Week 11 College Football Top 25

Posted on by thefloorslap

A new Tuesday, a new CFP Top 25, and a new edition of The Floor Slap’s Top 25.

Listen, it’s no secret the big brands – particularly those in the SEC – are the benefits of tremendous favoritism from the committee. LSU and Clemson are both ranked too high because they benefit from being two of the biggest brands in college football and have had past success in the CFP. For the same reason, teams like Liberty, UCLA, and Coastal Carolina suffer.

But at least the committee has the top six correct.

There’s lots still to unfold. Losses by Tennessee and TCU could send the 3rd and 4th spots into a free for all. Utah has the schedule and talent spoil the hopes of the Pac-12 making a CFP for the first time since 2016. There could be upsets in conference championships.

If chaos like that were to strike, the loser of Ohio State vs Michigan could benefit the most. Assuming they enter the game undefeated, there is a chance that the loser is still the only 1-loss team in the country. Or one of two teams. With how dominant both teams have been, there is a likely chance they would make the CFP over a 2-loss conference champion from the Big 12, ACC, or Pac 12.

Only time will tell, though. For now let’s check out the Floor Slap’s corrected version of the Top 25.

The Floor Flap’s Week 11 Top 25

  1. Georgia (9-0); CFP Rank: 1
    • The Bulldogs’ struggles against Missouri and Kent State seem like a distant memory now. Georgia is back to playing great football and should be the undisputed #1 team in the country after thoroughly dominating Tennessee.
  2. Ohio State (9-0; ); CFP Rank: 2
    • It’s hard to excuse the Buckeyes’ 21-7 clunker of a victory against the Big Ten’s worst team. They were outgained on the day and failed to dominate Northwestern’s weak defensive front. But to be fair, the weather was unlike anything we’ve seen so far this year. Unable to throw the ball, Ohio State did what they needed to leave with a win. On a weekend where we saw many top teams go down, a win is more important than anything.
  3. Michigan (9-0); CFP Rank: 3
    • If Michigan had a chance to leapfrog Ohio State ahead over their matchup, it appeared to be this week. But Michigan trailed Rutgers midway through the 3rd quarter before a turnover onslaught helped carry them to a 52-17 win. These are clear top three teams in the country, and the order of OSU/Michigan does not really matter in the long run.
  4. TCU (9-0); CFP Rank: 4
    • Last of the unbeatens, the Horned Frogs yet again had to rally in order to beat Texas Tech. Win out, and they’re in the CFP. But given their wins over Oklahoma, Kansas, Oklahoma State, and Kansas State have lots a bit of their luster, it’ll likely be hard for them to finish in the top four with a loss.
  5. Tennessee (8-1); CFP Rank: 5
    • Tennessee’s dominant win in Baton Rouge is all of a sudden one of the biggest wins of the year. There was a reason they were my clear #1 team entering last weekend. Although their offensive performance against Georgia was disappointing, it may just be a sign that Georgia is in a class of its own again. The Vols are deserving of the top 1-loss spot.
  6. Oregon (8-1); CFP Rank: 6
  7. USC (8-1); CFP Rank: 8
  8. UCLA (8-1); CFP Rank: 12
    • They were handled by Oregon on the road in a tough environment, but the Ducks are playing as well as anyone in the country right now. With quality wins over Washington and Utah on their resume, the Bruins are deserving of being ranked ahead of any 2-loss team.
  9. LSU (7-2); CFP Rank: 7
    • I just can’t look past the absolute beatdown they took at home against Tennessee. Ranking them 7th – as the committee did – would indicate they are comparable to Tennessee. Clearly, that’ s not the case.
  10. Alabama (7-2); CFP Rank: 9
  11. Utah (7-2); CFP Rank: 13
  12. Penn State (7-2); CFP Rank: 14
  13. Ole Miss (8-1); CFP Rank: 11
    • Ole Miss is a peculiar case, seeing as their only wins of any value was a tight 3-point home win over now 6-3 Kentucky. They also with SEC bottom-dwellers Vanderbilt, Auburn, and Texas A&M into 4th quarters. But they are 8-1.
  14. North Carolina (8-1); CFP Rank: 15
  15. Clemson (8-1); CFP Rank: 10
    • Clemson was absolutely humiliated against Notre Dame on Saturday and proved true what everyone knew – this is not a good football team. And yet, the committee ranks them like Trevor Lawrence or Deshaun Watson is going to come back and be their quarterback. Given Notre Dame has home losses to Marshall and Stanford but is 3-0 against the ACC with a 17-point average margin of victory, maybe the ACC just sucks.
  16. Tulane (8-1); CFP Rank: 17
  17. Liberty (8-1); CFP Rank: unranked
    • I shouldn’t be this upset about Liberty being left out of the rankings, but I am. The Flames have won six straight including wins over BYU and Arkansas since their 1-point loss at Wake Forest. Every team ranked behind them has a bad loss – something Liberty does not have.
  18. Notre Dame (6-3); CFP Rank: 20
    • 6-1 since their debacle against Marshall with wins over UNC, BYU, Syracuse, and Clemson, the Irish are finally playing like the team that was ranked #5 in the preseason. And the way they hung in with Ohio State week 1 is holding up much more than Texas’ “quality loss.”
  19. Texas (6-3); CFP Rank: 18
    • I’m not sure you can give that much credit to Texas for nearly beating an Alabama team that has loss twice since and was a play away from losing a third. This past week against Kansas State was their first quality win of the year. I have a problem putting them ahead of Notre Dame.
  20. NC State (7-2); CFP Rank: 16
  21. Illinois (7-2); CFP Rank: 21
  22. UCF (8-1); CFP Rank: 22
  23. Florida State (6-3); CFP Rank: 23
  24. Washington (7-2); CFP Rank: 25
  25. Coastal Carolina (8-1); CFP Rank: unranked
    • How can we not acknowledge a team that has only one loss entering the second week of November? No matter the schedule, Coastal Carolina is doing what they are supposed to do.

Number of teams ranked by conference:

ACC: 4, Big 12: 2, Big Ten: 4, Pac 12: 5, SEC: 5, other: 5

Notable unranked teams:

  • Kansas State (6-3); CFP Rank: 19
    • That 48-0 win over Oklahoma State was incredibly impressive, until it wasn’t. It’s hard to hang your hat on a win over a 3-loss team when you’ve fallen short against every other quality opponent you’ve faced.
  • Cincinnati (7-2); CFP Rank: unranked
    • The American Conference just simply isn’t good enough to warrant having three teams ranked.
  • Kentucky (6-3); CFP Rank: 24
    • I’m aghast that Kentucky made it into the rankings after beating Missouri by four. In what game has Kentucky looked like a genuine top-25 team? In a 10-point win over hapless Florida? In their 8-point win over 2-7 Northern Illinois? In their 38-point loss to Tennessee? You could argue their win over Mississippi State was convincing, but then that brings up the argument of how good Mississippi State really is. Hate to spoil it, but they’re nothing more than Wisconsin at this point in the season.