College Football Power Rankings

[USF Colby]

I did this myself, I know this isn't the right forum to post it in but hopefully the moderators can move it to the right forum because I can't figure out wha the right one is.

1) LSU Tigers

3-0 (0-0)

In three games LSU has outscored opponents 137-7. What is more impressive? The 137 points, or holding other teams to just 7. Whats even better is that their first opponents, Miss State beat Auburn and Middle Tennessee who they beat on Saturday nearly upset Louisville. Plus theres that impressive blowout over Virginia Tech.

2) Oklahoma Sooners

3-0 (0-0)

Oklahoma has outscored opponents 183-26, and that includes a 51-13 throttling of Miami. The whole Rhett Bomar episode seems to be forgotten thanks to Sam Bradford’s performance in his first 3 games. DeMarco Murray might be on his way to making people forget about Adrian Peterson. Plus with Texas struggling, an undefeated season seems very probable.

3) USC Trojans

2-0 (0-0)

Yeah winning at Nebraska is nice, but it isn’t as impressive as LSU’s win over Virginia Tech or Oklahoma’s win over Miami. Still, the 18 point win shows that USC is one of the nation’s most dominating teams and unless they lose they will play in the title game because no way will the voters drop them.

4) Florida Gators

3-0 (1-0)

The Gators got a leg up in the SEC East race by absolutely destroying Tennessee. Tim Tebow has been dominating through 3 games with 13 total touchdowns, including 4 of them against Tennessee. Offensively this team is way better than last year’s title team, but defense wins championships and though the Gators have talent there they don’t have the experience yet.

5) West Virginia Mountaineers

3-0 (0-0)

Steve Slaton may not even be the best running back at West Virginia anymore. Through 3 games Noel Devine is averaging 15.1 yards per carry and he has had 17 carries. Offensively they didn’t exactly explode against Maryland but the defense held Maryland to 14 points and with Louisville struggling the Mountaineers have an excellent shot at going undefeated.

6) California Bears

3-0 (0-0)

Flew a little bit under the radar heading into the season but they have been impressive through three weeks. After beating Tennessee by 2 scores in week 1, they haven’t had much trouble with Colorado State or Louisiana Tech. Next week they will begin conference play and look to continue their great play. The running game has been really impressive so far.

7) Boston College Eagles

3-0 (3-0)

Three weeks, three conference victories for Boston College. Their latest over Georgia Tech was really impressive, they completely dominated from start to finish and all of a sudden they have become ACC favorites. Now they get to basically take a month off, as they play 4 inferior non-conference opponents before their next conference game.

8) Penn State Nittany Lions

3-0 (0-0)

It’s tough to tell how good this team is with Notre Dame struggling, and the other 2 opponents being Florida International and Buffalo. Next week they will begin Big 10 play against Michigan and if they win they will become conference front-runners for the rest of the season and will solidify their status as a top 10 team.

9) Oregon Ducks

3-0 (0-0)

3 Pac 10 teams in the top 9? Why not? Oregon has been the most impressive out of the 3 blowing out Michigan in Ann Arbor and then beating Fresno State by 3 touchdowns, a week after Fresno State nearly beat Texas A&M. This is the west coast’s answer to West Virginia, with Dennis Dixon as good at running the spread as Pat White and two quality running backs behind him.

10) South Carolina Gamecocks

3-0 (1-0)

This is the year that South Carolina finally rises to elite status under Steve Spurrier, I have been predicting it since he was hired. The win at Georgia proved it, even though they did nearly choke away the victory late. Now the Gamecocks head into LSU with the chance to solidify their status and make a huge statement. No more moral victories for this team.

11) Ohio State Buckeyes

3-0 (0-0)

The Akron game wasn’t pretty and neither was the first half against Washington. The Buckeyes turned on in the second half though and blew away the Huskies to show that they haven’t gone away. With Wisconsin and Michigan struggling Ohio State may compete for another Big Ten title in 2007 even after losing all of those players from last year’s team.

12) Texas Longhorns

3-0 (0-0)

Right after I thought the Longhorns were back after they blew out TCU, they struggled to beat UCF. Not only that but TCU went and lost to Air Force so all of a sudden everyone is having their doubts about Texas especially me. With the exception of the TCU game, Texas has not looked good since their game against Oklahoma State last season.

13) Rutgers Scarlet Knights

3-0 (0-0)

I still feel that this team is over rated, but with three easy games to start the season Rutgers has yet to prove it. Tiquan Underwood already has 500 receiving yards through just 3 games and Ray Rice has 431 rushing yards. That is enough to make Rutgers fans forget about Clark Harris and Brian Leonard. With Louisville struggling Rutgers has a shot at competing for the Big East title.

14) Alabama Crimson Tide

3-0 (2-0)

I still think it is crap that Mike Shula got fired, but Nick Saban has definitely brought excitement back to the Alabama program. The Tide nearly choked away the game against Arkansas but were able to come back from behind and win in the final seconds. Terry Grant has been impressive after 3 games with over 400 yards of rushing already.

15) Clemson Tigers

3-0 (1-0)

It has been a of weeks since the Florida State game, and 2 mediocre opponents but through 3 games this looks like one of the ACC’s most dangerous teams. This is in spite of the fact that CJ Spiller has struggled in the first 3 games, he rushed for negative yardage against Furman. James Davis is good enough to handle the running game himself if Spiller continues to struggle though.

16) Wisconsin Badgers

3-0 (1-0)

How the hell can this team be ranked 7th in the polls? It’s actually a stretch to rank them over Hawaii because they blew out the same UNLV team that Wisconsin struggled to beat. On a positive note, PJ Hill has shined before with 399 yards in 3 games. Tyler Donovan has yet to be impressive, and personally I would like to see more of former Kansas State QB Allen Evridge.

17) Kentucky Wildcats

3-0 (0-0)

I have been saying since their bowl win over Clemson that this is a good team. Andre Woodson is the best QB in the SEC, Rafael Little is the fastest RB in the SEC, and Dicky Lions and Keenan Burton make a strong WR tandem. Defensively this team leaves a lot to be desired but they were able to win a track meet against a potent Louisville attack and if they beat Arkansas next week things will get interesting.

18) Georgia Bulldogs

2-1 (0-1)

Best 1 loss team in 1A? I think so. I know they looked bad against South Carolina, and that is their only real game so far but this is a highly talented team. Next week will be an interesting game for them against Alabama, if they win they will be back among the nations elite but if they lose they will be 0-2 in SEC play and in serious danger of missing the SEC title game again.

19) Texas A&M Aggies

3-0 (0-0)

The close call against Fresno State is still fresh in my mind, and it will take an impressive win at Miami to erase it. Still, it is hard to deny that this is a strong team with the potential to make some noise in the Big 12 with Texas looking less than stellar so far. The Aggies are Texas’s answer to West Virginia with Stephen McGee, Mike Goodson, and Jorvorski Lane making up a fearsome running trio.

20) USF Bulls

2-0 (0-0)

Finally the Bulls are ranked in the top 25. It’s difficult to tell how good this team is, after their statement win over Auburn got tarnished a bit. Still this is a team that in their last 4 games have beaten West Virginia, and Auburn on the road. The offense has yet to explode but Matt Grothe has shown himself to be a great leader and he is only a sophomore.

21) Missouri Tigers

3-0 (0-0)

It’s still difficult to tell how good Missouri is, neither of the teams they have beaten are bad but none of them are all that good either. Plus Illinois was without Juice Williams for most of the game when they played. This team is still the class of the Big 12 North though, and Chase Daniel has gotten his junior season off to a good start.

22) Cincinnati Bearcats

3-0 (0-0)

USF has gotten some national exposure recently, but Cincinnati is still flying under the radar. This team has been just as good as the Bulls over the last 2 seasons, with statement victories over Rutgers and Oregon State coming in their last 5. Ben Mauk has come over from Wake Forest and led Cincinnati to their impressive start.

23) Louisville Cardinals

2-1 (0-1)

Losing to Kentucky isn’t actually that bad of a thing. It is a rivalry game, and as I’ve stated before I feel that Kentucky is a good team. Something needs to be done about Louisville’s defense though, they have gotten torn apart two consecutive weeks now. Good thing Syracuse comes to town this week, that will give the Cardinals a chance to recover.

24) Hawaii Warriors

3-0 (1-0)

A week after struggling to beat Louisiana Tech, the Warriors redeemed themselves by blowing out UNLV on the road. With TCU struggling Hawaii now takes the torch as the nation’s best mid-major team and there don’t appear to be any teams on the schedule that can stay with Hawaii except possibly Boise State, but Boise State will have to leave the mainland for that game.

25) Virginia Tech Hokies

2-1 (0-0)

Getting blown out by LSU was unacceptable for a team as talented as Virginia Tech is. This is a defense with the best LB tandem in Vince Hall and Xavier Adibi yet LSU tore them apart. Making things worse is that the Hokies haven’t looked particularly impressive in their other 2 games struggling to beat East Carolina and Ohio.

On the Rise:

Arizona State Sun Devils

3-0 (0-0)

For the last couple of years the Sun Devils have been expected to compete and have struggled. This year they have flown under the radar a little bit but are off to a strong start with 3 easy victories. Keegan Herring and Ryan Torrain are a dangerous RB tandem and Michael Jones appears to be the next great Arizona State wide receiver. Defensively they haven’t been too bad so far.

On the Fall:

Washington Huskies

2-1 (0-0)

It pains me to give up on this team because I love the progress they have made under Tyrone Willingham and they played Ohio State tough for a half. Their next 4 games are at UCLA, USC, at Arizona State, and Oregon. So they will be lucky to have a winning record after that stretch, if they can split it they will be 4-3 but likely out of the Pac 10 race. I’m pulling for these guys though.

[USFan]

Good stuff...

[ctbrown24]

Looks good, although I wouldn't say Washington is falling. They played tough with OSU for most of the game. If anyone is falling, it's TCU or Auburn (sadly).

[theman123]

nice!! 5 big east teams is very nice!!

[RandyGator]

Nice work!!!!!!!!