If “#9” USC is ranked in the Top 25 next week, it will be a travesty of epic proportions.
8 thoughts on “Twitter: If “#9” USC …”
Mike
So where do you think this puts Stanford in the rankings. They were 25/27 in the polls last week after beating Oregon, now they add a victory over USC. The other 3 loss teams ranked last week are Virginia Tech, Clemson, and Auburn. Virginia Tech’s best win is against Miami (who lost today), Clemson’s only win against a ranked opponent is against that same Miami, and Auburn’s best win is against Mississippi (were ranked 25th until that loss). Seems like Stanford should move ahead of them; the question becomes how many other teams fall far enough in the rankings to be caught.
David K.
A little bit of hyperbole don’t you think? They aren’t top 10 or 15 but I’d be hard pressed to find 25 teams that are better.
Brendan Loy
Yeah, looking at the rankings, and all the teams below USC that have also lost today, it’s hard to see how they aren’t Top 25. I guess that’s a reflection on the parity/mediocrity of the Top 25, because really, USC is not a good team right now. But I guess there aren’t very many good teams out there.
Let’s see. The following teams should clearly be ahead of USC. (In some cases, I’m assuming wins in ongoing games where the team leads.)
Florida (10-0)
Texas (10-0)
Alabama (10-0)
TCU (10-0)
Cincinnati (10-0)
Boise State (10-0)
Georgia Tech (10-1)
Pittsburgh (9-1)
LSU (8-2)
Ohio State (9-2)
Oregon (8-2)
Iowa (10-1)
Oklahoma State, if it beats Texas Tech tonight (8-2)
Penn State (9-2)
Virginia Tech (7-3)
Wisconsin (8-2)
Clemson (7-3)
Stanford (7-3)
The following teams’ position relative to USC is debatable:
Houston (8-2)
Utah (8-2)
BYU (8-2)
Miami (7-3)
Arizona (6-3)
South Florida (6-3)
Temple (8-2)
Ole Miss (7-3)
Auburn, if they beat Georgia tonight (8-3)
Oklahoma State, if it loses to Texas Tech tonight (7-3)
Texas Tech, if it beats Oklahoma State tonight (7-3)
Navy (8-3)
Rutgers (7-2)
Nebraska (7-3)
North Carolina (7-3)
Central Michigan (8-2)
I guess that means any ranking higher than #19 would be outrageous, but in the #19-25 range is potentially justifiable.
Brendan Loy
By the way, that’s off the top of my head, based on a quick gander at rankings and standings, so I’m sure I’ve made a couple of mistakes.
Mike
Definitely true on the possibility for errors. Iowa, for instance, is 9-2, not 10-1, and while Oregon will probably beat ASU, it’s still only 7-0 in the first quarter.
Seeing Pitt with a better record then PSU brings up those old feelings of rivalry. But alas! We will not play Pitt this year to settle this on the field like men.
David K.
So taking a look at things, i’d say you rank all the 0 and 1 loss teams ahead of USC easily, and all but two of the 2 loss teams (Temple and Central Michigan aren’t as good as most 3 loss teams). That gives you 18 teams ahead of the Trojans. I roughly rank them as follows:
1 Texas
2 Florida
3 Alabama
4 Cincinnati
5 TCU
6 Boise State
7 Georgia Tech
8 Pittsburgh
9 LSU
10 Oregon
11 Ohio State
12 Utah
13 Iowa
14 Houston
15 Penn State
16 Oklahoma St
17 Wisconsin
18 BYU
19 Rutgers
18 teams for 6 spots to leave the Trojans out of the top 25.
I think you rank Stanford ahead of SC based on the game today, but the remaining 3 loss Pac-10 teams I’d rank below the Trojans at this point, although I’d be worried heavily about the OSU game the way the Beavers are playing if it were played now, but they lost to the Trojans so there you go.
Putting Stanford at a theoretical 20 for now, that leaves 15 teams for 5 spots to leave the Trojans out of the top 25.
Northern Illinois, Ohio, Troy and Midd Tennessee State have 3 losses each, but their wins aren’t very strong, I think we can easily place them below SC.
Down to 11.
Navy and SC both beat Notre Dame, but SC won by more and with some questionable officiating in ND’s favor.
Boston College, lost to the Irish, so USC gets the nod above them. So did Nevada.
Down to 8
Already I think its going to be pretty reasonable to rank USC ahead of 4 of these 8 to get it in the top 25, but lets see if we can be more specific.
I created two groups of the reaming 8 based on some common opponents.
First is South Florida, West Virginia, and Mississippi. WVU lost to both South Florida and Auburn, so its below South Florida. Mississippi lost to auburn as well by more than WVU did.
I think a solid argument can be made for ranking the Trojans above South Florida. The Bulls have lost three of the last four and their last loss was a shut out by Rutgers (#19 in my list). The Bulls also don’t have a signature win, while USC has their win AT Ohio State. This also moves them ahead of WVU and Ole Mis, South Florida and WVU also lost so I can’t see them moving UP they both probably are unranked after this week. Mississippi beat a mediocre Tennessee team and also lacks a signature win, one of their wins is against a 1-AA school.
Down to 5.
The remaining 5 are Clemson, North Carolina, Va Tech, Nebraska, and Miami. I ranked them in that order based on the following:
Miami lost to Clemson, North Carolina and Va Tech, so it has to be below all three. Va Tech lost to North Carolina so they are below them as well. Clemson and North Carolina both lost to Georgia Tech, but Clemson only lost by 3, NC by 17. Nebraska lost to Virginia Tech as well, but only by 1 which is better than Miami which lost by 24.
Other than Miami’s win over Georgia Tech, none of the other teams have beaten anyone ranked in my above list, and given Miami’s losses to Clemson, Va Tech AND North Carolina as mentioned above, you can’t rank the ‘Canes above them.
I think this makes a reasonable good argument that these teams aren’t better than SC who atlas beat Ohio State IN Columbus. Two of its losses are to ranked opponents (although they were pretty tough losses) It’s last loss obviously against a motivated Washington team while it was using its backup quarterback.
Although you could go back and forth on Clemson or South Florida over USC, I think they so far are a head of both, effectively making USC #21.
I’d round out the remaining top 4 spots with Oregon State, Clemson, Navy, and Cal for a final list like this:
1 Texas
2 Florida
3 Alabama
4 Cincinnati
5 TCU
6 Boise State
7 Georgia Tech
8 Pittsburgh
9 LSU
10 Oregon
11 Ohio State
12 Utah
13 Iowa
14 Houston
15 Penn State
16 Oklahoma St
17 Wisconsin
18 BYU
19 Rutgers
20 Stanford
21 USC
22 Oregon State
23 Clemson
24 Navy
25 Cal
If “#9” USC is ranked in the Top 25 next week, it will be a travesty of epic proportions.
So where do you think this puts Stanford in the rankings. They were 25/27 in the polls last week after beating Oregon, now they add a victory over USC. The other 3 loss teams ranked last week are Virginia Tech, Clemson, and Auburn. Virginia Tech’s best win is against Miami (who lost today), Clemson’s only win against a ranked opponent is against that same Miami, and Auburn’s best win is against Mississippi (were ranked 25th until that loss). Seems like Stanford should move ahead of them; the question becomes how many other teams fall far enough in the rankings to be caught.
A little bit of hyperbole don’t you think? They aren’t top 10 or 15 but I’d be hard pressed to find 25 teams that are better.
Yeah, looking at the rankings, and all the teams below USC that have also lost today, it’s hard to see how they aren’t Top 25. I guess that’s a reflection on the parity/mediocrity of the Top 25, because really, USC is not a good team right now. But I guess there aren’t very many good teams out there.
Let’s see. The following teams should clearly be ahead of USC. (In some cases, I’m assuming wins in ongoing games where the team leads.)
Florida (10-0)
Texas (10-0)
Alabama (10-0)
TCU (10-0)
Cincinnati (10-0)
Boise State (10-0)
Georgia Tech (10-1)
Pittsburgh (9-1)
LSU (8-2)
Ohio State (9-2)
Oregon (8-2)
Iowa (10-1)
Oklahoma State, if it beats Texas Tech tonight (8-2)
Penn State (9-2)
Virginia Tech (7-3)
Wisconsin (8-2)
Clemson (7-3)
Stanford (7-3)
The following teams’ position relative to USC is debatable:
Houston (8-2)
Utah (8-2)
BYU (8-2)
Miami (7-3)
Arizona (6-3)
South Florida (6-3)
Temple (8-2)
Ole Miss (7-3)
Auburn, if they beat Georgia tonight (8-3)
Oklahoma State, if it loses to Texas Tech tonight (7-3)
Texas Tech, if it beats Oklahoma State tonight (7-3)
Navy (8-3)
Rutgers (7-2)
Nebraska (7-3)
North Carolina (7-3)
Central Michigan (8-2)
I guess that means any ranking higher than #19 would be outrageous, but in the #19-25 range is potentially justifiable.
By the way, that’s off the top of my head, based on a quick gander at rankings and standings, so I’m sure I’ve made a couple of mistakes.
Definitely true on the possibility for errors. Iowa, for instance, is 9-2, not 10-1, and while Oregon will probably beat ASU, it’s still only 7-0 in the first quarter.
Heh.
Seeing Pitt with a better record then PSU brings up those old feelings of rivalry. But alas! We will not play Pitt this year to settle this on the field like men.
So taking a look at things, i’d say you rank all the 0 and 1 loss teams ahead of USC easily, and all but two of the 2 loss teams (Temple and Central Michigan aren’t as good as most 3 loss teams). That gives you 18 teams ahead of the Trojans. I roughly rank them as follows:
1 Texas
2 Florida
3 Alabama
4 Cincinnati
5 TCU
6 Boise State
7 Georgia Tech
8 Pittsburgh
9 LSU
10 Oregon
11 Ohio State
12 Utah
13 Iowa
14 Houston
15 Penn State
16 Oklahoma St
17 Wisconsin
18 BYU
19 Rutgers
18 teams for 6 spots to leave the Trojans out of the top 25.
I think you rank Stanford ahead of SC based on the game today, but the remaining 3 loss Pac-10 teams I’d rank below the Trojans at this point, although I’d be worried heavily about the OSU game the way the Beavers are playing if it were played now, but they lost to the Trojans so there you go.
Putting Stanford at a theoretical 20 for now, that leaves 15 teams for 5 spots to leave the Trojans out of the top 25.
Northern Illinois, Ohio, Troy and Midd Tennessee State have 3 losses each, but their wins aren’t very strong, I think we can easily place them below SC.
Down to 11.
Navy and SC both beat Notre Dame, but SC won by more and with some questionable officiating in ND’s favor.
Boston College, lost to the Irish, so USC gets the nod above them. So did Nevada.
Down to 8
Already I think its going to be pretty reasonable to rank USC ahead of 4 of these 8 to get it in the top 25, but lets see if we can be more specific.
I created two groups of the reaming 8 based on some common opponents.
First is South Florida, West Virginia, and Mississippi. WVU lost to both South Florida and Auburn, so its below South Florida. Mississippi lost to auburn as well by more than WVU did.
I think a solid argument can be made for ranking the Trojans above South Florida. The Bulls have lost three of the last four and their last loss was a shut out by Rutgers (#19 in my list). The Bulls also don’t have a signature win, while USC has their win AT Ohio State. This also moves them ahead of WVU and Ole Mis, South Florida and WVU also lost so I can’t see them moving UP they both probably are unranked after this week. Mississippi beat a mediocre Tennessee team and also lacks a signature win, one of their wins is against a 1-AA school.
Down to 5.
The remaining 5 are Clemson, North Carolina, Va Tech, Nebraska, and Miami. I ranked them in that order based on the following:
Miami lost to Clemson, North Carolina and Va Tech, so it has to be below all three. Va Tech lost to North Carolina so they are below them as well. Clemson and North Carolina both lost to Georgia Tech, but Clemson only lost by 3, NC by 17. Nebraska lost to Virginia Tech as well, but only by 1 which is better than Miami which lost by 24.
Other than Miami’s win over Georgia Tech, none of the other teams have beaten anyone ranked in my above list, and given Miami’s losses to Clemson, Va Tech AND North Carolina as mentioned above, you can’t rank the ‘Canes above them.
I think this makes a reasonable good argument that these teams aren’t better than SC who atlas beat Ohio State IN Columbus. Two of its losses are to ranked opponents (although they were pretty tough losses) It’s last loss obviously against a motivated Washington team while it was using its backup quarterback.
Although you could go back and forth on Clemson or South Florida over USC, I think they so far are a head of both, effectively making USC #21.
I’d round out the remaining top 4 spots with Oregon State, Clemson, Navy, and Cal for a final list like this:
1 Texas
2 Florida
3 Alabama
4 Cincinnati
5 TCU
6 Boise State
7 Georgia Tech
8 Pittsburgh
9 LSU
10 Oregon
11 Ohio State
12 Utah
13 Iowa
14 Houston
15 Penn State
16 Oklahoma St
17 Wisconsin
18 BYU
19 Rutgers
20 Stanford
21 USC
22 Oregon State
23 Clemson
24 Navy
25 Cal