to answer, and then take the lead back. After tacking on another score, the Tigers opened up a two TD advantage about midway through the 4th quarter...
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Back to Vegas, briefly... My brother still had two of his larger parlays still in play, and was relying on Louisville to knock off Wake Forest & needed Florida to cover the 14-point spread. Both of those scenarios appeared to be near locks, until the above mentioned developments. To make matters more intense, Louisville was in the process of having a 17-point lead with just over 5 minutes to play, nearly erased. After a Wake TD, (that took literally a minute of game time to drive 92 yards) they recovered an onside kick and promptly scored another TD. The nerves were going, but luckily Louisville recovered the second onside kick, and picked up a huge 4th and 1 that allowed them to run out the clock, but not after an 11-yard gain on 3rd & 11 was overturned, bringing up the 4th down. The incredible 62-59 Cardinals victory knocked Wake Forest from the rankings and gave Louisville their biggest win of the season. Ok, now back to LSU-Florida.
The Gators drove down the field in the closing moments, getting a 1st & goal from the 3, but were unable to punch it in, instead turning it over and allowing LSU to run out the clock and preserve a massive 42-28 victory. The win gave the Tigers the best resume to date of anyone out there, and also simultaneously resulted in a push for my lil bro's parlay. It cut his potential winnings basically in half, but was still a pretty awesome hit! He also hit another smaller parlay, so one of us had some solid luck with college football bets at least. (I also got a small payout as well, which was nice too!)
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Continuing along, Notre Dame jumped out to a nice 20-3 lead over rival USC only to have to hang on for dear life as the Trojans came roaring back in the second half (and took care of my dad's last remaining parlay in the process lol). The 30-27 victory sent the Irish up a spot to #8 this week, but also raised questions about their ability to close out games. For now, they are safely in the top 10.
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Penn State was the other new-comer to the top 10, as the Nittany Lions stayed undefeated by getting past Iowa in a tough, hard-fought 17-12 slugfest. The victory shot them up 4 spots to #7 this week after the big road victory.
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Boise State remains at 13 this week after trouncing a previously 4-1 Hawaii squad, Utah moved up to 14 after crushing Oregon State on the road 52-7, and Michigan lands at 15 this week after a bi-polar effort at Illinois that saw them race out to a 28-0 lead, only to surrender 25 unanswered to turn a blowout into a close game, only to score the final two TDs to pull away for a 42-25 victory. The jury is still out on the Wolverines in my opinion, and they may have some trouble with Penn State this weekend.
Back to Vegas - Baylor was a vital part of several of our parlays, and they were in a thriller with Texas Tech. We just needed the Bears to win and not cover luckily, but they certainly didn't make it easy. The game went to a 2nd OT where they eventually prevailed in dramatic fashion, 33-30, (Phew' another close one!) and improved to 6-0. The victory sent them up a spot to #18 this week and also kept alive a pair of parlays. SMU was idle and also moved up a spot, staying one ahead of Baylor at #17.
Minnesota, Cincinnati, Temple, and Missouri all made their respective top 25 debuts this week with the 6-0 Golden Gophers checking in at #20, the Bearcats at 21, the Owls are at #22 after upsetting previously #24 and unbeaten Memphis, and the Tigers are at #23, respectively. Rounding out the top 25 this week are the Tulane Green Wave, fresh off their 49-7 pummeling of UConn up a spot to 24. Iowa lands at #25 after their tough loss to Penn State.
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As always, there are several teams just outside of the rankings, led by a pair of 2-loss teams in Washington & Iowa State. 5-0 Appalachian State, Cal, UCF, Wake Forest, and Louisiana Tech are all in the "next" group of teams. Without further ado, this week's College Football Ultimate Top 25-
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College Football Ultimate Top 25
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1 ALABAMA (6-0)
2 CLEMSON (6-0)
3 LSU (6-0)
4 OHIO STATE (6-0)
5 OKLAHOMA (6-0)
6 WISCONSIN (6-0)
7 PENN STATE (6-0)
8 NOTRE DAME (5-1)
9 FLORIDA (6-1)
10 AUBURN (5-1)
11 OREGON (5-1)
12 GEORGIA (5-1)
13 BOISE STATE (6-0)
14 UTAH (5-1)
15 MICHIGAN (5-1)
16 ARIZONA STATE (5-1)
17 SMU (6-0)
18 BAYLOR (6-0)
19 TEXAS (4-2)
20 MINNESOTA (6-0)*
21 CINCINNATI (5-1)*
22 TEMPLE (5-1)*
23 MISSOURI (5-1)*
24 TULANE (5-1)
25 IOWA (4-2)
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*-New to the rankings this week
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Dropped Out:
20 Wake Forest, 22 Virginia, 23 Texas A&M, 24 Memphis
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Next:
Washington (5-2), Iowa State (4-2), Appalachian State (5-0), Cal (4-2), UCF (4-2), Wake Forest (5-1), Louisiana Tech (5-1)
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There are some huge showdowns ahead of us this weekend once again, with #9 Florida visiting South Carolina, fresh off their huge road upset of Georgia. How will the Gamecocks follow up their biggest win in years & how do the Gators bounce-back from their first loss of the season at LSU? West Virginia is at Oklahoma in Big XII action, and there is a heck of a showdown in the American Athletic of all conferences this week with #22 Temple taking on 6-0 #17 SMU in Dallas. Oregon is at Washington in a huge showdown in the Pac 12, as well as #16 Arizona State & #14 Utah. Michigan visits Penn State in a huge Big TEN matchup that will go a long way in shaping the East Division Champ, and #1 Alabama hosts Tennessee.
It was a heck of a weekend - one that the three of us boys won't forget - and a great college football weekend to experience in Vegas. This weekend is jam-packed again, will there be anymore big upsets? Be sure to check back next week, as always, I would love to get your thoughts in the comments section, thank you for the support, and a special thank you to my Dad, Myron, and "little" bro, Alex, for the priceless memories. Enjoy all of the games this weekend!
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