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Things Happened yesterday, friends and ODB commentariat. And those things have Baylor firmly back in the Top 10 and jockeying with a couple of B1G schools for position. Here's the full rankings courtesy of the Mothership:
AP | Coaches | S&P+ | Massey | |
1 | Clemson (55) | Clemson (58) | Clemson | Alabama |
2 | Alabama (6) | Alabama (5) | Alabama | Clemson |
3 | Iowa | Iowa (1) | Michigan | Oklahoma |
4 | Notre Dame | Notre Dame | Oklahoma | Ohio State |
5 | Oklahoma | Oklahoma | Ohio State | Notre Dame |
6 | Michigan State | Michigan State | Baylor | Baylor |
7 | Baylor | Baylor | Florida State | Michigan State |
8 | Ohio State | Ohio State | Ole Miss | Iowa |
9 | Oklahoma State | Florida | Notre Dame | Stanford |
10 | Florida | Oklahoma State | Florida | Michigan |
11 | North Carolina | North Carolina | Navy | Oklahoma State |
12 | Michigan | Stanford (T-12) | Stanford | Florida |
13 | Stanford | Michigan (T-12) | LSU | North Carolina |
14 | Florida State | Florida State | Michigan State | Navy |
15 | TCU | Navy | West Virginia | TCU |
16 | Navy | TCU | Western Kentucky | Ole Miss |
17 | Northwestern | Northwestern | UCLA | Florida State |
18 | Oregon | Oregon | TCU | Oregon |
19 | Ole Miss | Ole Miss | Oklahoma State | Mississippi State |
20 | Washington State | Washington State | Arkansas | Utah |
21 | Houston | Houston | Toledo | LSU |
22 | UCLA | Mississippi State | Bowling Green | Northwestern |
23 | Mississippi State | UCLA | Mississippi State | USC |
24 | Toledo | Temple | Tennessee | Houston |
25 | Temple | Utah | USC | Toledo |
Sooooo, yeah. Four Big 12 teams are ranked once again in the Top 25, led by Oklahoma. Baylor and Oklahoma State basically switched positions with the Bears going to #7 and the Cowboys dropping to 9/10, something that could be a good thing for both Baylor and Oklahoma going forward.
One thing I want to point out that I talked about on Twitter a few minutes ago: based on these AP rankings, Alabama has played just 2 ranked teams this season and lost to one of them. That's the same record as Baylor and actually a worse record than Oklahoma (who now has wins over TCU and Baylor). Alabama's best win, rankings wise, is now #23 Mississippi State, winners of a shootout over Arkansas. The only other ranked team the Tide have played is Ole Miss, who beat them.
But we're supposed to just believe they're the second-best team in the country despite having a worse loss than any of the one-loss teams around them save Oklahoma and a worse best win? Ok.
I don't know how things are going to play out ahead of us, but I do know that at least 5 of the 6 teams sitting up there have tough contests remaining this season. Clemson is going to pull UNC in the ACC Championship Game; Iowa will get one of Michigan State, Michigan, or Ohio State and could probably lose to all three in the Big Ten Championship Game; Notre Dame has to go to Stanford this coming Saturday and then won't play on the last weekend of the season; Oklahoma has Bedlam in what looks like it's going to be awful weather (which might actually favor them considering their running game); and Michigan State could get Iowa if it gets past Penn State (which it should).