...And Down the Stretch They Come!

Can you believe that the college football season is ¾ complete? Wow.

Finally, there are some significant changes in Al’s Top 25. The top three match most of the major rankings with Florida at the top, Texas second and Alabama third. After that, things get a little wacky.

The ACC surprisingly completes the rest of the top five with Georgia Tech and Miami moving up the rankings. Iowa slid to #6 after losing to Northwestern. Cincinnati and Pittsburgh claims numbers seven and eight for the Big East while two Texas teams, Houston and TCU, complete the top ten.

The strangest entry would be Minnesota, still ranked #13 even with five losses. As discussed before, when a team was predicted to have an awful year, but has a moderate to good year, they tend to be over-ranked towards the end of the year. Thus is the case with Minnesota. A similar storm is brewing with Miami. The Hurricanes were predicted to have a 2-10 record, however they currently post a record of 7-2. With two unlikely losses still predicted to UNC and South Florida, Miami could potentially finish 10-2 and have enough accumulated ranking points to finish #1. An obvious glitch in the system.

Be that as it may, it’ll still be fun to see how the final rankings turn out in another three to five weeks. Until then, let’s check out this week’s AT25:

1, Florida (1)
2. Texas (2)
3. Alabama (4)
4. Georgia Tech (7)
5. Miami (10)
6. Iowa (3)
7. Cincinnati (6)
8. Pittsburgh (9)
9. Houston (21)
10. TCU (11)
11. Boise State (12)
12. LSU (5)
13. Minnesota (13)
14. Auburn (14)
15. Clemson (15)
16. Fresno State (16)
17. Notre Dame (17)
18. Utah (18)
19. Oregon (8)
20. California (19)
21. Oklahoma State (20)
22. Nebraska (NR)
23. Idaho (22)
24. Central Michigan (23)
25. Stanford (NR)

Fell Out:

North Carolina (24)
Oklahoma (25)

As we head down the stretch, we have some very significant match-up:

· #5 Miami visits North Carolina. A Hurricane victory will propel Miami to #2.
· #6 Iowa at Ohio State. A Hawkeye win will allows Iowa to return to the top five.
· West Virginia at #7 Cincinnati. This was the Mountaineers only predicted loss of the year…could they upset the Bearcats and return to the Top 25 in this Friday match-up?
· #17 Notre Dame at #8 Pittsburgh. The Panthers are predicted to win this one.
· #18 Utah at #10 TCU. This could solidify TCU as THE BCS Buster team of the year.
· #23 Idaho at #11 Boise State. Who would have thought two Top 25 teams from this conference so late in the year?
· USC at #25 Stanford. Can the Cardinal pull of another big upset?

Oh it looks to be a good end-of-year approaching. Enjoy!