Welcome back everyone to another edition of the Ultimate College Football Top 25 presented by @sportsguychris. Week 8 provided plenty of movement throughout the rankings once again. Everyone has at least reached the halfway point of the season, with most teams having 6-7 games in the books. The weather has started to chill a bit, which means we are now in the heart of conference play. As always, there is plenty to cover, so let's get right to it.
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We start at the top of rankings, where Alabama got an injury scare to QB Tua Tagovailoa, but managed to take care of the Tennessee Volunteers without much trouble, getting a 35-13 victory to stay atop the rankings. It appears that Tagovailoa has avoided a serious ankle injury, and hopes to be back in a couple of weeks. Backup Mac Jones will step in this week, luckily for the Crimson Tide, they have a matchup with a hot mess also known as the Arkansas Razorbacks.
#2 Clemson went on the road to take on a surprising Louisville squad, and promptly dispatched the Cardinals with ease, 45-10. Trevor Lawrence threw two more picks, and while he can more than likely forget about any chance of a Heisman Trophy this season, the Tigers keep cruising right along toward another CFP birth. The ACC is bad, really bad actually, there is no way around it this season, so they need to keep winning. For now, Clemson remains #2, but LSU & Ohio State are poised to pass the Tigers thanks to tougher competition.
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Speaking of the Tigers & Buckeyes, LSU remains at 3 this week after taking care of Mississippi State in Starksville, 36-13. Ohio State is up a spot and into a tie for the #3 spot with LSU after avoiding a "trap" game at Northwestern last Friday night. The 52-3 beatdown of the Wildcats was tough to ignore, as OSU prepares for a monster showdown in the Big TEN with Wisconsin this Saturday.
Speaking of the Badgers, they were unable to keep up their end of the bargain, and may have been caught looking ahead to the OSU showdown when they visited Champaign to take on the Illini. The previously unbeaten Badgers blew a 23-14 4th quarter lead in shocking fashion, turning the ball over on each of their final two possessions, leading directly to 10 unanswered points to close out the game for Illinois, including the game-winning field goal in the closing seconds. The gut-wrenching & largely self-inflicted 24-23 loss drops Bucky 6 spots this week to #12. The shocker of the week was every bit as surprising as Georgia's loss to South Carolina the week prior. Saturday's showdown with the Buckeyes looms even larger after the setback. Credit to Lovie Smith & Illinois, who picked up the program's biggest victory since the days of Abraham Lincoln (ok just kidding - kind of).
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Staying in the Big TEN, there was a huge primetime matchup between Penn State & Michigan from Happy Valley. The Nittany Lions ran out to a two-touchdown lead and then had to hold off the Wolverines down the stretch to preserve a 28-21 victory. PSU's biggest win of the season to date moves them up another spot this week to #6. Meanwhile, the maize & blue fell 4 spots to #19, and continued their troubles against ranked opponents under Jim Harbaugh. The schedule doesn't let- up at all as the Wolverines welcome Notre Dame to the Big House this week for another Saturday night showdown.
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Remaining in the top 10, Oklahoma recorded a 52-14 cakewalk victory over West Virginia in Norman to remain at #5. Following Penn State at 6 are the Florida Gators up two spots to #7 after pulling away at South Carolina down the stretch for a 38-27 victory. UF continues to impress in the SEC East. Behind the Gators at #8 (& up two spots as well) is yet another SEC team in the Auburn Tigers - who had their way with Arkansas in a 51-10 road victory. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish were idle ahead of their big showdown at the Big House, dropping a spot to #9. Rounding out the top 10 are the Oregon Ducks, up a spot this week - fresh off their come-from-behind 35-31 victory at Washington.
Georgia took care of Kentucky at home in a routine 21-3 victory to move up a spot to #11, and are followed by the aforementioned Badgers at 12, Utah at 13, also up a spot after a big 21-3 win in Pac-12 play over previously #16 Arizona State. Following the Utes at #14 this week, SMU put a surprising 45-21 spanking on previously #22 Temple to remain unbeaten, and moved up 3 spots in the process. Baylor also remained undefeated at 7-0 after getting past Oklahoma State on the road, pulling away down the stretch for an 18-point victory. The Bears are also up 3 spots, settling in at #15 this week.
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Minnesota took care of Rutgers, who quite honestly are looking more and more like a program that has no business being in the Big TEN. Nonetheless the Gophers crushed the Scarlett Knights, 42-7, to move up 4 spots this week to #16. The Golden Gophers are 7-0, but have yet to be tested. That will change on November 9th when Penn State comes to town. Behind Minnesota this week are the Texas Longhorns, up two spots to #17, after barely scraping past Kansas, 50-48. The Longhorns defense has really let them down so far this season, and surrendering 48 points to a 2-5 Kansas squad that came in only averaging 22.8 points per contest is not a good look. That being said, they avoided the upset and will need to keep winning if they are to get into the Big XII Title game.
Rounding out the top 25 this week are the Cincinnati Bearcats up to #18, the previously mentioned Michigan Wolverines at 19, Iowa up 5 spots to #20 after squeaking by Purdue 26-20, while Boise State dropped 8 spots to #21 after suffering their first loss of the season at BYU. Behind the Broncos are the three new comers to the top 25 this week - Iowa State at #22, unbeaten Appalachian State (6-0) into the rankings for the first time at 23, and Wake Forest back in after a one week hiatus at #24. Finally, Arizona State rounds out the top 25, down 9 spots from last week after failing to do much of anything in a 21-3 loss to Utah.
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As always, there are a plethora of squads in the "next" group of teams just outside of the rankings, led by a trio of 6-1 teams in Memphis, Louisiana Tech, and UAB. Without further ado, here is week 9's Ultimate College Football Top 25:
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College Football Ultimate Top 25:
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1 ALABAMA (7-0)
2 CLEMSON (7-0)
3 LSU (7-0)
3 OHIO STATE (7-0)
5 OKLAHOMA (7-0)
6 PENN STATE (7-0)
7 FLORIDA (7-1)
8 AUBURN (6-1)
9 NOTRE DAME (5-1)
10 OREGON (6-1)
11 GEORGIA (6-1)
12 WISCONSIN (6-1)
13 UTAH (6-1)
14 SMU (7-0)
15 BAYLOR (7-0)
16 MINNESOTA (7-0)
17 TEXAS (5-2)
18 CINCINNATI (6-1)
19 MICHIGAN (5-2)
20 IOWA (5-2)
21 BOISE STATE (6-1)
22 IOWA STATE (5-2)*
23 APPALACHIAN STATE (6-0)*
24 WAKE FOREST (6-1)*
25 ARIZONA STATE (5-2)
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*-New to the rankings this week
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Dropped Out:
22 Temple, 23 Missouri, 24 Tulane
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Next:
Memphis (6-1), Louisiana Tech (6-1), UAB (6-1), Navy (5-1), San Diego State (6-1), UCF (5-2), Air Force (5-2), Virginia (5-2), Pitt (5-2)
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There are some great, great matchups on-tap for tomorrow, starting with a massive showdown in the Big TEN where the Wisconsin Badgers will attempt to bounce-back from last week's shocker as they invade Columbus for a date with the #3 Buckeyes. Staying in the Big TEN, Iowa is at Northwestern, and Penn State visits Michigan State. #8 Auburn visits #3 LSU in a monster of a game in the SEC, where the winner will have a real leg-up on everyone out there in terms of quality victories, Texas is at TCU in a tricky Big XII showdown, Notre Dame visits Michigan, and Cal is at Utah in what should be a defensive battle in the Pac-12. Two weeks in a row a top 10 team has suffered a shocking upset - will there be another this week? Be sure to check back for another updated top 25 next week, and as always I would love to see your thoughts in the comments section. Thank you for the support & enjoy all of tomorrow's action!
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