August 14, 2004

D-1A College Football Rankings

FROM SI's COLLEGE FOOTBALL 2004 ISSUE comes the rankings of the nation's 117 division I-A teams.

There could hardly be a better brain trust than that of the venerated Sports Illustrated. Despite that, the College Athletics Clips.com Second Guessing Department shall hereby--respectfully and deferentially--take issue with a few (just a few) of the rankings.

Starting from the top, here's how SI ranked the Top 25:

1- USC
2- Oklahoma
3- LSU
4- Georgia
5- Miami
6- Florida
7- Texas
8- Ohio State
9- Florida State
10- Kansas State
11- Tennessee
12- Michigan
13- Auburn
14- Missouri
15- Iowa
16- Clemson
17- Maryland
18- Oregon
19- Utah
20- West Virginia
21- Nebraska
22- Cal-Berkeley
23- Minnesota
24- TCU
25- Toledo

The College Athletics Clips.com brain trust (sic) had no disagreement with SI's top 10--after all, the teams are all powerhouses and are virtually interchangeable.

However, the Clips.com cognoscenti have leveled some second-guessing with regard to the lower end of the Top 25. Instead of Utah, Cal, TCU and Toledo, Clips would rather have Washington State, Louisville, Purdue and Boston College (gotta have at least one bona fide Northeast team in the Top 25).

Here's how SI ranked the teams in the you-pick-'em 26th through 117th positions:

26- Wisconsin
27- North Carolina State
28- Purdue
29- Boston College
30- Oregon State
31- Virginia
32- Memphis
33- Alabama
34- Louisville
35- Georgia Tech
36- Southern Mississippi
37- South Carolina
38- Virginia Tech
39- Texas Tech
40- Fresno State
41- Notre Dame
42- Marshall
43- Washington State
44- Boise State
45- Colorado
46- Michigan State
47- San Diego State
48- Oklahoma State
49- Wshington
50- Penn State
51- Arizona State
52- Arkansas
53- Ole Miss
54- UCLA
55- Texas A&M;
56- Pittsburgh
57- New Mexico
58- Northwestern
59- Tulsa
60- Syracuse
61- Colorado State
62- Hawaii
63- Kansas
64- Alabama-Birmingham
65- Connecticut
66- South Florida
67- Navy
68- North Carolina
69- Rutgers
70- Bowling Green
71- Wake Forest
72- Northern Illinois
73- Kentucky
74- Miami (Ohio)
75- Stanford
76- Houston
77- Arizona
78- North Texas
79- Vanderbilt
80- Air Force
81- Illinois
82- Mississippi
83- Indiana
84- Cincinnati
85- UNLV
86- BYU
87- Iowa State
88- Baylor
89- Tulane
90- Akron
91- Duke
92- Rice
93- Wyoming
94- Western Michigan
95- Central Florida
96- Troy State
97- Louisiana Tech
98- East Carolina
99- New Mexico State
100- Nevada
101- UTEP
102- Temple
103- Central Michigan
104- Utah State
105- Louisiana-Lafayette
106- Kent State
107- Ball State
108- Arkansas State
109- Middle Tennessee
110- SMU
111- San Jose State
112- Louisiana-Monroe
113- Ohio
114- Eastern Michigan
115- Army
116- Idaho
117- Buffalo

Clips.com disagreed with the SI prognosticators on the following picks:

Alabama (SI rank 33rd): We think that this is far too lofty a ranking for a team that struggled to a 3-9 record last year

Colorado (SI rank 45th): We think that last year's mediocre 5-7 record and Colorado's chronic off-field distractions do not merit a top half ranking.

OK State (SI rank 48th): Ain't no way this OK team should be ranked so low.

UCLA (SI rank 54th): The Bruins demonstrated their potential with a 6-2 start last year. They are better than a 54th ranked team.

Connecticut (SI rank 65th): Hard to figure how last year's 9-3 team (with 17 returning starters) could be ranked so low.

Northern Illinois (SI rank 72nd): Ditto UConn comments above.

Miami-Ohio (SI rank 74th): Last year's team was ranked 10th nationally with a 13-1 record. They should not have fallen so low.

Arizona (SI rank 77th), Vanderbilt (79th) and Illinois (81st): These teams had a combined 5-31 record; they belong do not belong in the top 90.

Akron (SI ranked 90th): Should be in the 60s.

Idaho (SI ranked 116th, or 2nd from the bottom): This is not a great team, but it won more games than fourteen teams last year. They ought not be second from the bottom.

SOURCE: Sports Illustrated, 8-18-04 issue