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NCAA College Football 2006 Week 7 Top 25
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DTMagazine Home NCAA Top 25 Pre-season Rankings
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NCAA College Football Top 25 - Week 7
Rick Gagliano | 10/16/06
Through games of October 14
--- Week 7 Notes below ---
PAC-10 Smack
Just one year after playing for the national championship, USC is barely hanging on to win conference games these days.
That probably shouldn't be surprising, considering the talent lost to the NFL after the 2005 campaign. While John David Booty is doing a credible job at QB for the Trojans, the running back position is still in a downtrend since superstar Reggie Bush moved on.
The Bruins rank 4th in the conference in yards rushing per game at 163. Ahead of them are from the top down, Oregon, Cal and Arizona St.. The Sun Devils nearly upset USC this past Saturday, and Oregon and Cal are still to come. And while the Golden Bears are tied with USC in the PAC-10 standings, the Ducks will provide the sterner test, on November 11 because they have incentive to win. Their rationale has to be that if they beat USC, and then the Bruins bounce back the following week to humble Cal, Oregon could at least share the division title with Cal, who has already beaten them.
Cal's perspective is rather different. They are looking at beating the Trojans on Nov. 18, winning the rest of their games, hoping another couple of teams in the national Top 10 lose, and that the BCS calculations fall their way - forgiving their opening-day loss at Tennessee, and that their 11-1 record is good enough to qualify for a shot at the national championship. Even if it's not, the Bears would, with that record, play in a major BCS bowl.
West Coast football will be well worth watching the first three weeks of November.
After looking nearly invincible in three straight home wins over Tennessee, Alabama and LSU, the Florida Gators hit the road... with their faces. Against Auburn, the Gators lost two fumbles and an interception, and the Tigers capitalized on those, plus a blocked punt to score a safety, four field goals and two defensive TDs, the last on the final play of the game, sealing the 27-17 win. The extra point was not even tried as fans stormed the field.
The game was going the Gators' way early, as they built a 17-8 lead in the 2nd quarter. But that was the end of their scoring as the Auburn defense stiffened and repeatedly forced mistakes by Florida.
Auburn's win threw the SEC into an even deeper quandary. Remarkably, the only team without a conference loss is Arkansas, though the Razorbacks still have Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi St. and Georgia on their schedule. It's conceivable that the SEC champion could emerge - battered and bruised - with two losses, as there are plenty of games, plus the conference championship, left to play.
DMECRSTM has Clemson on Top
The most recent incantation of Downtown Magazine's Experimental College Ranking System (DMECRSTM) has the Clemson Tigers a precarious #1 through games of October 14 (Week 6). While it may be a bit of a surprise, since the Tigers have one loss, they do have all the makings of a national champion in a year in which nobody may finish undefeated. Clemson's only loss was on a missed extra point in overtime against Boston College (34-33, Sept. 9). Since then, they've reeled off five straight wins, including road victories at Florida State and Wake Forest.
The next two weeks will make or break the season for Clemson. They host Georgia Tech this Saturday, then must quickly prepare for a key game at Virginia Tech on Thursday, Oct. 26. After that, it's smooth sailing until the season finale against in-state rival South Carolina, a game in which anything can happen and usually does.
We will find out over the next ten days whether these are true Tigers or just pussycats.
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