by Sean Szymczak
Week 6 was another incredible day of college football. We saw a monumental meltdown in Miami, a referee-assisted win for the Tide, a tale of two halves in Columbus, a signature statement by Georgia, and some harrowing defense for Jack Harlow and his hometown Cardinals. Am I forgetting anything else?
Oh, yeah. Texas is not quite back. They squared off against Oklahoma in the biggest game of the weekend and fell in an instant classic. Despite outgaining the Sooners by 41 yards, 9 penalties and 3 turnovers were too much for the Longhorns to overcome. Dillon Gabriel led a 5-play, 75-yard go-head TD drive in just over a minute, leaving 15 seconds for Ewers and the Texas offense.
There is a ton of reshuffling in this week’s rankings include 4 new teams and a new #1. Let’s dive in:
The Floor Slap’s Week 7 Top 25
- Oklahoma (6-0)
- 4th in the country in scoring offense and 11th in scoring defense, Oklahoma has proven through 6 weeks that they are capable of making plays on both sides of the ball. They now have the best win in college football and have earned the right to be #1.
- Michigan (6-0)
- Michigan is finally clicking, winning their first two road trips to Nebraska and Minnesota by a combined score of 97-17. But they won’t be tested until the final three weeks of the regular season.
- Georgia (6-0)
- Finally, Georgia has arrived. They outgained Kentucky 608-183, possessed the ball for nearly 38 minutes, and had a nearly flawless game from Carson Beck. If they play like this the rest of the season they’ll reclaim the #1 spot soon enough.
- Ohio State (5-0)
- The Buckeyes had an absolutely pitiful 1st half in which they were lucky to go to the half tied with Maryland at 10. But they also looked almost unstoppable in the 2nd half. Offensive line concerns are legitimate and their win over Notre Dame might not be as impressive as we thought. That’s why Ohio State tumbles this week.
- Washington (5-0)
- Florida State (5-0)
- After an explosive 22-0 1st quarter, they allowed a hapless Virginia Tech squad to hang around. Unlike the teams ranked above them, I don’t see the Seminoles improving on a week-to-week basis. But all they need to worry themselves with is running the table.
- Penn State (5-0)
- Oregon (5-0)
- North Carolina (5-0)
- Since struggling with Appalachian State, UNC has beaten Minnesota, Pitt, and Syracuse by an average margin of 23 points. And Drake Maye is absolutely balling.
- USC (6-0)
- This would be a 7 or 8 win team without Caleb Williams. He’s good enough to keep them in the thick of the Pac-12 race. But a 3OT win over Arizona didn’t do anything to put the concerns I’ve had for them all season long to rest.
- Louisville (6-0)
- This Louisville defense is for real. They absolutely smothered Notre Dame’s offensive line and forced mistake after mistake, tallying 5 turnovers. Jawhar Jordan is one of the country’s most electrifying running backs and Jack Plummer is exactly the type of QB they need to manage the game, make a few big plays, and not make any mistakes that will lose them the game. The Cardinals have legitimate CFP chances.
- Texas (5-1)
- Gut-wrenching loss, but they’ll likely have a rematch against the Sooners in the Big 12 title. Quinn Ewers played well but also made crucial mistakes. And this Texas offensive line might not be everything it’s cracked up to be. They allowed 5 sacks, 10 TFLs, and failed to punch it in from the 1-yard line four times in a row.
- Alabama (5-1)
- The Crimson Tide are getting better and I think they’ll win the rest of their games on their way to an SEC Championship showdown against Georgia. But you just can’t rank them ahead of Texas as long as they have the same record.
- Oregon State (5-1)
- UCLA (4-1)
- Washington State (4-1)
- Utah (4-1)
- Oregon State lost to Washington State who lost to UCLA who lost to Utah who lost to Oregon State. How do you even begin to make sense of that? I’ll lump these 4 teams together until we see some separation.
- Ole Miss (5-1)
- This is where the rankings get real whonky. Do I feel good about putting a team at #18 who got dominated by Alabama, gave up nearly 50 to LSU, and barely squeaked out a win at home against Arkansas? No. But I don’t know who else I’d put in their place.
- Duke (4-1)
- LSU (4-2)
- That was a gutsy win they pulled out on the road against Missouri. I was hesitant to include them this week, but Jayden Daniels is that dude.
- Wisconsin (4-1)
- At this point in the season, I’m looking for teams who are getting better. Their defense is getting better, the run game is getting it’s footing, and Tanner Mordecai is showing he can be more than a game-manager. They should be 6-1 when Ohio State comes to town under the lights.
- Miami FL (4-1)
- If Mario Cristobal knew what kneeing the ball was, Miami would be 5-0. I didn’t want to knock them out of the rankings entirely for losing a game they handed to Georgia Tech. But at the same time, they let Tech go 75 yards in two plays to win the game. This is also a Georgia Tech team who lost to Ole Miss by 25 and Bowling Green by 11. The Canes will have to turn it around quickly, as they travel to Chapel Hill this weekend.
- Notre Dame (5-2)
- That 4th quarter against Louisville got ugly quickly, but the game was much closer than the score would indicate. Notre Dame has played quality opponent after quality opponent and I want to give them credit for that. They’re out of the playoff now, but they could throw a wrench into everything by beating USC at home next week.
- Liberty (5-0)
- Rank the undefeated teams, damn it!
- Air Force (5-0)
- Liberty plays 5-1 Jacksonville State and Air Force plays 5-1 Wyoming next weekend. Big day for determining the pecking order of the G5 schools.
Just Missed Out: Maryland, Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky, Colorado, Clemson, NC State, Iowa, Wyoming, Tulane, Kansas
- There are 11 teams I considered ranking that didn’t make the cut. Around #21 in my rankings is where I felt very uncertain about who to include. The gap between #21-36 is very small.
Dropped from Rankings: Missouri (16), Kentucky (17), Fresno State (23), Marshall (25)
New to Rankings: UCLA (15), LSU (20), Wisconsin (21), Colorado (24)
Ranked Teams by Conference:
Pac-12: 7
ACC: 5
Big Ten: 4
SEC: 4
Big 12: 2
Other: 3 (Notre Dame, Liberty, Air Force)