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2018 Week 11 Poll

Pretty much business as usual this season as most of the top ten won outside of LSU who had to take on #1 Alabama.  While still a quality team, that loss should completely knock the Bayou Bengals from any hopes of making the “playoffs” now that they are up to two losses and cannot win their division.

Real AP Poll:

  1. Alabama (60)
  2. Clemson
  3. Notre Dame
  4. Michigan
  5. Georgia
  6. Oklahoma – 51-46 over Texas Tech.  At what point does refusing to play defense block Oklahoma from making the “playoffs.”  I mean how can you be one of the top four teams when you are god awful on one side of the ball?
  7. West Virginia
  8. Ohio State
  9. LSU
  10. Washington State
  11. UCF
  12. Kentucky
  13. Syracuse
  14. Utah State – Man this team plays some outstanding offense.  Utah State versus Oklahoma would probably end up with both teams in the 70s.
  15. Texas
  16. Fresno State
  17. Boston College
  18. Mississippi State
  19. Florida
  20. Washington
  21. Penn State
  22. NC State
  23. Iowa State
  24. Michigan State – Huh?  This team CAN.  NOT.  SCORE.
  25. Cincinnati

Dropped: Utah (16), Houston (17), Iowa (19), Virginia (23), Texas A&M (25)

Receiving Votes: Utah, Auburn, Wisconsin, Army, UAB, Northwestern, Iowa, Boise State, Purdue, Buffalo, Oregon, San Diego State, Duke, Texas A&M, Houston, Texas Tech

Josh’s Top 25:

  1. Alabama
  2. UCF
  3. Clemson
  4. Notre Dame
  5. Oklahoma – Yeah, I’m a hypocrite.  Look, OU isn’t winning a national title with that defense.  Still doesn’t negate their O being the scariest in the country…outside of Orlando…and Tuscaloosa.
  6. Michigan
  7. Georgia
  8. Ohio State
  9. Washington State
  10. LSU
  11. West Virginia
  12. Texas – Huh?  They went up?  Look, a lot of teams lost this week and Texas went toe-to-toe with a good WVU team that ended on a gutsy two point conversion.  These two clubs are essentially even and so is their rank.
  13. Washington
  14. Boston College
  15. Kentucky
  16. Syracuse
  17. Penn State
  18. Utah – Yes, they lost to Arizona State but their starting QB got hurt!  I dropped them some but this is still a very talented team.  Let them lose a game from start to finish without their starter and then drop ’em but don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.
  19. Army
  20. Iowa State
  21. -25. See Below – Final Verdict

See Below, What the Hell is That?

This is the most prestigious rankings on the internet, I can’t just give teams the final spot(s) all willy nilly. I had a reader say that this section wasn’t very clear so I’ll try to state the process more clearly. Since many leagues will have a ton of teams on my radar, I only take one team from each league to start with. On rare exceptions, I’ll take more than one team but for the most part, I really try and weed out within leagues first. Then I see if my final selections have played any FCS teams or have had a bad game (bad games could be narrow wins over bad opponents, a blowout loss, or a stunning upset). After those first two criteria, I take the remaining teams and examine their best win, worst win, best loss, and worst loss to make the final selections.

American Athletic Conference

Well I had Houston ranked a week ago but they just got blown out by SMU to fall to 8-2.  That would be a pretty big drop for me to boot Houston completely out so I’ll keep them around to put their resume to national comparison but I will also add Cincy back into the mix.  They are 8-1 and have rebounded very nicely from their narrow loss at Temple a few weeks ago.

AAC Nominees: Houston and Cincinnati

Atlantic Coast Conference

I had Virginia ranked last week but they just struggled mightily with Pitt.  I think the Cavs are a good team but with their offense too much feast or famine, I don’t see the consistency there to get ranked this week after just 13 points in the loss.  As a result I turn back to NC State.  I haven’t had them in my polls for a while but they stopped the bleeding by smoking Florida State to push their mark to 6-2.

ACC Nominee: NC State

Big Ten Conference

Yeah I had Iowa and Wisconsin ranked last week and Purdue and Northwestern just knocked them off but the Boilers were just locked down a week ago by Michigan State and NU can’t beat anybody but Big Ten West teams.  So should any of them be in?  Eh, not really.  Purdue has too many losses overall, even with the nice wins, Iowa now has three losses, MSU’s offense is wretched, and NU has the inability to beat anybody outside the Big Ten west.  I cannot in good faith rank them.

Big 10 Nominee: No One

Mountain West Conference

Oh what a mess.  Boise State won to get to 7-2.  Fresno State won to get to 8-1.  SDSU won to get to 7-2.  Oh, and Utah State won to get to 8-1.  Boise has clawed almost back to ranking status but they have a head-to-head loss to one of these four teams (SDSU) so I will give them the boot this week with a great chance of getting in next week if they can beat Fresno State.  Speaking about that SDSU team, they continue to survive this season despite a ton of injuries and close games.  The eye test indicates that they shouldn’t be winning at this rate nor should they be ranked.  So they won’t be.  USU and FSU though?  They are on fire!

MTW Nominees: Fresno State and Utah State

Southeastern Conference

I had Florida ranked last week and boy were they spanked by Missouri (38-17) meaning they have dropped two in a row.  However, they are 6-3 and still have a huge win over LSU so you can’t throw them out just quite yet, at least without comparing that LSU victory to what the other nominees bring to the table.  Another 6-3 team is Mississippi State but blowing out Louisiana Tech doesn’t atone for still being under .500 in league play.

SEC Nominee: Florida

Elimination Time:

The above six teams join Buffalo and UAB to form a master list of eight teams trying to get into the best poll the internet has. The first criteria I will look at is who has played FCS teams and then look at any bad games.

FCS Much?…With each team having a FCS game and none of them glaring, this criteria doesn’t bump anybody this week.

Bad Game(s)…NC State bounced back against Florida State but in my calculation, that does not make up for 92 points allowed the last two weeks.  They still have work to do.

Final Six

For this I try to just look at a couple of games: each team’s best win, worst win, best loss (i.e. a moral victory), and worst loss.

  • Buffalo
    • BW: at Temple
    • WW: FCS
    • BL: N/A
    • WL: Army (by 29)
  • Cincinnati
    • BW: at SMU(?)
    • WW: FCS
    • BL: at Temple (by 7)
    • WL: N/A
  • Florida
    • BW: LSU
    • WW: FCS
    • BL: N/A
    • WL: Missouri (by 21)
  • Fresno State
    • BW: At Nevada (?)
    • WW: FCS
    • BL: at Minnesota (by 7)
    • WL: N/A
  • Houston
    • BW: USF
    • WW: FCS
    • BL: Texas Tech (by 14)
    • WL: SMU (by 14)
  • UAB
    • BW: at Louisiana Tech or North Texas
    • WW: FCS
    • BL: N/A
    • WL: at Coastal Carolina (by 23)

The first thing that jumped out to me is just how good Florida’s LSU win is compared to other borderline ranked teams.  Gators will be in.  With just three spots left, I notice a way to knock someone out: Temple.  UB beat them, Cincy lost to them.  The Bearcats are therefore behind the Bulls and since things are so tight, to be behind a borderline rankable club essentially means you are out.

The last team to be booted will be UAB.  I love everything about this team but their loss to Coastal Carolina.  They are still paying for it, which is fair since it was by three touchdowns to a really poor squad.

Final Verdict:

21. Florida
22. Utah State
23. Fresno State
24. Houston
25. Buffalo

League Breakdown:

5 – SEC
4 – Big 12
3 – ACC, Big Ten, Pac 12
2 – American, Independent, Mountain West
1 – MAC

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