I know we usually post the media polls (and feel free to add them). But this is my ranking.

Week 9 Rankings
#1 Texas A&M (8-0)
#2 Indiana (8-0)
#3 Ohio St (7-0)
#4 Alabama (7-1)
#5 BYU (8-0)
#6 Georgia (6-1)
#7 Ole Miss (7-1)
#8 Georgia Tech (8-0)
#9 Miami (6-1)
#10 Notre Dame (5-2)
#11 Oregon (7-1)
#12 Vanderbilt (7-1)
#13 Louisville (6-1)
#14 Texas Tech (7-1)
#15 Michigan (6-2)
#16 Cincinnati (7-1)
#17 Washington (6-2)
#18 Utah (6-2)
#19 Oklahoma (6-2)
#20 Virginia (7-1)
#21 Texas (6-2)
#22 Tennessee (6-2)
#23 Tulane (6-1)
#24 USC (5-2)
#25 Iowa (6-2)

Expanded to show more G5s
#26 Houston (7-1)
#27 Navy (7-0)
#28 Missouri (6-2)
#29 Nebraska (6-2)
#30 USF (6-2)
#31 LSU (5-3)
#32 Illinois (5-3)
#33 Memphis (7-1)
#34 North Texas (7-1)
#35 Pittsburgh (6-2)
#36 Boise St (6-2)
#37 TCU (6-2)
#38 James Madison (6-1)

Coaches:
1. Ohio State
2. Indiana
3. Texas A&M
4. Alabama
5. Georgia
6. Oregon
7. Georgia Tech
8. Ole Miss
9. Miami (FL)
10. BYU
11. Vanderbilt
12. Notre Dame
13. Texas Tech
14. Tennessee
15. Virginia
16. Cincinnati
17. Louisville
18. Oklahoma
19. Texas
20. Missouri
21. Michigan
22. Houston
23. Navy
24. Utah
25. Memphis

AP Poll:
1. Ohio State
2. Indiana
3. Texas A&M 
4. Alabama
5. Georgia
6. Oregon
7. Ole Miss
8. Georgia Tech
9. Vanderbilt
10. Miami (FL)
11. BYU
12. Notre Dame
13. Texas Tech
14. Tennessee
15. Virginia
16. Louisville
17. Cincinnati
18. Oklahoma
19. Missouri
20. Texas
21. Michigan
22. Houston
23. USC
24. Utah
25. Memphis

Still no love for 2-loss Big 10 teams USC, Washington, Iowa, and Nebraska.

(10-26-2025 03:30 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  Still no love for 2-loss Big 10 teams USC, Washington, Iowa, and Nebraska.

Any of those could be the 4th B1G team in the CFP. I think that Iowa is the best, but their remaining schedule is brutal with

home- Oregon
road- USC and Nebraska

That last game of the season against Nebraska could be an elimination game.

Speaking of a tough remaining schedule, look at Nebraska's:

USC
@UCLA
@PSU
Iowa

They could win or lose any or all of those 4. What a crap shoot. Let's hope that they lock down Rhule with a raise on Monday so he can focus on the rest of the season and quit (maybe) texting his PSU buddy on the side.

(10-26-2025 03:30 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  Still no love for 2-loss Big 10 teams USC, Washington, Iowa, and Nebraska.

Honestly, why should there be? None have upset a top team so far while lots of movement has taken place in the SEC. One and only one Big Ten team pulled off big upsets so far and it has propelled them to number 2 in the country. Among the schools you list, who has a more impressive win than random top ACC and Big XII teams? You can argue that top ACC schools actually look loads better than them, even.

(10-26-2025 03:30 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  Still no love for 2-loss Big 10 teams USC, Washington, Iowa, and Nebraska.

eh, The B1G is looked upon as not being great. One good reason is that none of them played anyone with a pulse in the OOC and won with the exception of Ohio St, who barely scraped by a Texas team, and Nebraska who limped past a Cinci team.

Iowa played Iowa St. And lost

Michigan played Oklahoma, and lost.

Given that, and the fact the B1G seems to be a lot of fluff, they arent and shouldnt get a lot of respect if they already have two losses. I couldnt even tell you, based upon who they've played, if Indiana is actually decent. It would be one thing if the B1G was stacked with world killers like the SEC. But they arent. SO relying upon conference play aint gonna cut it.

(10-26-2025 04:04 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  

(10-26-2025 03:30 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  Still no love for 2-loss Big 10 teams USC, Washington, Iowa, and Nebraska.

eh, The B1G is looked upon as not being great. One good reason is that none of them played anyone with a pulse in the OOC and won with the exception of Ohio St, who barely scraped by a Texas team, and Nebraska who limped past a Cinci team.

Iowa played Iowa St. And lost

Michigan played Oklahoma, and lost.

Given that, and the fact the B1G seems to be a lot of fluff, they arent and shouldnt get a lot of respect if they already have two losses. I couldnt even tell you, based upon who they've played, if Indiana is actually decent. It would be one thing if the B1G was stacked with world killers like the SEC. But they arent. SO relying upon conference play aint gonna cut it.

Indiana is having what looks to be a great season. They beat then-#9 Illinois by 53 points, and then Illinois turned around and beat USC in their next game. They beat #3 Oregon by 10 on the road, and Oregon's only loss is in fact to Indiana.

As weak as Indiana's schedule was last season, it's not weak this year just b/c their B1G slate is so much tougher. I was critical of them last year, but they deserve their ranking today. If anything, they've been more impressive than OSU, and I expect that they'll be ahead of OSU in the first CFP rankings (though possibly behind my Aggies).

(10-26-2025 04:11 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(10-26-2025 04:04 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  

(10-26-2025 03:30 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  Still no love for 2-loss Big 10 teams USC, Washington, Iowa, and Nebraska.

eh, The B1G is looked upon as not being great. One good reason is that none of them played anyone with a pulse in the OOC and won with the exception of Ohio St, who barely scraped by a Texas team, and Nebraska who limped past a Cinci team.

Iowa played Iowa St. And lost

Michigan played Oklahoma, and lost.

Given that, and the fact the B1G seems to be a lot of fluff, they arent and shouldnt get a lot of respect if they already have two losses. I couldnt even tell you, based upon who they've played, if Indiana is actually decent. It would be one thing if the B1G was stacked with world killers like the SEC. But they arent. SO relying upon conference play aint gonna cut it.

Indiana is having what looks to be a great season. They beat then-#9 Illinois by 53 points, and then Illinois turned around and beat USC in their next game. They beat #3 Oregon by 10 on the road, and Oregon's only loss is in fact to Indiana.

As weak as Indiana's schedule was last season, it's not weak this year just b/c their B1G slate is so much tougher. I was critical of them last year, but they deserve their ranking today. If anything, they've been more impressive than OSU, and I expect that they'll be ahead of OSU in the first CFP rankings (though possibly behind my Aggies).

You are making my point for me.

Take away the B1G games, and you have no idea where these teams stand sans Ohio St.

So yea, some of them are beating up on B1G teams. But in the big picture, noone has any idea if these are caliber wins or the same as beating Boise St at this point.

(10-26-2025 04:04 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  

(10-26-2025 03:30 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  Still no love for 2-loss Big 10 teams USC, Washington, Iowa, and Nebraska.

eh, The B1G is looked upon as not being great. One good reason is that none of them played anyone with a pulse in the OOC and won with the exception of Ohio St, who barely scraped by a Texas team, and Nebraska who limped past a Cinci team.

Iowa played Iowa St. And lost

Michigan played Oklahoma, and lost.

Given that, and the fact the B1G seems to be a lot of fluff, they arent and shouldnt get a lot of respect if they already have two losses. I couldnt even tell you, based upon who they've played, if Indiana is actually decent. It would be one thing if the B1G was stacked with world killers like the SEC. But they arent. SO relying upon conference play aint gonna cut it.

The BIG almost all scheduled like Wisconsin this year ooc. Normally, they have more tough games. Their 18 teams only have 12 P4 games ooc. Big 12 16 have 15. Both have finished their ooc. Of course the SEC and ACC have fewer conference games, but the SEC already has 14 P4 games and have at least 4 to go. ACC has 19 with at least 4 to go.

SEC is 10-4 vs. P4+ND, Big 12 8-7, Big Ten 5-7 and ACC 6-13. Notre Dame is 4-2.

(10-26-2025 04:04 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  

(10-26-2025 03:30 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  Still no love for 2-loss Big 10 teams USC, Washington, Iowa, and Nebraska.

eh, The B1G is looked upon as not being great. One good reason is that none of them played anyone with a pulse in the OOC and won with the exception of Ohio St, who barely scraped by a Texas team, and Nebraska who limped past a Cinci team.

Iowa played Iowa St. And lost

Michigan played Oklahoma, and lost.

Given that, and the fact the B1G seems to be a lot of fluff, they arent and shouldnt get a lot of respect if they already have two losses. I couldnt even tell you, based upon who they've played, if Indiana is actually decent. It would be one thing if the B1G was stacked with world killers like the SEC. But they arent. SO relying upon conference play aint gonna cut it.

The BIG almost all scheduled like Wisconsin this year ooc. Normally, they have more tough games. Their 18 teams only have 12 P4 games ooc. Big 12 16 have 15. Both have finished their ooc. Of course the SEC and ACC have fewer conference games, but the SEC already has 14 P4 games and have at least 4 to go. ACC has 19 with at least 4 to go.

SEC is 10-4 vs. P4+ND, Big 12 8-7, Big Ten 5-7 and ACC 6-13. Notre Dame is 4-2.

The Big Ten's only road P4 win is Illinois at Duke. Their others are Ohio St. over Texas, Nebraska over Cincinnati, Michigan St. over BC and Oregon over Oklahoma St.

(10-26-2025 04:55 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(10-26-2025 04:04 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  

(10-26-2025 03:30 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  Still no love for 2-loss Big 10 teams USC, Washington, Iowa, and Nebraska.

eh, The B1G is looked upon as not being great. One good reason is that none of them played anyone with a pulse in the OOC and won with the exception of Ohio St, who barely scraped by a Texas team, and Nebraska who limped past a Cinci team.

Iowa played Iowa St. And lost

Michigan played Oklahoma, and lost.

Given that, and the fact the B1G seems to be a lot of fluff, they arent and shouldnt get a lot of respect if they already have two losses. I couldnt even tell you, based upon who they've played, if Indiana is actually decent. It would be one thing if the B1G was stacked with world killers like the SEC. But they arent. SO relying upon conference play aint gonna cut it.

The BIG almost all scheduled like Wisconsin this year ooc. Normally, they have more tough games. Their 18 teams only have 12 P4 games ooc. Big 12 16 have 15. Both have finished their ooc. Of course the SEC and ACC have fewer conference games, but the SEC already has 14 P4 games and have at least 4 to go. ACC has 19 with at least 4 to go.

SEC is 10-4 vs. P4+ND, Big 12 8-7, Big Ten 5-7 and ACC 6-13. Notre Dame is 4-2.

When you look at it that way, the B1G is behind the SEC and B12, and ahead of the ACC.

Which is exactly how it feels in real life. Which is why they arent getting rewarded for playing cupcakes in the OOC and then lose 2 games in the 3rd best P4.

(10-26-2025 05:06 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  

(10-26-2025 04:55 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(10-26-2025 04:04 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  

(10-26-2025 03:30 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  Still no love for 2-loss Big 10 teams USC, Washington, Iowa, and Nebraska.

eh, The B1G is looked upon as not being great. One good reason is that none of them played anyone with a pulse in the OOC and won with the exception of Ohio St, who barely scraped by a Texas team, and Nebraska who limped past a Cinci team.

Iowa played Iowa St. And lost

Michigan played Oklahoma, and lost.

Given that, and the fact the B1G seems to be a lot of fluff, they arent and shouldnt get a lot of respect if they already have two losses. I couldnt even tell you, based upon who they've played, if Indiana is actually decent. It would be one thing if the B1G was stacked with world killers like the SEC. But they arent. SO relying upon conference play aint gonna cut it.

The BIG almost all scheduled like Wisconsin this year ooc. Normally, they have more tough games. Their 18 teams only have 12 P4 games ooc. Big 12 16 have 15. Both have finished their ooc. Of course the SEC and ACC have fewer conference games, but the SEC already has 14 P4 games and have at least 4 to go. ACC has 19 with at least 4 to go.

SEC is 10-4 vs. P4+ND, Big 12 8-7, Big Ten 5-7 and ACC 6-13. Notre Dame is 4-2.

When you look at it that way, the B1G is behind the SEC and B12, and ahead of the ACC.

Which is exactly how it feels in real life. Which is why they arent getting rewarded for playing cupcakes in the OOC and then lose 2 games in the 3rd best P4.

The computers almost all do have the Big Ten ahead of the Big 12 and Ohio St., Indiana and Oregon probably are better than any Big 12 team.

(10-26-2025 05:13 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(10-26-2025 05:06 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  

(10-26-2025 04:55 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(10-26-2025 04:04 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  

(10-26-2025 03:30 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  Still no love for 2-loss Big 10 teams USC, Washington, Iowa, and Nebraska.

eh, The B1G is looked upon as not being great. One good reason is that none of them played anyone with a pulse in the OOC and won with the exception of Ohio St, who barely scraped by a Texas team, and Nebraska who limped past a Cinci team.

Iowa played Iowa St. And lost

Michigan played Oklahoma, and lost.

Given that, and the fact the B1G seems to be a lot of fluff, they arent and shouldnt get a lot of respect if they already have two losses. I couldnt even tell you, based upon who they've played, if Indiana is actually decent. It would be one thing if the B1G was stacked with world killers like the SEC. But they arent. SO relying upon conference play aint gonna cut it.

The BIG almost all scheduled like Wisconsin this year ooc. Normally, they have more tough games. Their 18 teams only have 12 P4 games ooc. Big 12 16 have 15. Both have finished their ooc. Of course the SEC and ACC have fewer conference games, but the SEC already has 14 P4 games and have at least 4 to go. ACC has 19 with at least 4 to go.

SEC is 10-4 vs. P4+ND, Big 12 8-7, Big Ten 5-7 and ACC 6-13. Notre Dame is 4-2.

When you look at it that way, the B1G is behind the SEC and B12, and ahead of the ACC.

Which is exactly how it feels in real life. Which is why they arent getting rewarded for playing cupcakes in the OOC and then lose 2 games in the 3rd best P4.

The computers almost all do have the Big Ten ahead of the Big 12 and Ohio St., Indiana and Oregon probably are better than any Big 12 team.

Its very hard to do head to head when the leagues have different numbers but I'd argue that they are ahead of the ACC too everywhere except that very important metric from number 7 to number 17 in the country, where around half of the teams make the playoff and half of the teams do not. The ACC has four teams in that area while the Big Ten has none.

Afterall, while there's a lot of mediocre Big Ten teams this year, and some bad ones too, there's also Boston College, Wake Forest, Syracuse, etc. putting up even worse numbers while also losing G5 OOC games.

(10-26-2025 05:01 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(10-26-2025 04:04 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  

(10-26-2025 03:30 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  Still no love for 2-loss Big 10 teams USC, Washington, Iowa, and Nebraska.

eh, The B1G is looked upon as not being great. One good reason is that none of them played anyone with a pulse in the OOC and won with the exception of Ohio St, who barely scraped by a Texas team, and Nebraska who limped past a Cinci team.

Iowa played Iowa St. And lost

Michigan played Oklahoma, and lost.

Given that, and the fact the B1G seems to be a lot of fluff, they arent and shouldnt get a lot of respect if they already have two losses. I couldnt even tell you, based upon who they've played, if Indiana is actually decent. It would be one thing if the B1G was stacked with world killers like the SEC. But they arent. SO relying upon conference play aint gonna cut it.

The BIG almost all scheduled like Wisconsin this year ooc. Normally, they have more tough games. Their 18 teams only have 12 P4 games ooc. Big 12 16 have 15. Both have finished their ooc. Of course the SEC and ACC have fewer conference games, but the SEC already has 14 P4 games and have at least 4 to go. ACC has 19 with at least 4 to go.

SEC is 10-4 vs. P4+ND, Big 12 8-7, Big Ten 5-7 and ACC 6-13. Notre Dame is 4-2.

The Big Ten's only road P4 win is Illinois at Duke. Their others are Ohio St. over Texas, Nebraska over Cincinnati, Michigan St. over BC and Oregon over Oklahoma St.

Sec might be 10-4 but they are getting a lot of their credit because they started with 9 ranked teams.
Let’s look at OOC team by team - Alabama lost to FSU, ole miss did not play anyone, lsu beat Clemson while p4 is nothing great at the moment, vanderbilts victory is against va tech - again a ho hum p4, Georgia is going to play ga tech so haven’t played anyone yet, Texas lost to Ohio state, tenn beat Syracuse , Missouri is against Kansas, Florida lost to Miami, auburn beat Baylor, South Carolina beat va tech, Arkansas lost to Notre dame, Kentucky is going to play Louisville. Texas am over notre dame, Oklahoma over Michigan and miss states victory over Arizona st re the only good victories. So when you look at 10 victories, they are 3-4 against top competition. Granted they are also 7-0 against mid level teams so there is that. Still better then most but needs to be taken into with context.

(10-26-2025 05:13 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(10-26-2025 05:06 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  

(10-26-2025 04:55 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(10-26-2025 04:04 PM)UofMstateU Wrote:  

(10-26-2025 03:30 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  Still no love for 2-loss Big 10 teams USC, Washington, Iowa, and Nebraska.

eh, The B1G is looked upon as not being great. One good reason is that none of them played anyone with a pulse in the OOC and won with the exception of Ohio St, who barely scraped by a Texas team, and Nebraska who limped past a Cinci team.

Iowa played Iowa St. And lost

Michigan played Oklahoma, and lost.

Given that, and the fact the B1G seems to be a lot of fluff, they arent and shouldnt get a lot of respect if they already have two losses. I couldnt even tell you, based upon who they've played, if Indiana is actually decent. It would be one thing if the B1G was stacked with world killers like the SEC. But they arent. SO relying upon conference play aint gonna cut it.

The BIG almost all scheduled like Wisconsin this year ooc. Normally, they have more tough games. Their 18 teams only have 12 P4 games ooc. Big 12 16 have 15. Both have finished their ooc. Of course the SEC and ACC have fewer conference games, but the SEC already has 14 P4 games and have at least 4 to go. ACC has 19 with at least 4 to go.

SEC is 10-4 vs. P4+ND, Big 12 8-7, Big Ten 5-7 and ACC 6-13. Notre Dame is 4-2.

When you look at it that way, the B1G is behind the SEC and B12, and ahead of the ACC.

Which is exactly how it feels in real life. Which is why they arent getting rewarded for playing cupcakes in the OOC and then lose 2 games in the 3rd best P4.

The computers almost all do have the Big Ten ahead of the Big 12 and Ohio St., Indiana and Oregon probably are better than any Big 12 team.

THose 3 are likely really good.

And if any of the 2 loss group could beat one of those teams, it would say something.

Iowa lost to Indiana, and has yet to play Oregon and USC.

Nebraska has yet to play USC and doesnt play the others.

Washington played and lost to Oh St, has an upcoming game against Oregon, and doesnt play the other top teams.

USC has upcoming games against Nebraska and Oregon.

When you combine the lack of in conference wins against quality opponents with a really crappy OOC schedule, these teams have nothing to complain about. Some of them could help their cause by winning the upcoming games against the top of the B1G.

Perfect playoff
16 G6 Champ @ 3 OSU/IU(L)
13 UVA/12 Tenn @ 4 Bama/A&M(L)
14 Lou/11 ND @ 5 Georgia
15 Cincy/10 Vandy @ 7 Oregon
9 BYU/TTU @ 8 Ole Miss

Almost Perfect Playoff (drop a bye, add a 4th WCG, net 2 teams)
21 Michigan and 22 Houston are added to the WCG round. 7 Oregon slips to that round while 12 Notre Dame bypasses it.

Media’s 6-6-4-4+ Format (2 more P2 WCGs)
23 USC and unranked Washington are added to the WCG round while 5 Georgia and 7 Ole Miss slip to that round.