It’s Rivalry Week in the world of college football and the final week of play for many teams.
The Bulls have continued their winning ways, but three straight weeks of close games has not gotten them any love in the polls. The remain outside of the National Football Playoff top 25, but fellow AAC brethren, Houston, and a conference foe defeated by USF, Navy, have entered at 20th and 25th respectively. Ironically, USF beat Navy, who beat Houston, and USF is unranked while the other two are ranked in reverse of what logic would dictate.
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1 Alabama 2 Ohio State 3 Michigan 4 Clemson 5 Washington 6 Wisconsin 7 Penn State 8 Oklahoma 9 Colorado 10 Oklahoma State 11 Louisville 12 USC 13 Auburn |
14 Florida State 15 Florida 16 Nebraska 17 Tennessee 18 West Virginia 19 Boise State 20 Houston 21 Western Michigan 22 Utah 23 Washington State 24 Stanford 25 Navy |
There has been lots of discussion about the latest playoff poll, with most of it centered about how it varied from other polls. None of that national debate involves USF, but an argument could be made about why they aren’t there, but two, two-loss teams from the same conference are.
As usual, the AP Poll, discussed on USF Blog previously, will be next.
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1 Alabama 2 Ohio State 3 Michigan 4 Clemson 5 Wisconsin 6 Washington 7 Oklahoma 8 Penn State 9 Colorado 10 Oklahoma State 11 Louisville 12 USC 13 Florida 14 Western Michigan 15 Florida State |
16 Auburn 17 Nebraska 18 Houston 19 West Virginia 20 Boise State 21 Utah 22 Texas A&M 23 Washington State 24 Tennessee 25 LSU 26 Stanford 27 Virginia Tech 28 Navy 29 North Carolina 30 South Florida |
USF still trails Navy, who they beat, who is now ten spots lower than Houston, whom they beat. Houston is the only team from the American Athletic Conference to show up in the official top 25. USF is getting just 24 votes in this poll, which up eight from last week. Ten three-loss teams are ranked higher than USF in this poll, including #13 USC, #15 FSU, and #16 Auburn. The 25th ranked team in this poll, LSU, is 6-4.
The USA Coaches Poll has tracked a bit better for USF all season, but top 25 honors have alluded them. The methodology of this poll was detailed on a previous USF Blog posting.
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1 Alabama 2 Ohio State 3 Clemson 4 Michigan 5 Washington 6 Wisconsin 7 Oklahoma 8 Penn State 9 Colorado 10 Oklahoma State 11 Louisville 12 USC 13 Florida 14 Florida State 15 Nebraska |
16 Auburn 17 West Virginia 18 Western Michigan 19 Boise State 20 Utah 21 Houston 22 Texas A&M 23 Washington State 24 Tennessee 25 North Carolina 26 Virginia Tech 27 Stanford 28 LSU 29 Navy 30 South Florida |
In previous weeks, it has been pointed out how much better this poll viewed the Bulls, getting them very close to the top 25 on multiple occasions. Apparently, letting SMU make a game of it is not okay with the coaches. They drop in this poll, from an unofficial 27th to 30th, seeing their vote point total increase by just three, from 43 to 46. Navy still sits one spot higher, with only Houston from the AAC in the top 25. At this point in the year, with just one more game to go, it is becoming unlikely that the Bulls will be ranked in the regular season in this poll.
The CBS 128 is the first of the computer modeled polls, explained in an earlier post on USF Blog.
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1 Alabama Crimson Tide (11-0) 2 Ohio State Buckeyes (10-1) 3 Clemson Tigers (10-1) 4 Michigan Wolverines (10-1) 5 Washington Huskies (10-1) 6 Wisconsin Badgers (9-2) 7 Oklahoma Sooners (9-2) 8 Penn State Nittany Lions (9-2) 9 Southern California Trojans (8-3) 10 Colorado Buffaloes (9-2) 11 Louisville Cardinals (9-2) 12 Oklahoma State Cowboys (9-2) 13 Western Michigan Broncos (11-0) 14 Florida Gators (8-2) 15 Auburn Tigers (8-3) 16 Nebraska Cornhuskers (9-2) |
17 Florida State Seminoles (8-3) 18 Boise State Broncos (10-1) 19 Houston Cougars (9-2) 20 Washington State Cougars (8-3) 21 West Virginia Mountaineers (8-2) 22 Texas A&M Aggies (8-3) 23 Utah Utes (8-3) 24 Virginia Tech Hokies (8-3) 25 Navy Midshipmen (8-2) 26 Stanford Cardinal (8-3) 27 LSU Tigers (6-4) 28 San Diego State Aztecs (9-2) 29 North Carolina Tar Heels (8-3) 30 Tennessee Volunteers (8-3) 31 South Florida Bulls (9-2) |
Last week, the Bulls topped the conference rankings in the CBS 128 system. This week, the tables have turned. The 31st ranking ties the worst ever this season using this methodology. USF peaked in the CBS 128 in Week 3 with a rank of 22nd. Last week, they were 26th.x`
Congrove CCR 128 is one of the many factors that goes into the Massey Composite, shown below. It is a computer ranking system, explained previously on USF Blog.
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1 Alab 2 Ohio St 3 WMU 4 Mich 5 Wash 6 Clem 7 Wisc 8 Lville 9 Okla 10 Boise 11 OkSt 12 PSU 13 Colo |
14 SD St 15 Hou 16 USC 17 FSU 18 USF 19 Toledo 20 Navy 21 Fla 22 Auburn 23 Wash St 24 WVU 25 WKU |
In the opposite extreme is the Congrove CCR 128, which has the Bulls tying a season high ranking of 18th, up three from last week. It was suggested, last week, that this system likes the high scoring ways of USF, which is the only logical reason they continue to be ranked so high by this computer system. Last week, the Congrove system rated the Bulls at 21. This week’s ranking ties the high ranking for USF from Week 8.
ESPN’s Football Power Index, explained on USF Blog, is next.
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1 Alabama, SEC 2 OSU, Big Ten 3 Michigan, Big Ten 4 Clemson, ACC 5 Louisville, ACC 6 Washington, Pac-12 7 LSU, SEC 8 Oklahoma, Big 12 9 FSU, ACC 10 Auburn, SEC 11 USC, Pac-12 12 Colorado, Pac-12 13 Wisconsin, Big Ten 14 Texas A&M, SEC 15 Washington St, Pac-12 16 Oklahoma State, Big 12 17 Penn State, Big Ten 18 Tennessee, SEC 19 Miami, ACC 20 UNC, ACC |
21 Stanford, Pac-12 22 Florida, SEC 23 Ole Miss, SEC 24 W Michigan, MAC 25 Pitt, ACC 26 West Virginia, Big 12 27 Boise State, MW 28 VT, ACC 29 Houston, American 30 BYU, FBS Indep. 31 Iowa, Big Ten 32 UCLA, Pac-12 33 Utah, Pac-12 34 TCU, Big 12 35 Kansas State, Big 12 36 Notre Dame, FBS Indep. 37 Nebraska, Big Ten 38 San Diego State, MW 39 USF, American |
The Bulls tread water in the ESPN Football Power Index at 39th. Houston is the closest AAC team to being in the top 25, four spots out at 29. Navy, the other team from the conference who has tended to be ranked near USF in these rankings, is 52nd in this system.
The Massey Composite ranking combines more than 100 different ranking systems and averages the total ranks by team. The methodology is explained on USF Blog.
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1 Alab 2 Ohio St 3 Mich 4 Clem 5 Wash 6 Wisc 7 Colo 8 PSU 9 Okla 10 USC 11 Lville 12 WMU 13 FSU 14 Auburn 15 Fla |
16 Stan 17 Wash St 18 Boise 19 Neb 20 UTK 21 Hou 22 OkSt 23 TexA&M 24 LSU 25 WVU 26 UNC 27 VT 28 Pitt 29 USF |
This is one of the three areas that the Bulls have dropped this week. Coming in at 29th, they were 28th last week. Only Houston makes the top 25, here.
The final system being reviewed in this series is Sagarin. The methodology for this ranking system can be found on an earlier USF Blog posting.
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1 Alab 2 Ohio St 3 Mich 4 Clem 5 Wash 6 Lville 7 Okla 8 Wisc 9 LSU 10 USC 11 Colo 12 Auburn 13 FSU 14 Wash St 15 PSU 16 Stan 17 TexA&M 18 Mia FL 19 OkSt 20 Fla |
21 UTK 22 WMU 23 VT 24 UNC 25 Hou 26 WVU 27 OlMis 28 Pitt 29 Iowa 30 Neb 31 Utah 32 Boise 33 KSU 34 BYU 37 Ark 38 SD St 39 Notre Dame 40 USF |
The final ranking system reviewed here is Sagarin’s. This has been the worst ranking system for the Bulls all sesason, a trend that continues. USF ranks 40th in this week’s ranking, three spots better than last week.
