Josh’s College Football Rankings 2024–Week 9

The top spots did not change this week, but there was plenty of movement in the middle and the bottom. A few teams impressed me enough to get bumped up, while a few other teams made their way into Top 25. Let us just get right into it…

1.  Oregon (8-0)–#1–W 38-9 #21 Illinois. The Ducks showed why they are number one by just beating Illinois into the ground. They put this game in the first half, and allowed backups to play some in the second half.
2. Penn State (7-0)–#2–W 28-13 Wisconsin. This game had me nervous. Camp Randall at night? Then Drew Allar gets hurt, and I started to get really worried. But you know what? The Nittany Lions defense made some big plays in the second half, and Beau Pribula led the offense to a few touchdowns.
3. Georgia (6-1)–#3–BYE
4. Ohio State (6-1)–#4–W 21-17 Nebraska. I thought the Buckeyes were going to lose, but an interception on the final drive saved them.
5. Miami (8-0)–#5–W 36-14 Florida State. The Hurricanes won a game without allowing their opponents to come back.
6. Texas (7-1)–#6–W 27-24 Vanderbilt. Texas squeaked out a win against a good Vanderbilt team.
7. Notre Dame (7-1)–#10–W 51-14 #25 Navy. Somebody thought Navy would run the ball all over the Irish. Boy, was that guy wrong. Notre Dame’s defense forced six turnovers and just dominated the Midshipmen.
8. Texas A&M (7-1)–#12–W 38-23 #8 LSU. The Aggies switched QBs at halftime, and it became a completely different game. Only loss for the Aggies? Notre Dame.
9. Clemson (6-1)–#7–BYE
10. Tennessee (6-1)–#9–BYE
11. BYU (8-0)–#11–W 37-24 UCF. I am just not quite convinced the Big XII is at the same level as the Big Ten or SEC. The Cougars have a favorable schedule to end the year, so going undefeated should not be impossible. A Big XII Championship between two undefeated teams for a playoff spot would be fantastic.
12. Iowa State (7-0)–#12–BYE
13. Indiana (8-0)–#14–W 31-17 Washington. The Hoosiers are a complete team. They crushed the Huskies without their starting quarterback. Look out Big Ten, Curt Cignetti is building a powerhouse in Bloomington.
14. Alabama (6-2)–#15–W 34-0 #19 Missouri. ‘Bama figured their defense out this week, but honestly, it might have more to do with Mizzou’s offense being bad.
15. Pitt (7-0)–#20–W 41-13 Syracuse. I had Syracuse as an honorable mention. Pitt came out and showed they deserve to be ranked. No one expected the Panthers to be undefeated at this point in the season.
16. Ole Miss (6-2)–#16–W 26-14 Oklahoma
17. LSU (6-2)–#8–L 38-23 #12 Texas A&M. An ugly collapse in the second half.
18. Kansas State (7-1)–#17–W 29-27 Kansas. Rivalry games are always fun.
19. SMU (7-1)–#18–W 28-27 OT #24 Duke. SMU almost lost this one, but Manny Diaz decided to go for two in OT, and did not convert.
20. Boise State (6-1)–#22–W 29-24 UNLV. Boise State should be able to cruise to an MWC championship, and honestly, they could be dangerous in a playoff game. Especially for some of these teams that are weak against the run.
21. Army (7-0)–#23–BYE
22. Colorado (6-2)–HM–W 34-23 Cincinnati. The Buffaloes played well and are bowl eligible. It is funny, they are much better this year than last, but there is much less hype, and I think that is helping them focus.
23. Illinois (6-2)–#21–L 38-9 #1 Oregon. I am not ready to write off this team yet. A loss to the #1 team in the country, is not unexpected. They need to win out, which is quite doable, and they could end up in a nice bowl game.
24. Missouri (6-2)–#19–L 34-0 #15 Alabama. Easily the most disappointing team this year. I thought they were going to make a run at the SEC title. I was way wrong!
25. Washington State (7-1)–HM–W 29-26 San Diego State. The Cougs are a pretty good team. Their only loss was to Boise State, and they have some quality wins over Washington and Texas Tech (not high quality, but quality).

Honorable Mentions

• Duke (6-2)–#24–L 28-27 OT #18 SMU
• Memphis (7-1)–HM–W 33-28 Charlotte
• Louisiana (6-1)–HM–BYE
• Arkansas (5-3)–NR–W 58-25 Mississippi State. This team is sneaky good. They have lost some close games to good teams, and they did beat Tennessee.
• Vanderbilt (5-3)–HM–L 27-24 #6 Texas. So close to pulling off their second big upset of the year.
• Tulane (6-2)–NR–W 45-37 North Texas. The Green Wave continue to climb the standings of the AAC. They are not out of it. They play Navy and Memphis, and they could end up undefeated in the conference.
• Nebraska (5-3)–NR–L 21-17 #4 Ohio State
• Wisconsin (5-3)–HM–L 28-13 #2 Penn State
• Navy (6-1)–#25–L 51-14 #10 Notre Dame
• Virginia Tech (5-3)–NR–W 21-6 Georgia Tech. The Hokies have won three in a row, should have won against Miami. They have a tough few weeks, but they could definitely ruin someone’s week.

Watch List
Folks, we have games practically every night of the week. I love it! Wednesday night we get Jacksonville State at Liberty. Listen, I dislike Liberty immensely (I have reasons), and I would love to see Rich Rod’s Gamecocks take down the Flames. Another interesting game is Virginia Tech at Syracuse, both teams are trying to get to six wins. Syracuse has this habit of starting off hot, then collapsing, can they avoid that issue this year?

Now that we got that out of the way, we have some potential upsets coming this week:
#16 Ole Miss at Arkansas–the perfect scenario for an upset. The Razorbacks are better than people think, and Ole Miss struggles at times with good teams. 
Duke at #5 Miami–Manny Diaz would love to upset the Hurricanes. 
#1 Oregon at Michigan–I do not foresee an upset here, but traveling to the Big House can be daunting. The Ducks need to bring their A-game.
Louisville at #9 Clemson–the Cardinals have an upset every year it seems. Is this the one?
Kentucky at #10 Tennessee–Rivalry Game! Watch out Vols.

Then we have two huge games. At night #15 Pitt at #19 SMU. This should be a good game. The Panthers have a good rush defense, the Mustangs are a decent rushing team. It should come down to quarterback play, and I believe Eli Holstein gives Pittsburgh the edge. I cannot believe I am talking up Pitt! 

And finally, we have the #4 Ohio State Buckeyes traveling to Happy Valley to take on the #2 Nittany Lions. If James Franklin wants to shut up his doubters, he needs to win this game. Hopefully the injuries that occurred on Saturday against Wisconsin are not too serious, and we see Drew Allar out there. Ohio State needs to win this to be in a position to avenge that loss to Oregon in the Big Ten Championship game. 

Coaching Hot Seat
We already had some coaches fired this past week. Southern Miss fired Will Hall. East Carolina fired Mike Houston. Plus we had some OCs ousted: Seth Littrell at Oklahoma, Andy Ludwig at Utah (although he resigned, but I think that counts). Could we have some more firings this week? There are definitely some first year coaches that may not be on the hot seat yet, but they could be getting close.

Awful Losses
Liberty was undefeated. Kennesaw State had not won a game. The Flames were a 27.5 point favorite. The Owls came away with a huge upset for their first FBS win. Liberty fans were grumbling about the disrespect from the rankings. I guess all of us were correct in not putting them in the Top 25!