Rankings Controversy Sucks

In a system as poorly thought-out and quickly thrown together as the YFTS rankings, controversy is bound to occur. Such as an undefeated Texas being sandwiched in between two sets of one-loss teams and Georgia ranking above an undefeated team that squashed it emphatically at Sanford Stadium.

GIS result for "controversy." Is this from Dancing with the Stars?

Top 25 Rankings

1. USC (24.608) nc -- the six-point loss to a decent 3-3 Oregon State team (3.336) hardly makes a dent in USC's stellar rating, which is propped up by four epic blowouts, including those over 6-1 Ohio State and 4-2 Oregon.
2. Florida (15.648) +9 -- crushing a previously undefeated LSU pretty much erases the damage done by a one-point loss to Ole Miss.
3. Texas (14.535) +1 -- you'd think Texas would have shot straight to #1 after the win over OU, but the fact remains that Texas has still played a mediocre schedule with the exception of Oklahoma. They also suffer from allowing 35 points, similar to Alabama's "big" win over Georgia.
4. Oklahoma (12.319) +1 -- sometimes when you lose, you win.
5. Missouri (11.941) -3 --by keeping the final score close, Mizzou prevents a more dramatic tumble.
6. Penn State (10.640) +7 -- finally, a big blowout on the road gets JoePa's squad some rankings respect.
7. BYU (10.555) -4 -- BYU has not played a single winning team yet. They're lucky they've blown out most of their opponents, otherwise they'd be relegated to the "Missing the Cut" section.
8. Georgia (10.219) -1 -- UGA's about to find out how good it actually is. Next three opponents have winning percentages of .833, .800, and .833.
9. Alabama (9.271) nc -- here comes the controversy. So Alabama, who is undefeated and beat #8 Georgia heads up, is ranked below Georgia. The science: Georgia has better-quality victories, despite that one loss. Their blowout of Central Michigan in Week 2 is key. Alabama is not helped by squeaker wins over Tulane and Kentucky.
10. Tulsa (9.191) -4 -- not only has Tulsa not played a winning team, it has the worst SOS in I-A. The blowouts are the only thing keeping Tulsa ranked.
11. Texas Tech (8.575) +1 -- speaking of weak SOS...
12. Oklahoma State (8.464) +3 -- beating #5 was good. Now they just have to beat #3 and #4.
13. North Carolina (7.610) +1 -- the ACC makes an appearance!
14. Boise State (7.560) -6 -- the SOS (#105) is beginning to weigh the Broncos down.
15. Ball State (7.151) +2 -- I'm just as surprised as you are.
16. Nebraska (6.966) nc -- how the hell does Nebraska lose three straight games and maintain its ranking? Its three wins were impressive, and it has the #1 SOS. That's how. I don't like it any more than you do.
17. California (6.830) -7 -- it seems like they've had four bye weeks already. You snooze, you lose.
18. Georgia Tech (6.661) nc -- if their three-point win over a I-AA team was their pants-crapping for the season, they're in great shape.
19. Utah (6.605) +1 -- weak SOS. Hey, wait a second... weak SOS... weaksauce... I think we have a theme here.
20. Kansas (6.472) -1 -- did anyone see Mangino in a track suit? It's pretty much the best thing ever. Oh, and Kansas needs to start showing up for the first half of its games.
21. Michigan State (6.097) +3 -- I think the win over Michigan is a lock this year.
22. Connecticut (5.782) NR -- well, we've seen pretty much every other conference so far. Why not the Big East?
23. Wake Forest (5.587) NR -- winning ugly, but winning.
24. Iowa (5.582) NR -- if you're going to lose three straight, make sure they're by a combined total of nine points. And to good teams.
25. TCU (5.222) NR -- Cougs up next.

Missing the Cut: Ohio State, Minnesota, Kentucky, USF, Cincinnati
Explanation of Rankings

So as the season progresses, we're starting to see a lot more stability in the rankings. This week's big winners were Florida and Penn State. Blowouts always help. The weirdness of having a glut of one-loss teams at the top of the rankings should work itself out by the end of the season, when there will probably be a glut of one-loss teams in general.