College football’s Top 25 résumé ranking entering Week 10

Another week, another change at the top of our résumé rankings. Let’s just get right to it.

You can find last week’s ranking here.

Ranking the Top 25 résumés in college football

So, what’s the objective here?

This is not a subjective power ranking of the best teams in college football. This is not a subjective 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 is a ranking that seeks to compare what teams have actually done on the field, free from the bias that gets baked into a preseason ranking. Who you beat matters. Where you beat them matters. How you beat them matters. And losses matter.

Let’s get to it.

Dropped from the ranking: 20 Virginia, 22 LSU

25. Washington (6-2, 3-2 Big Ten)

BEST WIN: 42-25 vs. Illinois
LAST WEEK: NR

Washington was on the bubble for me heading into Week 9, but a commanding win over Illinois (another bubble team) pushed the Huskies in above Virginia. UVa has a head-to-head win over Louisville, which is still in this ranking, but that’s the only thing of note on the Cavs’ schedule, and now that they’ve scraped by 2 bad teams — Washington State several weeks ago and UNC last weekend — there’s little else to justify inclusion in this kind of ranking. I care more about UW’s wins, and the 2 losses are against far better teams than the NC State team Virginia lost to. UW is rated higher than Virginia in FEI, Sagarin, and SP+. At this point in the season, we know enough about the ACC to know there’s a massive gap between it and the other 3 power conference leagues.

24. South Florida (6-2, 3-1 AAC)

BEST WIN: 18-16 at Florida
LAST WEEK: 20

With a crushing win over an otherwise unbeaten North Texas team, a win in The Swamp, and a win over Boise State, it felt foolish to drop South Florida out of the top 25 for a 3-point loss in a game that very nearly went to overtime.

23. Iowa (6-2, 4-1 B1G)

BEST WIN: 37-0 at Wisconsin
LAST WEEK: 25

AP voters are slow to catch on with Iowa, but I’m not. Since putting a right, good scare into Indiana, the Hawkeyes have crushed Wisconsin and Minnesota by a combined score of 78-3 and beaten Penn State. No reason this team shouldn’t be ranked.

22. Michigan (6-2, 4-1 B1G)

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

Michigan’s only conference loss came in Los Angeles. Michigan’s only other loss came in Norman in the second week of the season. The Wolverines have otherwise handled business.

21. Louisville (6-1, 3-1 ACC)

BEST WIN: 24-21 at Miami
LAST WEEK: 21

The Cards are 13th in ESPN’s strength of record metric, and their résumé ranks 18th according to SP+. Their big win — at Miami — is far more important than Virginia’s win over Florida State, and they have a sneaky-important win at Pitt.

20. Memphis (7-1, 3-1 AAC)

BEST WIN: 34-31 vs. South Florida
LAST WEEK: NR

Just like that, Memphis is right back in the thick of the College Football Playoff mix. I’d argue the Tigers — who have a win over a (bad, but still…) SEC team on the ledger — are the leaders in the clubhouse to grab that fifth autobid.

19. Tennessee (6-2, 3-2 SEC)

BEST WIN: 41-34 at Mississippi State (OT)
LAST WEEK: 19

Giving up 34 points to Kentucky is pretty problematic. And it’s getting harder to defend this team when the best win is in overtime against a team that hasn’t won a conference game in 2 years. The Vols rate well in the various power models, which is more a testament to their roster talent and their offensive acumen. But the résumé is looking surprisingly light, which makes this weekend’s game against Oklahoma pretty important. If the Vols don’t show well, they’ll probably need a beatdown of Vandy at the end of the season to really impress the committee. Based on what we’ve seen, Tennessee could get exposed in a first-round CFP game.

18. Oklahoma (6-2, 2-2 SEC)

BEST WIN: 24-13 vs. Michigan
LAST WEEK: 13

The defense broke under the weight placed on it by a subpar offense, and Oklahoma lost for the second time in 3 games. I’m officially concerned about the direction of this team; the Sooners are facing a must-win game at Tennessee this week.

17. Missouri (6-2, 2-2 SEC)

BEST WIN: 23-17 at Auburn (2OT)
LAST WEEK: 12

Mizzou really needs something. Close losses to Alabama and Vanderbilt are still defeats, and now the Tigers are going to have to make a run with a third-string quarterback. The double-overtime win at Auburn is the only road victory of the season, and the only remaining opportunities to get a ranked win are against Texas A&M or at Oklahoma.

RELATED: Missouri online sports betting will be live before the end of the year. Saturday Down South will have the latest info surrounding the Underdog Sportsbook Missouri launch.

16. Utah (6-2, 3-2 Big 12)

BEST WIN: 42-10 vs. Arizona State
LAST WEEK: 23

Colorado isn’t special, but what Utah did still warrants attention. In a 53-7 win over the Buffs, Utah ran for 422 yards — 151 of which came from a backup, true freshman quarterback making his first start due to injury — and held the Buffs to 140 yards of total offense. All 6 of Utah’s wins have been by at least 25 points. The 2 defeats have come to the 2 best teams in the Big 12.

15. USC (5-2, 3-1 B1G)

BEST WIN: 31-13 vs. Michigan
LAST WEEK: 18

USC had a bye week. It moved because of what happened to the teams that were around it last week.

14. Notre Dame (5-2)

BEST WIN: 34-24 vs. USC
LAST WEEK: 16

Notre Dame also had a bye week, and it moved up for the same reason USC did.

13. Cincinnati (7-1, 5-0 Big 12)

BEST WIN: 38-30 vs. Iowa State
LAST WEEK: 15

Cincinnati is cruising. The Bearcats have won 7 straight, including each of the last 2 by at least 3 touchdowns. But they don’t currently have a win over a team ranked in my ranking or the AP Poll. Opportunities are on the horizon. Over the final month of the season, Cincy faces 2 teams that are currently in the SP+ top 20. Cincinnati needs both.

12. BYU (8-0, 5-0 Big 12)

BEST WIN: 24-21 vs. Utah
LAST WEEK: 11

BYU is fifth in ESPN’s strength of record metric. The Cougars beat Iowa State in Ames over the weekend, taking the game by its neck in the second half. Iowa State had a 24-10 lead late in the second quarter. Over the final 31:52 of the game, BYU outscored the Cyclones 31-3. This is looking like last year’s script; BYU just finds what it needs to win games. For the moment, though, the Cougars are outside my top 10. The Utah win is the only thing of note. A loss at Texas Tech would send them tumbling.

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

BEST WIN: 31-24 vs. LSU
LAST WEEK: 10

Vanderbilt needed the win over Mizzou. I won’t knock the Commodores for beating a third-string quarterback at home. They got it done against a ranked opponent from the SEC. Getting 1 of the 2 remaining road games would be massive.

10. Ole Miss (7-1, 4-1 SEC)

BEST WIN: 34-26 at Oklahoma
LAST WEEK: 17

The win at Oklahoma is the best of the season for the Rebels. Given the circumstances that surrounded it, it may have been the best of the Lane Kiffin tenure to this point. I was not expecting the offense to have the kind of success it had against the OU defense. The Rebels are looking pretty safe in the CFP race. That does, of course, assume they don’t have another brain fart like they did after beating Georgia last season.

9. Georgia Tech (8-0, 4-0 ACC)

BEST WIN: 24-21 vs. Clemson
LAST WEEK: 9

Georgia Tech should be winning these games, so I won’t be jumping out of my seat when they do. Firmly in the top 10 acknowledges the unbeaten record, but nothing on this résumé is better than anything the teams ahead of Georgia Tech have. The ACC is bad. Super bad. And Tech doesn’t have games against any of the league’s upper teams to help combat that. Wins over NC State and Boston College won’t move the needle, either. We’ll come back to the Yellow Jackets for the 2-game stretch to end the year. Those will make or break the profile.

8. Texas Tech (7-1, 4-1 Big 12)

BEST WIN: 34-10 at Utah
LAST WEEK: 8

The Red Raiders followed up a road loss with a backup quarterback by shutting out Oklahoma State. The Pokes are terrible, so Tech should have won going away. But I was still impressed. They cleared a 5-score spread by a touchdown.

7. Georgia (6-1, 4-1 SEC)

BEST WIN: 43-35 vs. Ole Miss
LAST WEEK: 7

Georgia doesn’t move after a bye week.

6. Oregon (7-1, 4-1 B1G)

BEST WIN: 30-24 at Penn State
LAST WEEK: 6

Oregon only scored 21 points against Wisconsin, but starting quarterback Dante Moore left the game in the third quarter and didn’t come back.

5. Miami (6-1, 2-1 ACC)

BEST WIN: 27-24 vs. Notre Dame
LAST WEEK: 5

Miami responded to an ACC loss by taking an inferior opponent seriously… Just not in the first quarter. Stanford had a 7-0 lead after the first quarter. It was a 7-7 game at halftime. Miami outscored Stanford 35-0 in the second half to avoid further embarrassment.

4. Alabama (7-1, 5-0 SEC)

BEST WIN: 24-21 at Georgia
LAST WEEK: 4

With 10 minutes left, Alabama trailed South Carolina 22-14. The Tide then scored 15 unanswered to win their seventh straight. South Carolina played inspired and Alabama broke its heart on the road, proving this year’s team is vastly different from Kalen DeBoer’s first.

3. Ohio State (7-0, 4-0 B1G)

BEST WIN: 34-16 at Illinois
LAST WEEK: 3

Ohio State was on a bye.

2. Indiana (8-0, 5-0 B1G)

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

The Hoosiers smashed UCLA, sprinting out to a 35-3 halftime lead. They got a pick-6 less than a minute into the game and just never let off the gas. So, why the drop?

1. Texas A&M (8-0, 5-0 SEC)

BEST WIN: 49-25 at LSU
LAST WEEK: 2

Texas A&M beat LSU so badly that the Tigers’ administration actually fired Brian Kelly. Texas A&M pantsed LSU in Baton Rouge to such a degree that the administration took a “we’ll figure it out later” approach to Kelly’s $54 million buyout. Texas A&M hadn’t won a game in Tiger Stadium since 1994. The Tigers had won 20 of the last 21 home night games before A&M went in and flexed its might. LSU led 18-14 at the half before A&M scored 35 unanswered points. Is LSU in my ranking? No. But a win like that at Tiger Stadium was enough to boost A&M over Indiana.