College Football Ratings Week 9 2023

This weekend was lacking big matchups on paper. We did get one big upset as Kansas took down Oklahoma, knocking us down to 4 power conference unbeatens. Next week’s schedule looks quite a bit bigger, with LSU/Alabama, Kansas State/Texas and Washington/USC all likely to play big roles in conference championship races.

Top 25

1. Michigan

2. Ohio State

3. Oregon (+2)

4. Georgia (-1)

5. LSU

6. Notre Dame (+6)

7. Alabama (+1)

8. Texas (-1)

9. Florida State (+2)

10. Texas A&M

11. Kansas State (+6)

12. Oklahoma (+1)

13. Washington (-7)

14. Tennessee

15. Louisville (+4)

16. Clemson (-1)

17. Oregon State (+1)

18. Penn State (-9)

19. Miami (-3)

20. Missouri

21. Ole Miss (+3)

22. Arizona

23. USC (-2)

24. North Carolina (-1)

25. UCLA (+4)

If Notre Dame had held on to beat Ohio State we’d be talking about the Irish as a likely playoff team right now. They’ve played a ridiculous schedule and if they get past Clemson this weekend they’ll skate into a major bowl at 10-2. Kansas State has won back to back games 41-0 and 41-3. They’re 6-2 but both their losses are by one score, while all six of their wins are by double digits. Penn State looked awful against Indiana and my hopes for a competitive game against Michigan are quite low.

Moving Up

Stanford had the ball down two with three minutes to play, but dropped a fourth down conversion. Still, they were competitive against Washington as 28 point underdogs and no longer look like the worst team in the Power Five. SMU dropped 69 points on Tulsa and has one of the most explosive offenses in college football. The Mustangs are now my top ranked G5 team. Virginia Tech looked horrible in September but has been fantastic in October and now has an outside shot at the ACC title.

Moving Down

Utah lost 35-6 at home to Oregon. The Utes have been devastated by injuries this year and haven’t been able to play their usual physical brand of football. I bet on Pitt this week and it went very poorly- they lost 58-7 to Notre Dame and are now staring down the barrel of a 2-10 season. Army has fallen apart with their new-look gun option offense and lost at home to hapless UMass.