Josh’s College Football Rankings 2024–Week 7

The rankings did not change too much this week. A few teams made their way in, a couple others dropped out, but for the most part, the changes are just a few spots. Fortunately, we are getting to the meaty part of the season, we are learning which teams are for real. There were some amazing games this weekend.  I am pretty sure I aged 20 years during the Penn State game. Fortunately the Nittany Lions were able to pull out the win without giving me a heart-attack.

1. Texas (6-0)–#1–W 34-3 #15 Oklahoma. The Longhorns had their way with the Sooners, who were supposed to have a great defense.
2. Oregon (6-0)–#5–W 32-31 #2 Ohio State. The Ducks won a huge battle against the Buckeyes, they deserve to be #2.
3. Penn State (6-0)–#4–W 33-30 OT USC. A big road win against the Trojans. The Nittany Lions need to find some more offense that is not just Tyler Warren.
4. Georgia (5-1)–#3–W 41-31 Mississippi State. Georgia was outscored by Mississippi State in the second half. Did not expect that.
5. Ohio State (5-1)–#2–L 32-31 #5 Oregon. Hard to drop them much further than this after losing to Oregon.
6. Miami (6-0)–#6–BYE
7. Alabama (5-1)–#7–W 27-25 South Carolina. Looked like Alabama was going to lose another game, but they pulled it out in the end, and made a stop on a 2-point conversion to win it.
8. Clemson (5-1)–#8–W 49-14 Wake Forest. If the Tigers played Georgia right now, I think it would be a different result.
9. LSU (5-1)–#10–W 29-26 OT #9 Ole Miss. I had kind of written off the Tigers after that opening loss, but they have played well since then.
10. Notre Dame (5-1)–#11–W 49-7 Stanford. The Irish are another team that looks pretty good despite that one terrible loss.
11. BYU (6-0)–#13–W 41-19 Arizona. This BYU team is for real. They are just destroying the Big XII teams that were supposed to be the top teams in the conference.
12. Tennessee (5-1)–#12–W 23-17 OT Florida. What happened to this high-powered offense?
13. Iowa State (6-0)–#14–W 28-16 West Virginia. A win on the road against a tough conference opponent. It was not pretty, but the Cyclones continue to string together those wins.
14. Texas A&M (5-1)–#17–BYE
15. Ole Miss (5-2)–#9–L 29-26 OT #10 LSU. Their playoff chances are almost completely over. This will be a good test for Lane Kiffin. Can he keep his team motivated for the rest of the season, or will we see a few more losses?
16. Kansas State (5-1)–#18–W 31-28 Colorado. Solid win over the Buffs.
17. SMU (5-1)–#18–BYE
18. Missouri (5-1)–#19–W 45-3 UMass
19. Texas Tech (5-1)–#20–BYE
20. Pitt (6-0)–#23–W 17-15 California. Not sure how the Panthers pulled this win out. I was checking the score while watching Penn State, and it looked like Cal had the ball in their territory multiple times late and came away with zero points.
21. Indiana (6-0)–#22–BYE
22. Boise State (5-1)–#24–W 28-7 Hawaii. That week 2 loss to Oregon continues to look more impressive with each big win from the Ducks.
23. Illinois (5-1)–#25–W 50-49 OT Purdue. It was not pretty, but it is a win.
24. Arizona State (5-1)–NR–W 27-19 #20 Utah. I did not realize the Sun Devils only had one loss. Now they have a quality win as well.
25. Nebraska (5-1)–HM–BYE

Honorable Mention

• Duke (5-1)–HM–BYE
• Vanderbilt (4-2)–NR–W 20-13 Kentucky. They beat a #1, and then beat a tough conference opponent.
• Syracuse (5-1)–NR–W 24-17 NC State. These are the types of games that Syracuse has lost in the past when they are ranked or close to ranked.
• Michigan (4-2)–HM–BYE
• Oklahoma (4-2)–#15–L 34-3 #1 Texas. The Sooners are going to have a tough time reaching bowl eligibility. If they do lose to South Carolina, things could turn ugly.

Watch List
Army (6-0)/Navy (5-0)–NR–I am not ready to rank the two service academies. Navy has a nice against Memphis, but I need another week before I move them into the rankings. 
Washington State (5-1)–NR–Only loss was to Boise State. They beat Texas Tech and Washington, maybe they should be ranked…
Memphis (5-1)/North Texas (5-1)–NR–Both teams are in the thick of things for the AAC championship. They play next week, and the winner could find themselves in the HMs. 
Liberty (5-0)/Sam Houston (5-1)–Pay attention to C-USA, give them a little love. These two face off at the end of the year, but until then SH still have WKU and JSU. 
JMU (5-1)/ULM (5-1)/Louisiana (5-1)–3 teams in the Sun Belt also trying to keep up their winning, and find a way to get ranked. 

Some solid games this week. #21 Indiana gets a major test when they welcome #25 Nebraska. #6 Miami heads to Louisville, who could give them some trouble. Michigan travels to #23 Illinois, this is the kind of game that Michigan needs to win to get back into the rankings, while Illinois needs another quality win. We have two huge games in the SEC. First there is #7 Alabama at #12 Tennessee. Both teams seem beatable now, whereas a few weeks ago they were both ranked in the top five. The big game is #4 Georgia at #1 Texas. If the Longhorns win, they have a fairly easy path to an undefeated season (unless Vanderbilt can be the first unranked team since 1904 to beat two #1 teams). Ready for this, if Texas wins the SEC, they will be the first team not named Alabama/Georgia/LSU/Auburn to win it since 1999. 

Coaching Hot Seat
Ryan Day made some bad decisions against Oregon. I swear in every close game, Ryan Day screws up the clock management. I get that elite teams do not have to worry about this aspect, and college coaches are not NFL coaches, where the clock is always a major part of the game. But damn Ryan! Listen, I hate Ohio State, but watching this much talent be wasted under bad coaching decisions is annoying. A coach making as much money as Day not knowing the clock continues to run after a penalty is inexcusable. I read somewhere that a big issue right now is that Day’s coordinator and defensive line coach do not agree on scheme, and that Day allows Larry Johnson Sr. to run the line his way, which goes counter to what Jim Knowles wants to do. That seems like a recipe for disaster. Losing these games is not a good look for Ryan Day. There is too much money invested in this team for it to be losing these games. I feel like the donors will demand a change.

Awful Losses
I think everyone reading this knows I am a Penn State fan. And I was beyond ecstatic with the win on Saturday, but damn if I were a Trojan fan? I would be PISSED. The refs were definitely allowing the defensive backs on both sides to get a little handsy at times. And that is fine, as long it goes both ways. However, that last non-call in OT, that looked like DPI to me. I am sure USC fans are screaming that it was a penalty.