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HAPPY VETERANS DAY! Make sure to tell our heroes that you appreciate their service to our country!
It was a surprisingly quiet week atop this week’s SwampSwami.com College Football Top 25 rankings. In fact, none of my top 14 teams lost during the past week.
There was Bedlam again in Norman, Oklahoma Saturday, but the Oklahoma Sooners narrowly escaped an upset at the hands of in-state rival, Oklahoma State.
The University of Alabama-Birmingham Blazers (the #12 team in my poll) survived an overtime scare but prevailed against Southern Miss Saturday night.
Speaking of Alabama, the top-ranked Tide’s streak of games with over 500 yards of offense was ended by Mississippi State’s tough defense. Bama “only” had 300 yards of offense and “only” 24 points. When your defense hasn’t allowed a single point in the past two weeks, it doesn’t matter, does it?
By the way, how can a 6-4 Mississippi State team still be ranked #25 in the latest “big name” national poll today? MSU’s offensive performances have been inconsistent and, at times, downright pathetic.
After seeing two four-loss teams (Northwestern University was the other team) placed in the top media poll already, it is why the SwampSwami Top 25 rankings look at a team’s losses first and then look at their best win of the season.
There are currently 42 teams in college football’s upper division with less than four losses this week.
Four teams remain undefeated through this past weekend. Ten more teams have only one loss.
Two loss teams, you ask? There are seven of those teams remaining.
There are 21 squads which have three losses through the past weekend’s games.
My premise has been that we begin the new season by utilizing last year’s final Associated Press poll. If your team has yet to lose in 2018, you should keep moving up in this season’s poll. All you can do is win the games on your schedule, right?
Once you lose a game, though, I believe your ranking should be based on your most impressive win of the season. Same goes for the two and three loss teams.
That is why we welcome Texas, Iowa State, Florida, and Duke back into the poll this week as our only three-loss teams.
Quality wins should matter more than tough losses do!
Here are the SwampSwami.com Top 25 rankings for the week ending Saturday, November 10, 2018:
| # | Team | W | L | 2017 AP Rank | Best win/loss in 2018 |
| 1 | Alabama | 10 | 0 | 1 | |
| 2 | Clemson | 10 | 0 | 4 | |
| 3 | UCF | 9 | 0 | 6 | |
| 4 | Notre Dame | 10 | 0 | 11 | |
| 5 | Oklahoma | 9 | 1 | 28-21 over 8-2 Army | |
| 6 | Georgia | 9 | 1 | 34-17 over 7-3 Kentucky | |
| 7 | Washington State | 9 | 1 | 28-24 over 7-3 Utah | |
| 8 | Michigan | 9 | 1 | 42-7 over 7-3 Penn State | |
| 9 | Ohio State | 9 | 1 | 27-26 @ 7-3 Penn State | |
| 10 | West Virginia | 8 | 1 | 42-41 @ 7-3 Texas | |
| 11 | Utah State | 9 | 1 | 56-17 @ 6-5 Hawaii | |
| 12 | UAB | 9 | 1 | 28-7 @ 7-3 La. Tech | |
| 13 | Cincinnati | 9 | 1 | 34-30 over 6-4 Ohio U. | |
| 14 | Buffalo | 9 | 1 | 36-29 @ 6-4 Temple | |
| 15 | LSU | 8 | 2 | 36-16 over 9-1 Georgia | |
| 16 | Army | 8 | 2 | 42-13 @ 9-1 Buffalo | |
| 17 | Syracuse | 8 | 2 | 51-41 over 6-3 NC State | |
| 18 | Boise State | 8 | 2 | 56-20 @ 8-2 Troy | |
| 19 | Troy | 8 | 2 | 35-27 @ 6-4 UL-Monroe | |
| 20 | Appalachian State | 7 | 2 | 35-9 @ 6-4 Ark State | |
| 21 | Fresno State | 8 | 2 | 49-27 over 5-5 Toledo | |
| 22 | Texas | 7 | 3 | 48-45 over 9-1 Oklahoma | |
| 23 | Iowa State | 6 | 3 | 30-14 over 8-1 West Va. | |
| 24 | Florida | 7 | 3 | 27-19 over 8-2 LSU | |
| 25 | Duke | 7 | 3 | 34-14 over 8-2 Army |