NCAA Power Rankings – Iowa Takes Down Penn State and Miami Gets Put in its Place
Not many people believed that the Miami Hurricanes were as good as their record indicated. Nobody that is except, well, Miami Hurricane fans. As often is the case in college football betting, the gamblers were right, for the most part, when the Miami Hurricanes finally came down to earth this past Saturday. They were thumped by the more talented Virginia Tech Hokies.
Because the Hurricanes have to face Oklahoma next Saturday, there spot in the Top 25 is tenuous.
Miami, of course, wasn’t the only team that didn’t show up on Saturday. The Penn State Nittany Lions, off of three wins against cupcakes, failed miserably against their 2008 nemesis, the Iowa Hawkeyes.
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Let’s take a look at the Week 4 rankings.
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NCAAF Power Rankings
- Florida – – The Gators were only favored by 20 against Kentucky, had a 31 to 7 halftime lead, and kept things going that way by beating the Wildcats 41 to 7 to cover the spread, but Kentucky may have given the rest of the SEC a gift by putting Tim Tebow into the hospital with a concussion. Concussions are serious things. We’ll have to see how things play out but the Gators face LSU in two weeks in a game that has suddenly become much more interesting.
- Texas – – The best thing that came out of Texas’s 64 to 7 victory over the UTEP Miners was the fact that Longhorns’ defense finally came to play. The 37 point spread was a non-factor after McCoy and company got it going. If Texas’s defense can keep it up, then these guys might be the team to beat with Tebow possibly on the bench.
- Alabama- – Nobody believed that Arkansas was going to be much of a test, but the Crimson Tide didn’t just beat Arkansas, they covered a 17 ½ point spread by 10 points to beat the Razorbacks 35 to 7.
- LSU – – I’m not going to drop them after escaping with a victory over Mississippi State. The Fighting Tigers weren’t close to covering against the spread as they were 12 point favorites and won by 4, 30 to 26, but Les Miles’s bunch usually has a tough game or two against an SEC opponent that nobody is paying attention to. This team is still very good.
- Boise State – – They keep winning and covering spreads. Yes, the competition sucks, but they keep putting money into the hands of online betting fans. That’s all that matters. This time they beat Bowling Green by a score of 49 to 14 as a 16 ½ point favorite.
- Virginia Tech – – Miami was favored by 1 ½, the Hokies covered by 25 ½ and all of a sudden the real ACC team is once again in the discussion for the BCS Championship game. Hey, VA Tech isn’t afraid of anybody. They’ve played Miami, Nebraska and Alabama already this year and probably should have beaten the Crimson Tide, the only team out of the three to beat them. That makes them solid contenders for the BCS, should they go undefeated, again.
- TCU- – The Horned Frogs went to Clemson, a tough place to play as 2 ½ point underdogs, and beat the Tigers 14 to 10. TCU has to be given respect now.
- Ohio State – – Illinois was getting 13 ½ points in this game and Ohio State won 30 to 0. Take a look at Ohio State the past two weeks and gamblers will suddenly realize that the defense has gotten exceptional and QB Terrelle Pryor has improved to the point of being a very good college quarterback. This team is slowly making their way into the BCS discussion ala VA Tech.
- Cincinnati – – They didn’t cover but they did win which means that they are still undefeated. The writing could start to show on the wall, however, as the Bearcats were all out to beat Fresno State 28 to 20.
- Iowa – – Other then the ridiculous week one game against Northern Iowa, the Hawkeyes are 3 and 0 against the spread. They’ve beaten Iowa State, a Big 12 team, Arizona, a Pac 10 team, and the Penn State Nittany Lions on the road. These guys are for real.
- Oklahoma – – The Sooners had a bye on Saturday but move up anyhow because they are a solid team that has been covering spreads. And, friends, that’s they are ranked ahead of USC. They have covered spreads since their loss to BYU. The Trojans didn’t since their loss to Washington.
- Houston – – This time they beat Texas Tech after coming back from a deficit. They didn’t cover the 2 ½ point spread in the BetUS online sportsbook, but they won again.
- Michigan – – The Wolverines had a hell of a time against an Indiana team that they were favored by 18 ½ points. The Wolverines beat the Hoosiers 36 to 33. I’m not sure how good the Wolverines really are. They are undefeated but Notre Dame, the team that put them on the map this season, has turned out to be okay, not good, but okay. We’ll learn more when Michigan faces the best team in the Big Ten, the Iowa Hawkeyes.
- USC – – I just don’t really like the Trojans. I mean, they’re favored by 45 ½ over the Washington State Cougars at home, score only 27 and allow the Cougars to put up 6. Ohio State must be kicking themselves for letting that game get away from them a few weeks ago.
- Kansas – – If they can get away from brawls against the KU basketball team, maybe they can get back to covering ATS. They were favored by 11 ½ against Southern Miss and won by only 4 ½ points.
- Georgia – – Even though they didn’t cover, just beating ASU was impressive to me as the stats said that the Sun Devils had a chance to upset Georgia in this game. The Bulldogs need to learn how to take care of the ball. Keeping the Sun Devils to only 17 points in a 20 to 17 victory, is a good sign, though, that Georgia’s defense is improving.
- BYU – – The Cougars move up because they won, but they didn’t win pretty. Depending on what spread you got, the Cougars either pushed, covered or lost when berating Colorado State 42 to 23.
- Penn State – – Too harsh to drop the Nittany Lions to 18th? I don’t think so. They weren’t covering against teams like Syracuse and Temple. The first real team they faced, Iowa, beat the hell out of them as 9 ½ point underdogs on the road.
- California – – They didn’t even show up against Oregon. For a team full of supposedly smart kids, they sure lack heart. Too much thinking, maybe, not enough feeling. Anyhow, losing 42 to 3 as 5 ½ point favorites is gross.
- Nebraska – – The Cornhuskers beat Louisiana-Lafayette 55 to 0 and easily covered a 30 point spread. I wish I could move them up, but they will need to thump a higher class team before doing so.
- Auburn – – What’s good for Nebraska is good for Auburn. Again, I’d like to move them up, but they haven’t been doing their best work against the best teams. Auburn is good but until they get into SEC play, 54 to 30 victories over teams like Ball State, even if they do cover the spread, aren’t going to get them into the Top 20.
- Mississippi – – Some college betting fans might believe that I’m dropping these guys too far down after their 6 point loss to South Carolina on the road. The truth is that Mississippi didn’t look prepared in their game against the Gamecocks and might have issues on the offensive line in 2009. Because they play in the SEC, they will have plenty of chances to get back into the Top 10.
- Miami – – Okay, this probably is harsh. The Hurricanes did beat Florida State and Georgia Tech. FSU lost and Georgia Tech…yeah, this is harsh, but where should these guys go? They had a chance to make a statement and blew it. They blew it badly.
- Oklahoma State – – There wasn’t even a line in this game. How are gamblers expected to rank the Cowboys who have been hiding since their loss to Houston? They don’t play Texas until October 31st. Until then, they’ll hover around 24th or so in my NCAA Power Rankings.
- South Carolina – – Yes, Mississippi is a team that they are used to beating, but it was still impressive. These guys were 4 point underdogs and beat the Rebels 16 to 10. That’s good enough for me to put them back into the Top
One reply on “Week 5 CFB Power Rankings”
Move Penn State, Cal, Ole Miss, and Miami to the Pretender list as their National Title hopes have been dashed on the rocks with a loss in games they should have won.