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2017 TipTop 25 Week Nine

 Clemson is the first school picked at random from my hat

Welcome back to the college football ranking system that began with a preseason top 25 that was based solely on picking teams at random out of a hat, as shown above. You can see that Clemson was selected first, thereby securing our preseason #1 slot, and they held on to that spot for 6 weeks, beating 3 ranked opponents along the way. But then they took an upset loss at Syracuse, finally giving up their hold on #1.

As the games are played, I am also ranking teams completely blind to their histories and "name" value, so that they are ranked solely based on what they do this season and, for now at least, on where they were ranked in the preseason. Eventually, where teams were ranked in the preseason should have little or no impact on their current rankings.

Georgia Remains #1

MS Paint of Georgia player 2017

Georgia started the season ranked #17. They beat #29 Appalachian State 31-10 in their opener, while a bunch of other teams took upset losses, and Georgia moved up to #11 after the first week. They beat #13 Notre Dame 20-19 on the road in their next game, but fewer teams ahead of them took upset losses that week, so they only moved up to #9.

Georgia has not beaten a ranked team since, but they rose to #4 as other teams took upset losses, and then they waited at #4 for a couple of weeks before all 3 of the teams that had been ranked ahead of them took upset losses, enabling Georgia's rise to the top. Bolstering Georgia's rating is Notre Dame, who has won each of the rest of their games by more than a touchdown. The Irish are now ranked #3.

TipTop 25 After Week Nine Games

Last week our top 25 didn't see much change, but this week there were a lot of upsets, and so we have a huge reshuffling of the rankings. This week's TipTop 25 is as follows:
Team Record LW This Week's Result
#1 Georgia 8-0 1 Won 42-7 over #41 Florida on a neutral field
#2 Central Florida 7-0 2 Won 73-33 over an FCS team
#3 Notre Dame 7-1 3 Won 35-14 over #44 North Carolina State
#4 Alabama 8-0 6 Won 45-7 over Tennessee
#5 Wisconsin 8-0 7 Won 24-10 at Illinois
#6 Miami (Florida) 7-0 9 Won 24-19 at North Carolina
#7 Clemson 7-1 12 Won 24-10 over Georgia Tech
#8 Washington 7-1 16 Won 44-23 over #39 UCLA
#9 Auburn 6-2 17 Won 52-20 at Arkansas
#10 Oklahoma 7-1 18 Won 49-27 over #24 Texas Tech
#11 Ohio State 7-1 19 Won 39-38 over #5 Penn State
#12 Penn State 7-1 5 Lost 39-38 at #19 Ohio State
#13 Virginia Tech 7-1 13 Won 24-3 over Duke
#14 Northwestern 5-3 21 Won 39-31 in OT over #10 Michigan State
#15 Michigan State 6-2 10 Lost 39-31 in OT at #21 Northwestern
#16 Michigan 6-2 11 Won 35-14 over Rutgers
#17 Iowa 5-3 22 Won 17-10 over Minnesota
#18 Iowa State 6-2 23 Won 14-7 over #4 Texas Christian
#19 Texas Christian 7-1 4 Lost 14-7 at #23 Iowa State
#20 Oklahoma State 7-1 15 Won 50-39 at #14 West Virginia
#21 West Virginia 5-3 14 Lost 50-39 to #15 Oklahoma State
#22 Texas Tech 4-4 24 Lost 49-27 at #18 Oklahoma (now #10)
#23 Memphis 7-1 (35) Won 56-26 over Tulane
#24 Houston 5-3 (36) Won 28-24 at #8 South Florida
#25 Arizona 6-2 (38) Won 58-37 over #26 Washington State

Notes on Changes to This Week's TipTop 25

Texas Tech sinks to 4-4, but they remain ranked at #22 because they were highly ranked in the preseason (#6), all 4 of their losses have come to ranked teams, and they have a couple of good wins, primarily a 27-24 victory at #24 Houston.

Memphis, Houston, and Arizona all shoot up into the top 25 due to Arizona's rout of #26 Washington State. Memphis had previously beaten Houston, who had previously beaten Arizona. Furthermore, Houston upset #8 South Florida 28-24 on the road this week (USF had not beaten anyone of value, and they are no longer ranked).

Close to the Top 25

The following teams are next in line to be ranked:

#26 Washington State
#27 Southern Cal
#28 Boise State
#29 Fresno State
#30 San Diego State
#31 Stanford
#32 Arizona State
#33 Mississippi State
#34 Louisiana State
#35 Toledo
#36 UCLA
#37 Texas A&M
#38 Florida
#39 Kentucky
#40 South Carolina
#41 South Florida
#42 North Carolina State

Looking Ahead to Next Week's Games

For the second week in a row, we have a big 5 games matching ranked opponents: #13 Virginia Tech at #6 Miami (Florida), #10 Oklahoma at #20 Oklahoma State, #11 Ohio State at #17 Iowa, #12 Penn State at #15 Michigan State, and #18 Iowa State at #21 West Virginia. In addition, we have the following games that could impact the rankings: #40 South Carolina at #1 Georgia, #34 Louisiana State at #4 Alabama, #7 Clemson at #42 North Carolina State, #9 Auburn at #37 Texas A&M, #25 Arizona at #27 Southern Cal, and #31 Stanford at #26 Washington State. So once again, we've got a whole lot of action amongst our top 42 teams!

Join me next week as we continue to hone the top 25 that was born from my magic hat.

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