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It was a simply glorious day for a few fortunate college football teams on Saturday.
Supporters of the 7-0 Tennessee Volunteers are still partying Sunday after finally beating Alabama for the first time in 16 meetings. Out west, the Utah Utes (now 5-2) went for two points at home in the final minute to derail the unbeaten season of USC and keep their own conference championship hopes alive.
And, lest we forget, the Colorado Buffaloes finally picked-up their first win of the 2022 season with a 20-13 overtime win over 3-3 California in Boulder.
With that win, the Buffs became the final major college football team to pick-up their first win of the season. Nicely done!
The SwampSwamiSports.com College Football Top 25 for the week ending October 15, 2022 reflects just nine unbeaten teams remaining plus 16 more teams which have just one loss at this point in the season. Yes, just 25 teams are either undefeated or have one loss.
The AP will try to tell you that two-loss teams such as Utah, Kentucky, Texas, North Carolina State and Mississippi State are better than some of the teams in my rankings. I have nothing against these schools and full expect them to return to my rankings soon.
However, keep in mind that these are the same people (the AP) which told you that Texas A&M (now 3-3) was the #6 team in the country as this football season began.
Everyone has a right to their opinion.
My rankings are based on simple concepts like the teams with the fewest losses at this point in the season. Alabama was #3 in my rankings last week, but a heavenly-guided fluttering helicopter 40-yard field goal by Tennessee on the final play of the game sent the Crimson Tide tumbling to #11 in my rankings.
In Salt Lake City, the Utah Utes rode the confidence of their head coach and 60,000 screaming fans to convert a “win or lose” two-point conversion in the final seconds to beat USC 43-42. The Trojans were rated #4 in my last rankings, but they now drop to #15 this week.
Am I being a little tough on Alabama or USC? Perhaps, but I’m at least following my own rules for ranking teams.
LET’S REVIEW THE SWAMPSWAMISPORTS.COM TOP 25 RANKINGS GUIDELINES:
As published before my first rankings of the season (after Week #4 – September 26, 2022), below are my rules for ranking teams on SwampSwamiSports.com:
- Teams without a loss are ranked higher than any team which has lost a game. Why should a team with a perfect record be ranked below a team with one loss?
- A team with seven wins is ranked above one with six, etc.
- A ranked team’s “best win” is determined weekly by determining the team which has the best record as of the current week.
- Preference is given to your “best win” if it comes on the road (vs. a home win).
- Ties are broken by point differentials in each team’s “best win”.
- A win over an FBS team receives preference over a win over an FCS school.
- All decisions by the administrator of this site (me) are FINAL!
That is why this week’s nine remaining undefeated teams are ranked #1-9. The 16 one-loss teams are ranked #10-25 this week. Their rank is based on the team’s current number of wins (a six win team is ranked before one with five wins, for example) and my evaluation of their “best win” thus far this season.
So, that’s why my rankings include 5-1 teams such as #23 South Alabama (which, by the way, lost at UCLA by just one point) and #25 University of Central Florida. They are not in this week’s AP Poll.
The AP poll is a glorified beauty contest in which the voters cast ballots with no explanations required. My weekly rankings are laid-out there for you to review and confirm for yourself!
And now for something completely different…
CLEAN-UP ON THE TURDY YARD LINE!
The 3-3 SMU Mustangs have a cute little Shetland pony named Peruna which is allowed to run (with human escorts) onto the team’s home field in Dallas just ahead of the football players.
On national television last Friday night, the SMU pony left a “surprise” for the football players to dodge as the team ran onto the playing surface.
The players on the opposing team, the Navy Midshipmen, were not offended by this mishap as their men have received significant training on how to properly clean the poop deck.
Now, let’s reveal this week’s SwampSwamiSports.com Top 25 rankings for the week ending October 15, 2022:
