College Football Top 25
Week 14 (Final Regular Season Rankings): Updated 12/6/10
- Auburn
- Oregon
- Wisconsin
- Ohio State
- Stanford
- TCU
- Arkansas
- LSU
- Virginia Tech
- Michigan State
- Oklahoma
- Missouri
- Alabama
- Nevada
- Texas A&M
- Boise State
- South Carolina
- Nebraska
- Oklahoma State
- Mississippi State
- West Virginia
- Hawaii
- Florida State
- Maryland
- Connecticut
FCS Top 10 Rankings (edited 11/21/10-weekend before the FCS playoffs)
1. William and Mary
2. Delaware
3. Appalachian State
4. Stephen F. Austin
5. Eastern Washington
6. New Hampshire
7. Jacksonville State
8. Pennsylvania
9. Wofford
10. Villanova
boise you broke my heart
I’d expect a better comparison Bob. Fresno is a formidable team. they were 6-3 going into the game. They narrowly lost to a #18 Nevada team 35-34 a week prior. They also beat a respectable Cincinnati team earlier in the year. They also crushed Utah State who only lost by 7 to Oklahoma. Come on Bob, I know there is a better comparison out there.
Fresno State (6-4, 4-3 WAC)…that isn’t impressive, I’m sorry.
Nevada stinks, they haven’t played anyone either. Don’t give me Cal, they are embarrassing this year. You will see how bad Nevada is next Friday.
Cincinnati is also terrible. 4-6 in the Big East. I take that back, that is impressive.
Utah State…come on man, they are 4-7.
Any other big wins for Fresno that I’ve been missing???
LSU just barely beat Ole Miss. Boise stomped on Fresno State….Boise should be 3.
Fresno State is terrible. Boise’s win over the Bulldogs is comparable to LSU’s win last week over Louisiana-Monroe 51-0. Sound familiar? Boise beat Fresno 51-0. And Boise was trying to run up the score, unlike LSU. Boise played Moore into the 4th quarter and kept throwing, whereas LSU backed off as early as the 2nd quarter. Those are the games you should be comparing. Ole Miss is a viable team with a former Heisman candidate at quarterback. So don’t compare the games, please.
I appreciate the PSU ranking. We cracked the top 25
Bob,
I see the case you have made for the teams ahead of Boise. At this point I cannot argue them too much, because while Boise has had an easier schedule than most (all of the top teams actually refused to play them except VT and OSU…same with next year) they have had commanding wins over just about all of their competition. Alabama got very lucky in that comeback win over Arkansas who had a monstrous collapse. Also, LSU beat an entirely depleted team for the first week of the season. UNC was down I believe something like 18 players and 13 of which were seniors? And they still did not win with any kind of comfort. Nevada will probably be a small test for Boise, but hopefully they can implode the BCS and get in that title game and see where things go from there. You also should look at the stats. 3rd points for 3rd points against. Remember when in college basketball Memphis was top in the nation in scoring and everyone wrote them off? I see this as a similar situation. Even the second team for Boise has been shutting teams down. And if you look at SJSU Boise shut them out 48-0 as opposed to Wisconsin who only got past them 27-14 a much more contested game if you ask me.
Good corollary to Memphis in 2008, because that is absolutely a similar situation. The only difference for me is that the Memphis ’08 team had 2 or 3 of the best athletes in the country (Derrick Rose, Chris Douglas-Roberts, etc), and I don’t know if Boise can compete with Auburn, Alabama, Oklahoma, etc. with their athleticism.
In terms of your final comment, with Wisconsin, there is no doubt that Boise State beating San Jose State 48-0 is more impressive than Wisconsin’s win over San Jose. But Wisconsin is ranked 6 spots behind Boise, even after a win over then #1 Ohio State, so I’m not disrespecting Boise by ranking a team like Wisconsin with 1 loss over Boise State. If the Badgers can keep it up against quality competition, then maybe, but for now I put Boise over Wisconsin.
honestly, bob, this is kind of disgraceful. To have Boise at 7? They haven’t lost yet, were the only team to beat OSU by more than a touchdown (won by 13)and that was when they had James Rodgers and were an even better team. Unfortunately your rankings have become less and less relevant when you disrespect teams like Boise. Sure I am a little biased but didnt they beat a top 10 and another top 25 team? and San Jose State isnt a bad team (produced Donald Driver) but to outgain a team 535-80, I dont care who they’re playing they made SJSU look like a pee wee football team. To continue to focus and play hard for a whole game the way Boise does is not easy when you are beating a team 42-0
Drew,
First, thanks for commenting.
Second, I am going to address your comment point by point. To begin, which teams that are ranked ahead of Boise should be instead ranked below the Broncos?
Auburn (7-0)– beat ranked Arkansas (2 losses to Auburn and Bama), ranked South Carolina, beat now ranked Miss St., and beat Clemson
Oregon (6-0)–beat ranked Stanford, beat a solid Arizona State team, and obliterated a solid Tennessee team at Neyland
Oklahoma (6-0)–beat ranked Texas, hammered ranked Florida State (ACC favorite at this point), beat Cincinnati on the road, and beat Air Force
LSU (7-0)–beat UNC, beat ranked West Virginia, beat now ranked Miss St., beat Tennessee, beat ranked Florida at the Swamp
Alabama (6-1)–beat ranked Arkansas, beat ranked Florida, beat Mississippi, lost to South Carolina on the road after playing 3 straight top 15 opponents
Michigan State (7-0)–beat ranked Wisconsin, ranked Michigan, and rising Illinois (all by double digits)
Those are the six teams that I ranked above Boise, who, on the other hand, has this resume:
Boise State (6-0)-beat ranked Virginia Tech, beat solid Oregon State, beat San Jose State, Toledo, New Mexico State, and Wyoming.
If you think Boise has a more impressive resume through the first 6 weeks of the season than anyone above, then we can have a nice debate at some point, because it isn’t even close.
To your point about San Jose State, the Spartans are in fact a bad team. They are 1-6, and while for the most part they have had a tough schedule, they also had a productive loss to college football juggernaut UC Davis, but turned the season around with an impressive 16-11 win over Southern Utah.
Come on Drew, you know your stuff about sports, just look at the situation objectively. If one looks at the above resumes without the teams’ names associated, no way Boise’s resume is valued nearly as highly as those ranked above the Broncos. That is the sole reason I ranked Boise where I did.
I am not a Boise hater, I am actually being as objective as one can be. To make my point, one must realize that I am one of the biggest BCS haters that I know. See the following blogs. (http://bobsportsblog.wordpress.com/2009/12/08/the-inadequacies-of-the-bcs/) (http://bobsportsblog.wordpress.com/2009/12/02/why-college-football-needs-a-playoff-system-and-why-an-8-team-system-is-not-the-answer/).
Given my disdain for the BCS, I still refuse to be biased against the system by ranking Boise very high in the rankings and thereby pushing for their entrance into the National Championship Game. This could potentially cause the BCS to implode depending on what happened in the game. But I don’t rank Boise or anyone else based on feelings, rather, I rank by a specific criteria to which I have stayed true since I began ranking.
With all that being said, thanks for your comment, and I stand by my rankings.
Have to agree. If you have Nova at #1, Temple should be ranked in top 25. First,aside from my biased, I don’t think Nova should be 1. Seconds, can Boise get a little respect? Just a little bit? They paved the way for JMU, who would not have won without Boise beating VTech in the first place. Then they go and beat a team 51-6. Having played football, it is not easy to stay on the attack and stay motivated for 60 minutes when you beat a team that bad. I think they deserve some respect.
That “team” that Boise State beat is Wyoming…yes Wyoming went to a bowl game last year, but that win does absolutely nothing for Boise
In terms of Temple, great call on that one, I heavily considered putting them in there, and another week or two of impressive performance will most likely propel them into the top 25, because I have been extremely impressed by what Temple has done, and consequently feel less perturbed each week about Nova’s Mayor’s Cup loss to Temple.
Finally, about Boise, I highly recommend reading my blog about Boise State if you haven’t already…http://bobsportsblog.wordpress.com/2010/09/07/hold-your-horses/
and listen to the podcast about Boise, near the end
http://bobsportsblog.podomatic.com/entry/2010-09-13T20_44_48-07_00
JMU wasn’t in the top 10 in the FCS at the beginning of the season. With the impressive win, I moved them all the way up to 2nd (higher than the Foxsports.com Poll). I find that very generous on my part that I moved them ahead of 2-0 Appalachian State, a team that went to the semifinal last season and is expected to do very well again this season. In terms of Villanova, I can’t hold it against the defending champions to lose to a 2-0 Temple team that went 9-3 last season and played very impressively in that game.
Therefore, the rankings are a mix of how talented the team is, what wins they have so far, and what players the teams have coming back. Therefore, JMU has been very impressive (hence I put them in the Top 25 to make a statement), but in terms of the FCS rankings specifically, I stand by my decision to put them 2nd.
Thanks for commenting.
Nova at number one? Come
on kid even the pope knows jmu should be at number one after that win.
As a ‘nova alum I think I would be partial to their being ranked 1. But Bobby seriously? At this point Villanova has a loss to Temple, and James Madison beats VT- how do you justify their positions right now?