NCAA Football Rankings 2016: Predicting Top Movers in Week 9 Post-Week 8 Results
It took until late October, but we finally got the shocking upset we needed to make the College Football Playoff race a little more interesting.
The Penn State Nittany Lions took down the Ohio State Buckeyes 24-21, thanks to an impressive second-half comeback. With the No. 2 team in the country going down to an unranked opponent, the new rankings should see significant shake-up this week.
Here's a look at how far Ohio State could fall, as well as the rest of the projected AP Top 25 poll and a closer examination of the implications for some of this week's biggest risers and fallers.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
| 1 | Alabama Crimson Tide | 8-0 | 1 |
| 2 | Michigan Wolverines | 7-0 | 3 |
| 3 | Clemson Tigers | 7-0 | 4 |
| 4 | Washington Huskies | 7-0 | 5 |
| 5 | Louisville Cardinals | 6-1 | 7 |
| 6 | Texas A&M Aggies | 6-1 | 6 |
| 7 | Ohio State Buckeyes | 6-1 | 2 |
| 8 | Nebraska Cornhuskers | 7-0 | 8 |
| 9 | Baylor Bears | 6-0 | 9 |
| 10 | Wisconsin Badgers | 5-2 | 10 |
| 11 | West Virginia Mountaineers | 6-0 | 12 |
| 12 | Florida State Seminoles | 5-2 | 13 |
| 13 | Boise State Broncos | 7-0 | 14 |
| 14 | Florida Gators | 5-1 | 15 |
| 15 | Oklahoma Sooners | 5-2 | 16 |
| 16 | Auburn Tigers | 5-2 | 21 |
| 17 | Tenneessee Volunteers | 5-2 | 18 |
| 18 | Utah Utes | 7-1 | 19 |
| 19 | Western Michigan Broncos | 8-0 | 20 |
| 20 | North Carolina Tar Heels | 6-2 | 22 |
| 21 | LSU Tigers | 5-2 | 25 |
| 22 | Navy Midshipmen | 5-1 | 24 |
| 23 | Colorado Buffaloes | 6-2 | NR |
| 24 | Virginia Tech Hokies | 5-2 | NR |
| 25 | Oklahoma State Cowboys | 5-2 | NR |
Notable Risers and Fallers
Ohio State Buckeyes
The Buckeyes will drop in the rankings, but their loss to Penn State might not mean much.
Despite the loss, Ohio State still controls its own destiny in the Big Ten race—a conference that is expected to send its champion to the College Football Playoff.
If Ohio State runs the table, knocks of Michigan in its regular-season finale and brings home a victory in the conference title game, the Buckeyes will return to the playoff.
Maybe the loss will be a wake-up call for the Buckeyes offense.
In 2015, after a shocking loss to Michigan State in which the offense unexpectedly stalled, the Buckeyes rallied to dominate Michigan and Notre Dame in its final two games of the season. The Buckeyes managed just 14 points against the Spartans but rebounded with a combined 86 against the Wolverines and Fighting Irish.
Dane Brugler of CBS Sports has an idea of how the Buckeyes can improve:
"Samuel finishes w/ 10 touches for 139 yards. Inexcusable for your best player not to have at least 20 touches on offense.
— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) October 23, 2016"
Curtis Samuel is an incredibly talented athlete with a similar skill set to Stanford's Christian McCaffrey. However, while McCaffrey typically gets between 20 and 30 touches per game for the Cardinal, Ohio State has put the ball in Samuel's hands 20 times just once this season (versus Bowling Green).
Auburn Tigers
Early this season, the Auburn Tigers were sitting at 1-2 and hosting the LSU Tigers in a game that was expected to get the losing coach fired. It wasn't pretty, but Auburn squeaked out an 18-13 victory, saving Gus Malzahn's job.
Just four weeks later, Malzahn has gone from sitting on the hot seat to coaching one of the hottest teams and most explosive offenses in the SEC.
In the three games since that victory over LSU, Auburn has put 152 points up on the scoreboard—including 56 on Saturday in a dominant win over the Arkansas Razorbacks.
It took a while for the Tigers to get rolling, but Auburn now looks like a serious threat in the SEC.
Auburn will likely rise significantly in the polls this week and should be considered a candidate to earn an invitation to a New Year's Six bowl game.
The Tigers do not control their own destiny in the SEC due to their two conference losses, but they will play a roll in the outcome. Auburn will travel to Alabama in the regular-season finale with the potential to upset the Crimson Tide and throw a wrench into the SEC race.
Colorado Buffaloes
After a quality win over Stanford, the Colorado Buffaloes will likely return to the Top 25 this week.
With two losses, the Buffaloes are not in the playoff picture, but a Pac-12 championship and Rose Bowl berth are still within reach for the improving program.
Colorado does not play another ranked team until its season finale, when it hosts the Utah Utes.
Assuming both teams run the table until that meeting, it will decide the Pac-12 South title.
A Utah-Colorado matchup was not expected to have significant implications in the Pac-12 race, but college football fans should be excited to see new programs emerging and making impacts in major conference races.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
