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About the Top 25
Downtown Magazine's NCAA College Football Top 25 is not a poll like AP or USA Today/Coach's polls, or a computer generated rating system like the BCS, but an objective ranking system based on visual and statistical observations of college football teams in Division 1-A.
The rankings, published weekly - usually on Monday - are representative of what our expert editors believe to be the best teams in college football respective of conference play and strength of schedule leading up to the traditional bowl games. Downtown Magazine strives to present the Top 25 in a manner that is objective, non-political and respectful of the standards of NCAA football. |
The Mighty Have Fallen: Florida St., Virginia Tech, lose, drop in Downtown Magazine Top 25 rankings
This past weekend was one of the more tumultuous of the college football season. Two undefeated teams - UCLA and Virginia Tech - were beaten, and Florida State, a fixture in the Top 10 for the past month, lost its second game of the season.
The Florida State 15-20 loss to North Carolina State was somewhat insignificant, as the Seminoles's spot in the ACC Championship Game on December 5 was not in jeopardy because Boston College unexpectedly lost to North Carolina, thus securing the ACC Atlantic division title for the Seminoles. Florida State fell from #8 to #15 in Downtown Magazine's College Football Top 25 rankings.
Virginia Tech's 27-7 loss to ACC rival Miami had more consequence. The Hokies remain one-half game ahead of the Hurricanes in the Coastal division, but the Hurricanes now own the tie-breaker. Virginia Tech has two ACC games remaining, Miami, three. If both teams win their remaining games, Miami will go to the championship game and face the team that supplied their only loss, Florida State.
While the loss for the Hokies was devastating, it may have aided Miami's claim at a national championship slot. The Hurricanes, who moved up to #3 in Downtown Magazine's Top 25 rankings, will need to win the rest of their games as well as the ACC Championship, and get a loss from either Texas or USC.
UCLA was manhandled by Arizona, 52-14, and dropped from #6 to #11. Texas and USC won easily and Alabama won 17-0 at Mississippi St., so the Top 10 now is Texas, USC, Miami, Alabama, LSU, Virginia Tech, Penn State, Ohio State, Notre Dame and West Virginia.
Penn State and Ohio State each won conference games and are the leaders in the Big 12 with one conference loss apiece. Penn State holds a tie-breaker edge in the conference due to their win over the Buckeyes.
Elsewhere, Colorado all but clinched the Big 12 North division with their dominant 41-12 win over Missouri. They will almost certainly face Texas in the conference championship and are ranked #20 this week. West Virginia continued to be the team to beat in the Big East with a 45-13 rout of Connecticut. The Mountaineers are ranked #10 (much lower in official polls) as their only loss of the season was to Virginia Tech.
Oregon won a big game against PAC-10 rival California, besting the Bears 27-20 in overtime to improve to 7-1 and move up a notch to #14.
The complete Downtown Magazine Top 25 is updated every Monday. Visit the Downtown Magazine web site for the College Football Top 25, Fearless Rick's College Football Picks on Tuesdays and NFL Picks every Wednesday.
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