CFR College Football Power Rankings Week Six 2009

Ohhhhh kayyyyyy, things seem to have sorted out a bit more this week.  Things get extremely dicey after the top 10 or so, reasonable given most schools are about five games in.

1. Alabama -- Not perfect on the road against Kentucky, but good enough given all the playmaking on an otherwise sleepy outing
2. Texas -- See last week's notes
3. Florida -- Big showdown Saturday against LSU, likely without the baby rhinocerus at quarterback
4. USC -- Solid win against a reeling California, offense still very much a work in progress
5. Virginia Tech -- Playing quality football, got a career passing day from quarterback Tyrod Taylor against Duke
6. Miami -- Huge rebound after falling to VaTech in beating an Oklahoma team that was catching stride
7. Ohio State -- Seem to have found their identity, although not getting quite what they would like out of Terrelle Pryor yet
8. Oregon -- Red hot, can reasonably place the Boise State loss in context at this point and argue for what they've done since
9. Cincinnati -- Alabama lite, that isn't a bad thing
10. Boise State -- Defense a little leaky in games that probably could have been shutouts against Bowling Green (14 points allowed) and UC Davis (16) Quibbles, we know

Others: LSU, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Penn State, Arizona, UCLA, Notre Dame, TCU, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia Tech, USF, Fresno State (don't laugh!), BYU, Kansas, Nebraska, Auburn, Iowa

Comments

[Charlie Brown]

How do we keep putting teams above others that have been victors over them: Oregon over Boise St ? I see no methodology to this as long as there is no common opponent or another loss by the Broncos. The Ducks are building the BCS case for Boise St at this point.

[CFR]

Charlie,

Its a fair question and something that's obviously been grappled with before and long after this among fans.

Personally, I prefer to look at a combination of where a team is at right now, and its overall body of work, as well as the actual head-to-head game. There's no doubt Oregon was thoroughly dominated by Boise State, but its also fair to recognize how the teams have gone about their business since.

Boise has been steady if unspectacular against a weakened schedule, and I believe them to be a top 10 team, but Oregon rebounded in surprising fashion after the meltdown to beat Purdue, Utah and California in increasingly dominant fashion. They are ascendant right now and I think in that context and given how early the Boise State game was in the season, they can be cut a significant amount of slack.

Head-to-head's matter, but I think overall body of work/big picture is more important. Losses are inevitable for nearly every team in the NCAA each year. I'm more concerned with how good teams actually are.

So long as schedules are uneven, and teams are constantly evolving during a season, a certain amount of flexibility even in the face of head-to-head defeat, must be offered.

For example although Texas beat Oklahoma last year, I thought it wasn't close how each handled their relatively similar schedules over the course of the year. Oklahoma simply performed better in most of its games than Texas did and was competitive enough in the head-to-head nearly blowing Texas out at several points before a few weird late hit calls that probably shouldn't have been called kept Texas' offense in the game.

Again there, the head to head said one thing but overall body of work arguably another.

I can't help but give Oregon a ton of credit from rebounding from that opening week nightmare to not only defeat Purdue and non-BCS darling Utah, but stomp three consecutive Pac-10 foes. That isn't an easy slate and they're doing a great job.

[MAc]

May concern only to Ohio State because they had found his true identity. It's just a game, so they must often practice to improve his team.