Alabama leapfrogged in USA Today's Week 7 re-rankings
Alabama’s time positioned on top of the USA Today Sports Re-Rank 1-130 was short lived. A week after taking the top spot from Clemson, Ohio State has supplanted Alabama at No. 1 on the list.
Ohio State improved to 5-0 with a 34-10 victory against Michigan State on Saturday while Alabama, and Clemson for that matter, had a bye week. The Buckeyes posted 529 yards in the victory.
The rest of the Top 5 on the USA Today Sports Re-Rank stayed the same as last week, but there was quite a few changes in the spots 6-10. Florida rose six places from No. 14 to 8 after knocking off No. 13 Auburn, and Penn State jumped four spots to No. 9.
Oklahoma and Wisconsin also moved up one place to No. 6 and 7, respectively.
The SEC claimed four of the Top 10 places with Alabama, Florida, LSU (No. 4), and Georgia (No. 5). Auburn was the other SEC team in the Top 25 at No. 13.
Here is the full Top 25 list:
- Ohio State
- Alabama
- Clemson
- LSU
- Georgia
- Oklahoma
- Wisconsin
- Florida
- Penn State
- Notre Dame
- Texas
- Boise State
- Auburn
- Oregon
- Utah
- Baylor
- Michigan
- Wake Forest
- Iowa
- Appalachian State
- SMU
- Virginia
- Memphis
- Cincinnati
- Arizona State
This doesn’t make sense. Ohio State has not played anyone this year, and while I know that the Tide have not played anyone, shouldn’t Ohio State not be rewarded that much for beating a Michigan State team that is inconsistent and had lost its toughest game (AZ State) before today? I think Ohio St is really good but they should have held judgement until Ohio St plays someone who is putting in good performances week in and week out like a Wisconsin, Penn St or others? I could be wrong; only time will tell.
Pumped about LSU vs UF this week! I’m pretty sure this will be a tough game for both squads, as I don’t think the offenses match up well against the defenses.
It seems more like a punishment for Alabama and Clemson for daring to have a Bye Week. Regardless, it will all play out. Well, for the SEC teams that is. Clemson has nothing stopping them except for themselves, and Ohio State won’t face a tough contest until their league title game, I’m afraid. Meanwhile, LSU has Florida, and while I suspect LSU wins, Florida’s defense will at least make it interesting. Alabama and LSU will square off, Alabama and Auburn will square off, as will Auburn and LSU. The winner of the West may not be undefeated, and still could be a better team than anything the Big Ten or Big 12 offer up.
“Ohio State won’t face a tough contest until their league title game”
Soooo, do you have Minnesota winning the B10 West over Wisconsin and think the Gophers are the only real test of OSU’s mettle, or is the difference between playing the Badgers in Columbus vs Indianapolis so great as to render their first game an OSU cakewalk? And PSU has played a truly not-good schedule so far, but does that completely invalidate the statistical dominance they’ve shown for the most part this year?
Yes on the Penn State question. Probably on the Badger question.
I fully expect Wisconsin to destroy, by a much larger margin of victory, Michigan State than OSU did. I think the Badgers are the best the B1G has to offer. ESPN’s prediction on the game between the two seems ridiculous.
Take off your bias glasses TrophyKing80. At this time Bama overall is no better than the #4 team in the country. And I’m a Bama fan.
Michigan State might not be the toughest opponent but for now, between UA and OSU’s schedules, it is the toughest opponent.
No argument from me.
That changes this weekend IMO though
With Bama facing off against Texas A&M? I dunno, Kellen Mond has been playing scared most of the season. Bama’s defense can’t stop much of anything right now, but I doubt Mond & Company offer a tougher test than Michigan State versus Ohio State. Just my opinion.
No not saying it’ll be a tougher test. Just think A&M on the road is tougher than Mich St at home and I would take the Aggies over the spartans.
Alabama fans don’t make the mistake of thinking beating Texas A&M tells you something about your team. See also: MS State, Oregon, Tulane.
Hey, it’s Supreme Troll
You are right wde Michigan State is a lot better than Fl. opponent the Aubie tigers 24-13 lmao
Not even close to what I said but thanks for your comment.
Georgia is the only team in the top 6 with a quality win over a top 10 opponent. OSU struggled at home versus a weak 25th ranked Sparty. Clemson hasn’t played ANYBODY at all, nor will they. It’s silly to have UGA out of the top 4 right now.
I know the TN/UGA game was on at the same time but did you watch the OSU/MSU game? That was far from struggling..
Except, I have co-workers who are OSU fans and they were totally displeased with OSU’s first half efforts. They also thought OSU should have beaten Mich St as badly as it had Nebraska and Cincy. Its all perspective and I would trust an OSU fan more on the perspective.
It was 27-10 at half.. they struggled their first couple of drives but did far better in the first half of that game than UGA did in the first half of ND, which is who dawgs36 was comparing.
First QUARTER efforts, maybe, Tenn-dawg. The game effectively ended before the second quarter did. OSU ran for 44 more yards than MSU had allowed in all 5 of their previous games COMBINED.
What a brave new world we live in that covering a three-touchdown spread against a top-25 P5 opponent is “struggling” now, Dawgs. Given that standard, I’d agree if you wanted to drop Clemson out of the top 25 entirely lol
OSU hasn’t played a top-tier team yet, granted, but you might want to look at some more in-depth metrics than W-L or gut feeling or whatever it is that’s led you to determine OSU hasn’t played anybody.
Sagarin, for example, has Ohio State with the top SoS to date among unbeatens, at 19th. The next-closest unbeaten team is Clemson, at 35th. In the (Sagarin) top 25, the only teams with better SoS are Auburn (1st), Texas (16th), and Michigan State (17th) Obviously, Sagarin values playing a lot of average to good teams (and one powderpuff practice squad with a bad case of food poisoning in Miami (OH)) more than one great team and cupcakes, since admittedly, OSU hasn’t had a matchup like UGA-ND, LSU-UT, etc., and I’d argue Clemson hasn’t even had a matchup as strong as Michigan State. Personally, I agree with Sagarin’s point of view, and scoff at teams regularly scheduling FCS opponents, regardless of how good anyone believes a given conference is.
Penn State is a good counter-example to OSU to illustrate the difference between dominating average teams and dominating bad teams. Both teams are near the top in PPG, YPG, YPP, OppPPG, OppYPG, and OppYPP. OSU got there by destroying the 19th toughest schedule; PSU got there destroying the 86th toughest schedule. If this were about PSU being ranked #1, you’d have a fair argument. As it is, I think you’re seeing things with more than a little bias.
That said, my affiliation should be pretty obvious, and I can’t deny my own bias. Ultimately, rankings are much more about generating pageviews than anything else these days, so the only thing that really matters is the final set of (hopefully good) CFP rankings. The AP voters who put Clemson at 1 and OSU at 6 are smoking… well, idk what they’re smoking, but it must be really, REALLY intense stuff. Is methcrackphetamine a thing?
I don’t necessarily disagree with it. Ohio State hasn’t played in great teams but they have played some tougher opponents and not just beaten them but won handily. They went to Nebraska and won 48-7, beat Cincy 42-0 and Cincy is ranked now and they beat a tough Mich State team by 24. I don’t love OSU by any means but taking my biased hat off, at this point in the season I would have them #1. I’d have LSU #2, Bama #3, Georgia #4 and Oklahoma #5. Clemson is barely playing top 10 ball and are only there based on last year. I wish Clemson had a decent team on their schedule somewhere because they are just going to walk into the playoffs unchallenged.
Putting aside the fact rankings serve no purpose but fan discussion, Ohio State has looked great in every game. One can roll their eyes at criticism of what Bama has been less then great at as they beat GO5 teams by 50 points, but there are nits to pick.
This is BS
Upset that Alabama isn’t getting love for steamrolling basketball schools? Or were you hoping the coattails from the previous years should ride you guys to a perma-number 1 ranking?
Of course Ohio State isn’t as good as Alabama…but you haven’t played anyone. This will all change before the selection committee decides who goes to Atlanta so keep you bra on.
“Of course Ohio State isn’t as good as Alabama”
I’m not saying you’re definitely wrong, because we won’t know for a while yet, but I’d pump the brakes before you go betting the farm on futures.
C’mon General. We’ve seen this narrative before. Do you really think OSU stands a chance in the playoffs? Beating Alabama or Georgia or even LSU isn’t the same as beating up on Indiana. I get it, you’re one of the best teams in the Big10…that’s about it.
Any of the top 6 teams could claim #1. One of them will be #1 when the season is done.
Alabama fan here and I think they are no better than #4 with Clemson at #5. OSU, LSU, and Georgia at 1,2, 3.
TigersForLIfe, You make a valid point, However, Ohio State played a run defense who has allowed about 100 rush yards this season. Ohio State got over 150 rush yards on them in one game. Our team has become DBU and we have a very consistent run game. Our wide recievers are future 1st and 2nd round picks. On top of all of that, our strength of schedule rank is 19. That is hardest SOS out of all undefeated teams. I rest my case.
I love how all you Ohio State fans, all of a sudden, choose Jeff Sagarin’s SOS as official. You Fans are the most Bias fans that roll with anything they read of the wittle internet.
Who cares? We’re only about halfway through the season anyways. Everything will play itself out, and most of the top teams will face the meat of their schedules in the near future.
Bama’s defense has looked really mediocre because we continue to lose players to injury and early exits to the NFL. I’m fine with having us at #4 or #5, we haven’t looked overly impressive on that side of the ball.
The AP and Coaches Poll have Bama #1. I don’t keep up with USATODAY and Golf Digest.
Never heard OSU being DBU before.