1) Alabama - You knew it was gonna be a blood bath this week with the Ragin Cajuns coming to Tuscaloosa and at the half it was already 49-0 before Nick Saban called off the dogs. QB Tua Tagovailoa continued his remarkable season with a perfect 8-for-8 performance with 2 TD's before letting Jalen Hurts come in the 2nd quarter. A road trip to Arkansas this week should again be a snoozefest for the clear cut #1 team in the country.
2) Georgia - The Bulldogs move up a spot in my rankings because they dismantled Tennessee at home like they were suppose to. So far UGA is the only team in the country yet to trail in a game. Even when Jake Fromm was off a little bit on Saturday head coach Kirby Smart knew he could bring in freshman Justin Fields and the Dawgs would move the ball without skipping a beat. What was more important for UGA was the defensive performance. They stopped the Vols run game (66 yards rushing) and just barely gave up 200 total yards. This week they get a warmup game with Vandy coming to town for homecoming before embarking on a daunting 3-game road trip in LSU, Florida and Kentucky.
3) Ohio State - It wasn't a pretty first half performance from the Buckeyes in Happy Valley (out gained 293 yards to 93 yards) but they went into the locker room only down by 6. The Buckeyes stormed back in the 2nd half down 12 with 8 minutes to go to squeeze out a 27-26 win thanks to some questionable at best coaching decisions from Penn State's James Franklin. Gotta give credit to the Buckeyes though as they now have road wins vs two top 15 opponents (TCU and Penn State) on their resume. The Buckeyes travel to Indiana this week for their homecoming in what could be a classic trap game coming off the emotional win in Happy Valley.
4) Notre Dame - I'll be the first to admit I didn't see the complete dismantling of the Stanford Cardinal coming from Notre Dame this Saturday. I thought it would be another classic nail biter but Notre Dame came out and out muscled and out executed Stanford 38-17 in a score that could have been much worse. Ian Book played near perfection again this week and has proved head coach Brian Kelly made the correct decision to bench starter Brandon Wimbush and roll with Book. Dexter Williams fresh off suspension rushed for 161 yards and the LEA GION OF DOOM defense held Stanford to only 32 total yards in the 2nd half. Notre Dame travels to Blacksburg this week for a primetime matchup with the Virginia Tech Hokies. This will be only the 2nd time these two programs have faced off with the first being 2016 in a Va Tech win at Notre Dame.
5) LSU - Every week I've underestimated Ed Orgeron and his LSU Tigers. I thought their division rival Ole Miss could give them a game and boy was I wrong. LSU dominated throughout led by Ohio State transfer QB Joe Burrow in a convincing 45-16 win. The Tigers travel to Gainesville this week and if they can win it sets up a top 5 matchup with UGA the following week.
7) Oklahoma - QB Kyler Murray put up some Heisman worthy numbers (432 yards passing with 7 TDs total) in a Baylor beat down 66-33. Offensively the Sooners have been clicking all season and haven't skipped a beat with Murray replacing Baker Mayfield. The problem is the Sooners still don't play a whole lot of defense and their pass defense gives up a ton of big plays. This week they get top 25 rival Texas in the Red River Shootout in what should be a tight game.
8) West Virginia - The Mountaineers came out guns blazing in Texas Tech and had a huge lead before hanging on to win 42-34. This was your typical Big 12 shootout with Will Grier again putting up Heisman Trophy numbers with 370 yards and 3 TDs. They should have little issues with Kansas this week.
9) Auburn - In a game delayed over 3 hours Auburn beat Southern Miss 24-13. The weather may have contributed but it still seems like Auburn is struggling to get the ball into the endzone despite Jarrett Stidham playing well. The issue is the Auburn running game just isn't that good. Only 96 yards rushing on 36 carries vs a non Power 5 team just isn't cutting it. They will look to get the offense rolling vs a reeling Mississippi State team.
10) UCF - I'm gonna give UCF some respect and put them in my top 10. They got the nation's longest winning streak at 17 games and absolutely destroyed Pitt 45-14. QB McKenzie Milton accounted for 6 TDs and will now deservedly get some Heisman recognition.
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