College Football Rankings 2017: Bleacher Report's Week 8 Top 25
Without a single game pitting ranked teams against one another, Week 7 of the 2017 college football season should have been a quiet one.
However, Friday the 13th turned into a nightmare on "Poll Street," with AP No. 2 Clemson and No. 8 Washington State suffering road losses. Nos. 5, 10, 19, 24 and 25 also went down on Saturday, resulting in the biggest shakeup in the Bleacher Report Top 25 to date.
Bleacher Report's Matt Hayes, David Kenyon, Adam Kramer, Kerry Miller, Brad Shepard and Greg Wallace each submitted ballots in which a first-place vote counts for 25 points, second-place counts for 24, etc.
Here's our updated poll, followed by analysis on a couple of big movers, one team lurking just outside the Top 25, some context on Miami's incredible run and the biggest games to watch in Week 8:
- 1. Alabama (Last Week: 1)
- 2. Georgia (3)
- 3. Penn State (4)
- 4. TCU (5)
- 5. Wisconsin (8)
- 6. Clemson (2)
- 7. Ohio State (10)
- 8. Miami (11)
- 9. Oklahoma (15)
- 10. Notre Dame (14)
- 11. Oklahoma State (13)
- 12. USC (12)
- 13. Virginia Tech (16)
- 14. Washington (6)
- 15. UCF (17)
- 16. South Florida (21)
- 17. Washington State (9)
- 18. Michigan (19)
- 19. North Carolina State (18)
- 20. Auburn (7)
- 21. Michigan State (20)
- 22. Stanford (NR)
- 23. LSU (NR)
- 24. West Virginia (NR)
- 25. Virginia (24)
Others Receiving Votes: Utah, Memphis
Who's Hot: Ohio State Buckeyes
Nobody wrote off Ohio State after the Week 2 home loss to Oklahoma, but the national media did reach something of an unspoken agreement to just kind of forget about the Buckeyes until the big showdown with Penn State that's set for Oct. 28.
Heck, for a couple of weeks, they were so forgotten that they continued to drop in the AP poll despite winning with ease. Ohio State initially slipped from No. 2 to No. 8 after losing to the Sooners. But because of what was accomplished by other teams around them, the Buckeyes then dropped to No. 10 after a 38-7 win over Army and fell one more spot to No. 11 after a 54-21 win over UNLV.
Between their continued success and the fact that Top 10 teams having been dropping like flies the past two weeks, though, the Buckeyes are back into College Football Playoff range at No. 7 in our Top 25 heading into their bye week.
Following Ohio State's most recent display of dominance—a 56-14 win over Nebraska—it has now won its last five games by a combined score of 266-56. All five games were decided by at least a 31-point margin. That young defense quickly turned a corner after a rough start to the season. The Buckeyes allowed 927 yards of total offense in the first two games against Indiana and Oklahoma, but they held their next four opponents to a combined total of 817 yards.
And on the offensive side of the equation, J.T. Barrett has emerged as a strong Heisman candidate. The senior QB has completed 72.3 percent of his passes over the past five weeks, throwing for 18 touchdowns without a single interception. He has also rushed for 232 yards and four touchdowns. And as a result, the Buckeyes have gained at least 500 yards of total offense in five straight games.
Of course, it's the next five games that really matter. Blowing out the likes of Rutgers and Maryland was good for Ohio State's confidence, but four of the five toughest games of the season still lie ahead: vs. Penn State, at Iowa, vs. Michigan State and at Michigan. The Buckeyes will enter that slate in great shape, but they're still one loss away from missing out on the CFP.
Who's Not: Washington State Cougars
Ranked teams playing on the road on Thursday or Friday night has been quite the adventure lately. Then-No. 5 USC lost at Washington State two weeks ago. No. 17 Louisville lost at North Carolina State last week. And this Friday, both No. 2 Clemson and No. 8 Washington State suffered shocking losses to teams who entered the night with .500 records.
In most of those games, there's a reasonable explanation. USC and Louisville were facing ranked opponents. Clemson started the game with a gimpy quarterback, finished the game with a backup one and still only lost by a field goal.
But what in the world happened to Washington State in that 37-3 loss to California?
The Cougars returned the opening kickoff for a 99-yard touchdown, but it was called back due to holding. They had a second touchdown overturned a few drives later because of a questionable offensive pass interference call. And that was all she wrote for an offense that had scored at least 30 points in every other game this season.
They did average better than 4.5 yards per play and nearly had as many yards (337) as they did in last week's 33-10 win over Oregon (369). However, the turnovers were the big story. That would-be kickoff return for a TD? It was followed by an interception just three plays later, which was the first of seven turnovers committed on 14 Cougars possessions.
Washington State had not previously turned the ball over more than three times in a game this season, nor had California forced more than three turnovers in a game. Heck, the Golden Bears had a turnover margin of negative-five in the three consecutive losses before this game.
Long story short, this result was entirely unforeseeable, and it drastically altered our collective view of Washington State. We had the Cougars at No. 9 last week, but they plummeted eight spots to No. 17.
Fun Fact: Miami is the King of Comebacks
The Miami Hurricanes are 5-0, but they have not made it look easy.
In the second game of their season, they trailed Toledo 16-10 at halftime. But thanks to six touchdowns in the final 21 minutes, they stormed back for a 52-30 victory. In last week's rivalry game against Florida State, they trailed the Seminoles 3-0 at the intermission before both offenses finally showed up in a 24-20 Miami win. And this week against Georgia Tech, Miami fell behind 14-3 early, trailed 14-13 at the half and ended up winning 25-24.
Add it all up and Miami has already won three games this season in which it trailed at halftime.
The rest of the ACC has combined for just three such victories—Louisville at Purdue (Week 1), Wake Forest at Appalachian State (Week 4) and Boston College at Louisville (Week 7). And coming into this season, Miami had lost 17 consecutive games in which it trailed at halftime, dating back to Nov. 2, 2013.
It's not just that the 'Canes are making comebacks, either. In the past two games, it has been the ridiculous, last-second nature in which they're getting it done.
Against the 'Noles, Miami blew two fourth-quarter leads and needed two 3rd-and-long conversions on its final drive to set up an incredible Darrell Langham catch for a 23-yard touchdown with six seconds remaining. Against the Yellow Jackets, Travis Homer scored an acrobatic touchdown with 12 seconds remaining in the first half, and Langham made an equally acrobatic 28-yard reception on a 4th-and-10 to set up the game-winning field goal with four seconds remaining.
So, to recap, Miami has trailed with eight seconds remaining in two consecutive games, but it is one of eight remaining undefeated teams. We'll see how long the Hurricanes can keep it going with this end-of-game drama, but they will enter next week's game against Syracuse at No. 8 in our Top 25—up three spots from last week.
Keep an Eye on: Toledo Rockets
As just mentioned, Toledo held a halftime lead over Miami before the Hurricanes took over for a come-from-behind victory.
Aside from that game, the Rockets are undefeated.
They've had a few close calls of their own. The week before facing Miami, Toledo was down 28-7 late in the first half against Tulsa, but Logan Woodside and company stormed all the way back for a 54-51 victory. And in the first game after the loss to Miami, the Rockets narrowly held on for a 20-15 win over Eastern Michigan.
This week's game was much less dramatic, as they rushed all over Central Michigan for an easy 30-10 road win.
Toledo has at least 399 yards of total offense in all six games and is averaging 36.3 points per contest.
Though the Rockets didn't receive any votes in this week's poll, they're the Group of Five team that's on deck if the likes of UCF and South Florida slip up during the second half of the season.
What to Watch for: 2 Saturday Evening Slugfests
College football is never lacking in drama, but the past few weeks have been devoid of games on the schedule that make you say, "Man, I have to watch that one!" No. 8 TCU vs. No. 23 West Virginia in Week 6 had some intrigue from a national rankings and Big 12 standings perspective, but that's not a matchup casual fans were dying to see. And we just finished up a week without a single ranked versus ranked showdown.
Let's make up for lost time, shall we?
You're going to need (at least) a two-TV setup for next Saturday night, as Michigan at Penn State and USC at Notre Dame are both currently scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff.
Penn State was blown out 49-10 at Michigan last September, but the Nittany Lions are 15-1 since then. Quite a few College Football Playoff contenders have suffered losses in the past two weeks (including Michigan), but Penn State has done well to avoid the bug that seems to be plaguing Top 10 teams. Things are about to get real for Saquon Barkley and company, though. Even if the Nittany Lions don't lose this game, they will play at Ohio State and at Michigan State in the following two weeks.
Meanwhile, USC vs. Notre Dame may well be a CFP elimination game. The Trojans lost by three at Washington State—which doesn't look as forgivable now as it did a few days ago—and the Fighting Irish lost by one to Georgia. Though they'll both be "quality losses," one of these teams is going to add a second L to its resume.
And, oh yeah, they are loathed rivals. This will be the 72nd consecutive season featuring a USC vs. Notre Dame game. Per Winsipedia, the Fighting Irish have a slight edge of 44-36-5. They could both be 0-11 and this would still be a fun, no-love-lost matchup. The fact that the winner can effectively end the loser's dream of winning the national championship is just a nice bonus.
Unless otherwise noted, stats courtesy of Sports Reference and CFBStats.com and recruiting data courtesy of Scout.
Kerry Miller covers college football and college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @kerrancejames.
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