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The latest SwampSwamiSports.com College Football Top 25 rankings for the week ending Saturday, October 8, 2022 had relatively few changes within the top tier of teams.
The college football landscape will change in a major way beginning this week. Saturday will provide a seismic shift in the rankings as several unbeaten teams square-off against top rivals.
The Big Ten finally provides a test for two of the league’s top teams as unbeaten 6-0 Michigan will host the 5-0 Penn State Nittany Lions.
The Big Ten’s other unbeaten team, Ohio State, has already played five straight games at home against less-than-difficult opponents. Totally exhausted after playing their first and only road game of the season at Michigan State (2-4) Saturday, the 6-0 Buckeyes will receive a much needed week of rest to gear up for…another home game (yep) in two weeks. Yes, Ohio State plays eight home games this year!
The Ohio State University will next play host to the lowest scoring major college team in the nation, the Iowa Hawkeyes. Coach Kirk Ferentz’ football team (which is remarkably 3-3) averages a measly 14.7 points per game through Iowa’s first six games.
Meanwhile in Knoxville, Tennessee, the surprising Volunteers will host a rather dazed and confused Alabama Crimson Tide this Saturday afternoon on CBS. Both unbeaten teams come into this game from opposite directions.
Tennessee (now 6-0) traveled to Baton Rouge and demolished LSU 40-13 Saturday in a game where the Volunteers could have easily scored 50 points or more. LSU (now 4-2) is playing worse than their record indicates. Tennessee’s offense and defense looked terrific on Saturday, and this team is peaking prior to hosting perennial power Alabama this Saturday.
Speaking of the Vol’s next opponent, the Crimson Tide survived a nail-biter at home against pesky Texas A&M Saturday night. Bama prevailed 24-20, but the Aggies’ final play from the Alabama 2-yard line was, perhaps, the worst play call of the college football season.
Following an Alabama time-out with just three seconds left in the game, A&M opted to throw a pass to the right corner of the field at the one yard line in hopes the Aggies’ receiver would catch the ball and lunge in for the winning score. Alas, Bama’s defender admitted after the game that he knew this play was coming and easily broke up the pass attempt to preserve the win.
Alabama is now 6-0 but barely survived close games at 4-2 Texas (winning 20-19) and last weekend’s home game against 3-3 Texas A&M. Bama’s Heisman quarterback, Bryce Young, did not play against the Aggies due to an injury to his throwing shoulder.
Las Vegas has currently pegged Tennessee a 7-point home underdog against Alabama this Saturday. After last weekend’s football games, it’s hard to see Tennessee being an underdog to a very sluggish and predictable Alabama offense.
In Fort Worth, Texas, the surprising 5-0 TCU Horned Frogs ruined the perfect start of the season for Kansas on Saturday with an exciting last-minute 38-31 win in Lawrence.
TCU returns to Texas to protect their turf this weekend with a game against unbeaten Oklahoma State.
The Cowboys are now 6-0 after taking a hard-earned 41-31 victory in an old fashioned Big 12 shoot-out against Texas Tech at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater. Okie State’s early season schedule has been quite weak, but the Cowboys’ remaining conference games will prove whether this team is championship quality.
Out west, former Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley will lead his 6-0 USC Trojans into Salt Lake City on Saturday night to play 4-2 Utah.
Southern Cal’s early schedule has been softer than Charmin bathroom tissue, so this road test at Utah will provide a good measuring stick.
The Trojans’ cross-town rival at UCLA (now 6-0) handed Utah a 42-31 loss on Saturday in Los Angeles.
Utah was the preseason favorite to win the Pac-12. The Utes must run the table starting with this week’s game against USC game to keep their Pac-12 championship hopes alive.
There are now just 15 teams in the FBS large school division which remain undefeated at the halfway point of the season. Another 15 teams have just one loss through Saturday’s games.
After Colorado State beat Nevada on Saturday to earn their first win of the season, only one team remains winless among the 131 FBS teams.
The Colorado Buffaloes are 0-5 and fired their head coach and defensive coordinator last week. Unfortunately, Colorado’s seven remaining games come against Pac-12 Conference competition. Basketball season arrives next month in Boulder!
Special commendation this week goes to the Houston Cougars.
Trailing by 16 points with only eight minutes to go on the road, the Cougars scored two touchdowns during the final 1 minute and 17 seconds of the game to beat 4-2 Memphis 33-32. Houston’s record improved to 3-3 with a heart-stopping victory.
Let’s take a look at this week’s SwampSwamiSports.com College Football Top 25 for the week ending October 8, 2022:
