Your faithful SwampSwami’s football season is in full grandson mode! This month will see not one, but two new grandsons come into the world! Congratulations to my own two sons (and their lovely wives!) and, yes, the ol’ SwampSwami is one really proud (and becoming an increasingly ancient) prognosticator! Now – on with the countdown!
This week’s rankings confirmed that our logical methods (rooted in common sense) were generally superior to those of the other national polls. How in the world could the national media have rated a 1-loss Notre Dame as #3 when playing an undefeated Miami (ranked #7 by those other guys)? Same for last week’s BCS #1 ranked team, Georgia. If the AP ranked Alabama #2 after narrowly losing to Clemson in the 2016 championship game and has yet to lose a game in 2017, how could Georgia leapfrog an undefeated Bama in all of those other polls? Heck if I know! It defies logic to me.
Your steadfastly consistent SwampSwami has applied the same methodology all season long. First, if you were ranked in the final 2016 AP Top 25 last season, then you are “seeded” this season until you lost your first game. We now have just three of those teams remaining (#1 Alabama, #2 Wisconsin, and #3 Miami). The lone remaining undefeated team is the University of Central Florida and, as an unbeaten team, receives my preference over the quickly diminishing number of one-loss programs.
As to those one-loss and two-loss programs, I look at “Who is your best win this season”? The quality of the opponent in your “best win” category helps me to determine your seeding within those groups.
This week, let’s welcome back the LSU Tigers as our #25 team. The Bayou Bengals have, in my humble opinion, the best win of the large group with three losses with their victory over an 8-2 Auburn team earlier this season.
Now that you know my secrets, try not to wake-up my grandson as you review this week’s SwampSwami College Football Top 25 rankings…
| # | Team | W | L | 2016 Final Rank | Best win this season |
| 1 | Alabama | 10 | 0 | 2 | |
| 2 | Wisconsin | 10 | 0 | 9 | |
| 3 | Miami (Fla) | 9 | 0 | 20 | |
| 4 | UCF | 9 | 0 | Beat 8-1 Memphis 40-13 at home | |
| 5 | Oklahoma | 9 | 1 | Beat 8-2 Ohio State 31-16 @ Ohio St | |
| 6 | Georgia | 9 | 1 | Beat 8-2 Notre Dame 20-19 @ ND | |
| 7 | Clemson | 9 | 1 | Beat 7-3 Virginia Tech 31-17 @ VT | |
| 8 | Memphis | 8 | 1 | Beat 6-3 Navy 30-27 at home | |
| 9 | South Florida | 9 | 1 | Beat 4-6 Tulane 34-28 @ Tulane | |
| 10 | Auburn | 8 | 2 | Beat 9-1 Georgia 40-17 at home | |
| 11 | Washington State | 9 | 2 | Beat 9-2 USC 30-27 at home | |
| 12 | TCU | 8 | 2 | Beat 8-2 Okie State 44-31 @ OSU | |
| 13 | Ohio State | 8 | 2 | Beat 8-2 Penn State 39-38 @ home | |
| 14 | Penn State | 8 | 2 | Beat 8-2 Michigan 42-13 at home | |
| 15 | Boise State | 8 | 2 | Beat 8-2 San Diego St. 31-14 @ SD St. | |
| 16 | Oklahoma State | 8 | 2 | Beat 7-3 W. Virginia 50-39 @ W.Va. | |
| 17 | San Diego State | 8 | 2 | Beat 7-3 Stanford 20-17 at home | |
| 18 | USC | 9 | 2 | Beat 7-3 Stanford 42-24 at home | |
| 19 | Notre Dame | 8 | 2 | Beat 7-3 Michigan St. 38-18 @ MSU | |
| 20 | Toledo | 8 | 2 | Beat 7-3 N. Illinois 27-17 at home | |
| 21 | Troy | 8 | 2 | Beat 7-3 LSU 24-21 @ LSU | |
| 22 | Washington | 8 | 2 | Beat 7-3 Fresno State 48-16 at home | |
| 23 | Michigan | 8 | 2 | Beat 4-6 Purdue 28-10 @ Purdue | |
| 24 | Army | 8 | 2 | Beat 4-6 Air Force 21-0 @ Air Force | |
| 25 | LSU | 7 | 3 | Beat 8-2 Auburn 27-23 at home |