College football’s Top 25 résumé ranking entering Champ Week

Rivalry Week wasn’t exactly “Chaos Week.” The AP Top 10 was all in action, and 6 of the 10 covered the spread in wins. Three others (Georgia, Oklahoma, Notre Dame) all failed to cover the number from Vegas but still won their games outright.

Texas A&M was the only team in the top 20 that lost to a lower-ranked/unranked team.

It was more like… Status Quo Week? We’ll workshop the name. But with little going wrong at the top of the sport, there wasn’t much to change this week at the top of the Résumé Ranking. A couple of teams dropped out of the back half, but no one who was in the top 15 a week ago moved out of the top 15 this week.

You can find last week’s rankings here.

Ranking the Top 25 résumés in college football

This is not a power ranking of the best teams in college football. This is not a ranking of how I think these teams will look at the end of the season or a prediction of who will make the College Football Playoff. This ranking aims to compare who has accomplished what, who has beaten whom, and who has lost where. While some might treat the non-power conferences as second-rate, I’m more inclined to give those teams love.

Let’s get to it.

Dropped from the ranking: 17 Tennessee, 22 Arizona State

25. SMU (8-4, 6-2 ACC)

BEST WIN: 26-20 vs. Miami
LAST WEEK: 20

I struggled with SMU this week. On one hand, the Mustangs have 4 losses and reside in a conference that just isn’t deserving of much respect this season. On the other hand, SMU has one of the best wins of any team near the back-end of these rankings, and it is 3-0 against Sagarin-rated top-30 teams. Other teams considered for this spot don’t come close to that — Tennessee (0-4 vs. top 30), Navy (0-1), Washington (0-3).

24. Iowa (8-4, 6-3 Big Ten)

BEST WIN: 40-16 at Nebraska
LAST WEEK: NR

I thought the Hawkeyes would beat the Huskers, but I didn’t think it would be a demo at Memorial Stadium. Iowa outscored Nebraska 30-6 over the final 3 quarters to claim its 10th win in the last 11 meetings between the 2 border rivals. Three of Iowa’s 4 losses are to teams in my top 17, and none of them were by more than 5 points.

23. Missouri (8-4, 4-4 SEC)

BEST WIN: 23-17 at Auburn
LAST WEEK: NR

Mizzou was another challenging team to place. The SEC is brutal, and the Tigers ended up playing a much more challenging schedule than anyone gave them credit for at the beginning of the season. They went 0-2 against Sagarin-rated top-10 teams and 2-2 against other top-30 teams. Two of the losses featured a third-string quarterback, and the other 2 were to teams I have in my top 10. Good team, tough breaks.

22. North Texas (11-1, 7-1 AAC)

BEST WIN: 59-10 vs. Washington State
LAST WEEK: 24

North Texas still hasn’t played a Sagarin-rated top-30 team. The best team it played this season (South Florida) rates 31st in Sagarin and 23rd in SP+; North Texas lost that game at home 63-36. An 11-win season is a wonderful achievement, but the 10 FBS opponents UNT beat went a combined 45-63 against FBS competition this season.

21. Arizona (9-3, 6-3 Big 12)

BEST WIN: 23-7 at Arizona State
LAST WEEK: 25

Arizona went on the road for rivalry week and handled Arizona State to close the regular season on a 5-game winning streak.

20. Michigan (9-3, 7-2 B1G)

BEST WIN: 24-7 vs. Washington
LAST WEEK: 16

The Wolverines had a 6-3 lead after the first quarter and just could not keep the dogs at bay. Ohio State dominated the final 3 quarters, 24-3, to snap its losing streak in The Game. No shame in losing to Ohio State; everyone did this season.

19. Virginia (10-2, 7-1 ACC)

BEST WIN: 30-27 at Louisville
LAST WEEK: 23

Virginia cruised past Virginia Tech to cap its second-ever 10-win season and secure a spot in the ACC title game. The Cavs held Virginia Tech to a season-worst 197 yards of offense while rushing for 197 themselves. UVa has 1 game this season against a Sagarin-rated top-30 team, but it won that game, so here we are.

18. James Madison (11-1, 8-0 Sun Belt)

BEST WIN: 24-20 vs. Washington State
LAST WEEK: 19

The Dukes crushed Coastal Carolina to capture an 11-win regular season and push their head coach out the door yet again. After Curt Cignetti won 11 games 2 years ago, he landed a Big Ten gig. Now that Bob Chesney has won 11 games, he, too, has landed a Big Ten gig.

17. USC (9-3, 7-2 B1G)

BEST WIN: 31-13 vs. Michigan
LAST WEEK: 21

For a half, USC was hungover. It gave up 10 unanswered in the second quarter to crosstown rival UCLA and went into the halftime break trailing 10-7. USC then blanked UCLA in the second half to win 29-10. Nice bounceback from a disappointing result in Eugene. USC is a bowl win away from what would be just its second 10-win season in the last 8 years.

16. Tulane (10-2, 7-1 AAC)

BEST WIN: 38-32 at Memphis
LAST WEEK: 18

Tulane beat a horrible Charlotte team, so the move up has more to do with what happened around the Green Wave than anything they did. I still like that Tulane has multiple wins over power conference teams.

15. Utah (10-2, 7-2 Big 12)

BEST WIN: 45-14 vs. Cincinnati
LAST WEEK: 14

Utah completed the Sunflower State sweep by scoring 21 points in the fourth quarter to escape Kansas with a win. Lacking a clearly defined signature win, part of Utah’s charm was its ability to bulldoze teams. That hasn’t really been present over the last 2 weeks, thus the consistent drop.

14. BYU (11-1, 8-1 Big 12)

BEST WIN: 24-21 vs. Utah
LAST WEEK: 12

BYU has 1 good win, which came at home by 3 points. That’s the entire résumé. The rest of the schedule has featured beatdowns of bad teams or escape jobs. The best team BYU played beat the Cougars 29-7.

13. Vanderbilt (10-2, 6-2 SEC)

BEST WIN: 45-24 at Tennessee
LAST WEEK: 13

Vanderbilt beat up a flawed Tennessee team on the road to capture its first 10-win regular season in school history — a tremendous achievement. The win, however, was Vandy’s first on the road this season over a team with a winning record. The ‘Dores get the nod over BYU because of quantity; they are 5-2 against Sagarin-rated top-30 teams while BYU is 1-1.

12. Texas (9-3, 6-2 SEC)

BEST WIN: 27-17 vs. Texas A&M
LAST WEEK: 15

Texas is being judged against Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, and BYU here. The Longhorns have the best win, but also the worst loss. They played a significantly tougher schedule than BYU. They own the head-to-head with Vanderbilt. I’m not knocking Texas for going and playing Ohio State on the road in Week 1; I’m knocking Texas for getting bullied by a bad Florida team. If Texas had just handled its business in that game, no one would care about the Ohio State result. (But Steve Sarkisian knows that.)

11. Notre Dame (10-2)

BEST WIN: 34-24 vs. USC
LAST WEEK: 11

The best wins are against USC and Pitt, which means “good losses” can only do so much for you.

10. Miami (10-2, 6-2 ACC)

BEST WIN: 27-24 vs. Notre Dame
LAST WEEK: 10

Miami hammered Pitt in a game I thought would be a lot closer. The Hurricanes are the ACC’s best team by a significant margin.

9. Alabama (10-2, 7-1 SEC)

BEST WIN: 24-21 at Georgia
LAST WEEK: 9

Alabama made it out of Jordan-Hare Stadium with a win and a cover. The touchdown pass from Ty Simpson to Isaiah Horton on fourth-and-2 with 3:50 to play was a truly insane call from Kalen DeBoer, but it worked to get Alabama back to 10 wins.

8. Oregon (11-1, 8-1 B1G)

BEST WIN: 42-27 vs. USC
LAST WEEK: 8

Oregon beat a good Washington team on the road to end the regular season with only a single defeat to one of the best teams in all of college football. The Ducks currently have a 4-1 record against top-30 teams in both Sagarin and SP+.

7. Oklahoma (10-2, 6-2 SEC)

BEST WIN: 23-21 at Alabama
LAST WEEK: 7

Oklahoma is legally not allowed to have a football team that complements itself. Either the offense is otherworldly, or the defense is a boa constrictor. Never both at once. The OU offense is poor, but the defense just chokes the life out of teams. With the win over LSU, OU grabbed its seventh over a Sagarin-rated top-30 team.

6. Texas A&M (11-1, 7-1 SEC)

BEST WIN: 41-40 at Notre Dame
LAST WEEK: 2

Texas A&M blew it. No way to sugarcoat it. No excuse to make. The Aggies were a win over Texas away from an SEC title berth and they got handled. Marcel Reed was bad and the defense cracked, giving up 155 rushing yards to a single back in a Texas offense that hadn’t rushed for 155 yards as a team in any of its previous 7 games. Losing on the road to a top-15 team isn’t, in and of itself, a reason to send the Aggies tumbling, but it is disappointing. I thought Mike Elko was the guy to get A&M over that last hurdle.

5. Ole Miss (11-1, 7-1 SEC)

BEST WIN: 34-26 at Oklahoma
LAST WEEK: 6

Lane Kiffin really left the best Ole Miss team in school history. For all the nonsense that surrounded the Rebels’ locker room leading up to the Egg Bowl, credit to the players for blocking everything out and buckling down. Mississippi State was within a single score a couple of times, but it only really ever felt like the Bulldogs were threatening a cover, not an outright win. Ole Miss had the game pretty well in hand.

4. Texas Tech (11-1, 8-1 Big 12)

BEST WIN: 29-7 vs. BYU
LAST WEEK: 5

Tech went on the road and battered a hapless West Virginia team, exactly as one would have hoped to see. The Red Raiders have won 5 straight since losing to ASU with a backup quarterback in the closing moments. All 11 Red Raider wins this season have been by at least 22 points.

3. Georgia (11-1, 7-1 SEC)

BEST WIN: 43-35 vs. Ole Miss
LAST WEEK: 4

Georgia is a machine. A little help here. A little grit there. An explosion here. A defensive flex there. Whatever it takes to win football games, these Dawgs find it. They have a win over a Sagarin-rated top-10 team and a 4-1 record against top-30 squads. The only loss is to Alabama by 3 points. At the end of the day, this is one of the best résumés in college football.

2. Ohio State (12-0, 9-0 B1G)

BEST WIN: 27-9 at Michigan
LAST WEEK: 3

Ohio State jumps to No. 2, but still remains behind Indiana. I’ll explain why below.

1. Indiana (12-0, 9-0 B1G)

BEST WIN: 30-20 at Oregon
LAST WEEK: 1

The Buckeyes are 4-0 against Sagarin-rated top-30 teams while Indiana is 3-0, but Indiana has the win over Oregon — a top-10 team in Sagarin’s ratings. Judged by SP+, Ohio State’s best win is on the road over the 18th-rated team while Indiana’s is on the road over the fourth-rated team. Indiana is also 3-0 against SP+ top-20 teams while Ohio State is 2-0.