“The Dirty Dozen” College Football Rankings — 2014 Week 2 — October 20, 2014

By: Chris Dyer (Dirty)


Unlike the media and the coach’s polls I like to wait until after the
last weekend of September to try to even try to start ranking college
football teams. There are so many things that can happen during the
offseason and early season, with injuries, to even think about saying
who the best football team in the country is. Some teams play tough
schedules and some play sisters of the blind the first few weeks of the
season. At least by the 4th or 5th week all teams have played at least
1-2 quality opponents.


I limit it to the top 12 as that realistically is all that have a
chance to play in BCS bowls and have a shot at the 4 team playoff at any
time in the season for the most part. The top 25 is just the media’s
way of pumping mediocre football teams and keep the money train going.
They have to say we have the 23rd Ranked “Jacklegs” against the 17th
ranked “Hobnobbers” live from “Who Cares University” so they can make
fan bases happy and sell television ads. Bottom line is teams outside
the top 12 most likely will not play in a BCS Bowl or even New Year’s
Day games unless they are in a weak conference with a tie-in. Those
teams are most likely to by playing on the “Smurf Turf” in Boise or many
other cities that have inconsequential bowl games are were created by
ESPN just for the revenue TV brings. It is a good thing for us gamblers
though as we have more football to watch and bet on.


Let’s get to this week’s rankings as we had some serious shakeups this week.


1. Mississippi State Bulldogs (6-0) –No reason to drop
the Bulldogs from #1 after an off week. They travel to a dangerous
Kentucky team this week in Lexington than have Arkansas and
Tennessee-Martin at home before a season ending stretch of playing at
Bama, home against Vandy and at Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl. This stretch
is by no means easy but may be the easiest of the 4 teams that comprise
the top 5 teams in the nation to win out.

2. Ole Miss Rebels (7-0) – The Rebels did what top teams
are supposed to. They manhandled a decent SEC team (good rest of the
nation) 34-3 that could have been a look ahead game loss as they travel
to probably the toughest place in the nation to play. LSU’s “Death
Valley”. I am sure ABC will pick this game up for it Sat Night Football
game and LSU at night is brutal. Then they have Auburn at home the next
week with two should be wins against Presbyterian and at Arky. Then they
finish the season off at home in the Egg Bowl. This team has the
toughest road to go to win out.

3. Auburn Tigers (5-1) – After an off week Auburn has a
hungry South Carolina team at home. Spurrier is in must win mode with
UGA keeping on winning. They then go to Ole Miss and host A&M. The
A&M game will be interesting as we don’t know how they will react to
their 59-0 shellacking against Bama this past weekend. Then they travel
to Athens to play the Dawgs (who should have Gurley back by then) then
play Marist and finish up with Bama in Tuscaloosa in the Iron Bowl. They
have almost as hard of a road as Ole Miss to win out.

4. Florida State Seminoles (7-0) – FSU played a hell of a 2^nd
half this past week to beat a better than expected Notre Dame, 31-27.
Winston finally played to his potential for most of the game. Now the
question is can they turn around on a short week and produce at
Louisville and the nations #1 defense? FSU has the easiest schedule of
any of the top teams to end the season as after Louisville they have
UVA, at Miami (Fla) and then play BC and a bad Florida team at home. If
they get past this Thursday game there is no reason for the Noles’ not
to be undefeated going into the ACC Championship game.

5. Alabama Crimson Tide (6-1) – Saban has a statement game
every year and this past weekend they took full advantage of a bad
A&M defense and whipped their asses like a yard dog 59-0. Football
Johnny was even putting “HAHA wow. Make it Stop” on twitter.
When Blake Sims plays well at QB for the Tide they are as good as
anyone in the nation. That is why they are not undefeated right now.
Bama travels to Tenn, who always plays them tough it seems, and LSU the
next two weeks then hosts Miss. State, Western Carolina and Auburn to
end the season. Another brutal stretch where they can’t afford to lose
another game.

6. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (6-1)) – This team deserves
to be #6 after the game they played against FSU this past weekend. Brian
Kelly has this team back and is recruiting football players now. This
is the first time ND has had a solid team that the media hasn’t
over-hyped in damn near 30 years. Golson has turned into a good QB and
showed it against top talent. The Irish are off a week before playing a
dangerous Navy team so we don’t have to worry about a letdown. Then they
travel to play a dangerous Arizona State team then host Northwestern
and Louisville before ending the season at USC. Notre Dame has a
legitimate shot at finishing the season 11-1 if they play anywhere like
they did on Saturday night.

7. Georgia Bulldogs (6-1) – I wonder if Todd Gurley got a
Chubb(y) this past weekend as Nick Chubb rushed for 200 yards and 2 TD’s
in the UGA 45-32 win over Arkansas on the road. The score was 38-6 at
the half when Mark Richt pulled most of his starters and got some
experience in there. Richt will never run up the score on a team
intentionally. The Dawgs have just gotten better each week since Gurley
Gate and will be better when he comes back. He will be on the field most
likely when the Dawgs play Florida on November 1^st in the
“Worlds Larges Cocktail Party” in Jacksonville. Losing Gurley has made
QB Hutson Mason throw well and everyone rally around and open gaping
holes up for Chubb. The D is still playing very well like it has all
year except the Tenn game. They travel to Kentucky and then host Auburn
before playing Charleston Southern before hosting Georgia Tech in the
match up called “Good Ole Southern Hate”. No reason the Dawgs can’t
legitimately win out this season as well if they get past Auburn.

8. TCU Horned Frogs (5-1) – All Gary Patterson and the TCU
Horned Frogs do is play well and usually win. This team gets no
national respect and after a heartbreaking 61-58 loss on the road to
Baylor the Froggies bounced back with a 42-9 kermie kicking of the
Oklahoma State Cowboys. The game was over midway thru the 1^st
quarter. They have a bad Texas Tech team next week then travel to play a
dangerous West Virginia team who beat Baylor easily at home Saturday.
The problem here for TCU on top of WVA playing well at home is TCU has
KState at home the following weekend. The Frogs can’t look ahead or they
could get put in a blender. Then they end the season with 3 winnable
games at Kansa, Texas and at home against Iowa State. If TCU gets past
WVA and KState they should end the season with 1 loss as well.

9. Michigan State Spartans (6-1) – Michigan State didn’t
do anything of their own volition to drop several spots in this week’s
poll other than play a bad football team. They struggled in the first
half with a bad Indiana team but pulled away to kick them in the
ding-ding 59-17. After watching teams in better conferences beat better
teams the Spartans had to fall in the rankings. They play a bad Michigan
team at home this week and have an off week before hosting an Ohio
State team that is playing well right now. Then they have 3 winnable
games on the road at Maryland, at home against Rutgers and on the road
at Penn State. If they get past the Buckeyes we have another team that
could end the season with 1 loss.

10. Kansas State Wildcats (5-1) – Bill Snyder has his
unknown players at KState flying under the radar once again. They should
probably be higher than this, but there is just nowhere to put them
with the strength of the SEC West this season and then UGA playing as
well as they are with the schedule they have. The Wildcats only loss was
to top #3 ranked Auburn and they could have won that game. It came down
to the final minutes. They went into Norman and beat the Sooners this
past weekend 31-30 but OU was lucky to be in that game. KState had a
couple of turnovers that allowed them to stay in it. They host Texas and
Okie State the next two weekends and should win those and then travel
to play TCU and WVA in back to back weekends. They then Host Kansas and
then end with a road game at Baylor. Will be tough for them to get out
of that with only 1 loss.

11. Ohio State Buckeyes (5-1) – Ohio State have finally
started to play like we thought they would have with Braxton Miller
under center. Their only loss was at home to mediocre Virginia Tech, but
we have to understand they were getting used to a new signal caller in
J.T. Barrett. He has come into his own. The only problem with these Big
10 Schools is you don’t really know how good they are as for the most
part of the last 15 years when they play top teams from other
conferences (especially the SEC) they get beat. They have manhandled
basically everyone they have played this year after their loss to
VaTech. They travel to Penn State and host Illinois and should be 7-1
when they travel to East Lansing to play Mich. State. Then they end with
two wins against Indiana and Michigan at home. Here is another team
that could have only 1 loss at season’s end.

12. Baylor Bears (6-1) – Baylor almost fell out of the
rankings this week after going to Morgantown and getting whipped
physically by West Virginia. The game wasn’t as close as the 41-27
score. I understand with these high powered offense like this you will
have off weeks but you have to a defense that at least acts like a small
speed bump in the road and not a little pebble that wouldn’t even wreck
a Schwinn. Baylor is still a dangerous team and when things are
clicking can beat anyone in these rankings. They play Kansas and then go
to Oklahoma and then have Okie State at home, go to Texas Tech and
finish with KState at home. If they get any defense we have yet another
team that could end with one loss.



Teams that just missed: Oregon (6-1), East Carolina (5-1), Arizona (5-1), Arizona State (5-1)


I will be back next Monday with Week #3. As we can see the way this
season is shaping up we can expect this season college football’s first
playoff to be a clusterfuck. The first year is going to prove we needed
at least an 8 team playoff as we could not have any teams go undefeated
the way the SEC West is shaping up and then you have Conference
Championship games to worry about in most conferences if you get thru
the regular season unscathed. The Big XII will not have one so they have
an advantage over the other Conferences.

“The Dirty Dozen” College Football Rankings — 2014 Week 2 — October 20, 2014

“The Dirty Dozen” College Football Rankings — Week 1 — October 13, 2014

By: Chris Dyer (Dirty)



Unlike the media and the coach’s polls I like to wait until after the
last weekend of September to try to even try to start ranking college
football teams. There are so many things that can happen during the
offseason and early season, with injuries, to even think about saying
who the best football team in the country is. Some teams play tough
schedules and some play sisters of the blind the first few weeks of the
season. At least by the 4th or 5th week all teams have played at least
1-2 quality opponents.


I limit it to the top 12 as that realistically is all that have a
chance to play in BCS bowls and have a shot at the 4 team playoff at any
time in the season for the most part. The top 25 is just the media’s
way of pumping mediocre football teams and keep the money train going.
They have to say we have the 23rd Ranked “Jacklegs” against the 17th
ranked “Hobnobbers” live from “Who Cares University” so they can make
fan bases happy and sell television ads. Bottom line is teams outside
the top 12 most likely will not play in a BCS Bowl or even New Year’s
Day games unless they are in a weak conference with a tie-in. Those
teams are most likely to by playing on the “Smurf Turf” in Boise or many
other cities that have inconsequential bowl games are were created by
ESPN just for the revenue TV brings. It is a good thing for us gamblers
though as we have more football to watch and bet on.

Sorry for the delay for a couple of weeks. I wanted to wait a couple of
weeks longer as some teams had injury issues and suspensions and I
wanted to see how teams responded to those issues.


Let’s get into the rankings and I will explain my thought process as we go as usual.



1. Mississippi State Bulldogs (6-0) – The Bulldogs are
ranked #1 for the first time in 78 years. They deserve to be where they
are at. Dan Mullen has built a solid program in Starkville and the
Cowbell waving fanatics deserve to relish in the moment. Now the
question is can they finish the SEC gauntlet schedule to remain unbeaten
which will be tough with Arkansas, Alabama and Ole Miss still on the
Horizon with the latter two being on the road. Kentucky could catch them
in a letdown mode this Saturday as well if the Bulldogs aren’t ready as
Kentucky is a tough place to play for some reason for schools. When you
beat LSU (game was not as close as the score) in “Death Valley” and
then an Auburn team who many people said was the best team in the Nation
you deserve this perch.

2. Ole Miss Rebels (6-0) – The SEC West is setting the
tone for the rest of the nation right now. After opening the season with
a convincing win over Boise State they Rebels have kept on rolling. And
back to back wins over Alabama and Texas A&M is no easy feat. They
travel to play an underrated Tennessee team this Saturday which could
turn into a look ahead game as they have LSU in Baton Rouge on the 25th
and Auburn at home the following week. I find it hard to think they get
thru this 3 game stretch unscathed. If they do then they should have
smooth sailing with only a road game at Arkansas as their only test
before the Egg Bowl with #1 Miss State.

3. Auburn Tigers (5-1) – The Tigers are easily the #3
team in the nation based by their strength of schedule. They have
manhandled LSU and Arkansas at home and went on the road to beat a very
good Kansas State team on National TV, but this weekend will determine
how much fortitude this team has as they face South Carolina at home.
The Cocks are in a must win situation to even have a shot to play for
the SEC Championship. If Auburn has another loss they can kiss it
goodbye as well with the top two teams in the nation ahead of them.

4. Florida State Seminoles (6-0) – No way this team can
be #1 with how they have played against lesser opponents. I am not sure
they will be the best team in the ACC by the end of the season. That
could be Clemson who they barely escaped with a win against. When
Deshaun Watson gets more experience they could knock the Seminoles out
of that top spot. As long as the Seminoles have Uber eogtard Jameis
Winston under center they have a shot to win every game they play. Their
defense is what is holding them back from winning another National
Title as they just have too much inexperience. The play Notre Dame this
weekend then travel to Louisville, which boasts the #3 defense in the
nation. If they get by those guys then they have two tough ones left at
Miami and at home against the Gators.

5. Baylor Bears (6-0) – Art Briles and the Baylor Bears
just keep on scoring and keep on winning. The only quality team they
have played is TCU and pulled out a 61-58 win. They aren’t talented
enough on D to win the National Title, but can crash the first every 4
team playoff party with a little luck. They will score on anyone,
question is can they keep outscoring opponents. Their 4 game stretch to
end the season is as tough as damn near any teams in the nations with
Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Kansas State to close out the
season. If they come out of that with a 3-1 record they have as good an
argument as anyone to be one of the final 4.

6. Alabama Crimson Tide (5-1) – I had the Crimson Tide
at #3 or #4 until they struggled with Arkansas this past weekend. It was
a perfect look ahead game with A&M coming up this weekend, but a
top level SEC team shouldn’t have had to eek out a 1 point win over the
mediocre Razorbacks. Saban’s teams are due for an off year and this is
the year it may happen. You can’t keep losing players the caliber of
Alabama and stay a top 5 team. This team is young and talented and if
either of the Mississippi teams, or Auburn falter, the SEC Championship
could be Alabama’s for the taking.

7. Michigan State Spartans (5-1) – This team may be
better than the 7th team in the nation, but I just can’t get that 2nd
half implosion at Oregon out of my mind. Blowing that lead in a game
they dominated the first half and then getting ran out of the stadium in
the 2nd half can’t happen to teams that want to compete for national
championships or get in the 4 team playoff. As bad as the Big Ten is
down this year with Penn State not all the way back and Ohio State being
a shadow of themselves after losing Miller I don’t know if they will
have the Strength of Schedule to crash the playoffs. Especially not
playing Notre Dame this year.

8. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (6-0) – Notre Dame could
be better than 8th in the nation, but I can’t justify ranking them
higher than this. The schedule just will not allow this team any
justification to be ranked higher. On Paper it looked good when it was
made a decade ago, but with Purdue, Stanford, and Michigan all being not
up to standards this it brings what ND has done down a notch. This
weekend could let us know really how good they are as the play Florida
State. If they can somehow knock off the Seminoles they could run the
gauntlet with only Arizona State and USC left that should realistically
beat them.

9. Georgia Bulldogs (5-1) – When Heisman candidate Todd
Gurley was suspended late last week everyone thought UGA would go into
Mizzou with only two healthy RB’s and get beat. They started true
freshman Nick Chubb and didn’t miss a beat in 34-0 win. Chubb rushed for
143 yards and a touchdown and Hutson Mason finally showed he could
throw the ball. UGA may be a top 5 team with their talent level but you
can’t put them up there until we know how long Gurley will be out and if
Chubb can keep up his production. They go to Arkansas this coming
weekend and then travel to Jacksonville for the World’s Largest Outdoor
Cocktail Party to play the Gators on November 1. They could easily end
the season undefeated with only Auburn on the schedule left that you can
say could be better than the Bulldogs.

10. Oklahoma Sooners (5-1) – The Sooners are definitely
feeling the effects of the Big 12 being so weak from top to bottom. Bob
Stoops always loses a game he isn’t supposed to and that hasn’t
happened yet this year (barely escaped with a win over a bad Texas
team). I had TCU circled as a team that could beat them. Realistically
they should be favored in every game the rest of the season except the
Baylor game and they could be there since it is at home. The rest of the
schedule is favorable with all their tough games being played in
Norman. KState, Baylor and Okie State.

11. TCU Horned Frogs (4-1) – TCU is one of those teams
who fly under the radar damn near every year and this year is no
different. Their only loss was a 3 point heartbreaker to Baylor and they
get a chance to show just how good they are this week against Oklahoma
State at home. If they get past the pokes they realistically could end
the season with only 1 loss. As their schedule is not that tough the
rest of the way with KState is at home and WVA being down.

12. Clemson Tigers (4-2) – May catch some heat for this
one but Clemson may be the best team in the ACC right now. They finally
relented and let local hero from my town Deshaun Watson be the starting
QB and Clemson hasn’t missed a beat since doing so. Their only losses
are the UGA and Florida State. The UGA game Watson only played a handful
of snaps and had Clemson in position to win the FSU game as true
freshman down in Tallahassee. Clemson should cruise the rest of the way
with the Georgia Tech game and South Carolina game as games they could
lose but in reality they probably shouldn’t as they are more talented
than both of those teams.



Teams that just missed: Oregon (5-1), East Carolina (5-1), Kansas State (4-1)



I will be back next Monday with Week #2 as we could see a lot of
shakeups to all the rankings with some big games being played this
weekend as well.

“The Dirty Dozen” College Football Rankings — Week 1 — October 13, 2014

“The Dirty Dozen” College Football Rankings Week 2

 

By Chris Dyer (Dirty)


Sorry for the late rollout of the article this week I have been sick and had some family issues to deal with midweek and just finished those. Last week was a wild one in college football and shed some more light on who the best teams in the nation are. So let us get right into it.


1. Alabama Crimson Tide (5-0) – Sure they only played Georgia State but could have scored 100 if they wanted to. Backups came out at the half and held serve. Don’t expect much of a game in Kentucky this weekend either. UK will stay close through the first quarter then it is over.


2. Clemson Tigers (4-0) – Clemson promptly goes into Syracuse and pulls out a can of whoopass to win 49-14 and the game wasn’t that close. They play Boston College this week and expect another name your score affair even with FSU on deck.


3. LSU Tigers (5-1) – LSU moves ahead of UGA in the poll because they are healthy. They promptly go into Starkville and destroy Mississippi State turning a close game in the middle of the 3rd quarter into a 59-26 shellacking. We will find out more about how strong this team is when the Florida Gators invade “Death Valley” Saturday night.


4. Stanford Cardinal (5-0) – They held of a very good Washington team this past weekend 31-28 but showed the grit I wanted to see when they got slapped in the mouth. We will see what they are made of this week if they have a letdown traveling to Utah in a letdown situation with UCLA the following week.
5. Florida State Seminoles (5-0) – I learned a lot about this team this past weekend thrashing the 25th ranked Maryland Terrapins 63-0. This team seems to be the real deal and they have an off week before traveling to Clemson to face the #2 Tigers on October 19th.


6. Oregon Ducks (5-0) – Oregon did what you expect quality teams to do. They go into Colorado and thrash the terrible Buffalos 57-16. It is hard to deny the talent but like I said last week the tell will be told when they play in a close game against a quality opponent and that could easily be this week when they travel to play the Washington Huskies in one of the most hostile environments in college football.


7. Georgia Bulldogs (4-1) – Georgia goes into Knoxville and plays without 3 starters as well as getting 4 more hurt against one of their most hated rivalries and comes out with a 34-31 win. Aaron Murray should be considered more for the Heisman as he is carrying this team right now with two starting receivers out and his top two running backs. UGA shows grit and is still a top 10 team but how guys step up with all these injuries will be the big question. They are a gritty team that shows the fire and attitude of their QB. If they can scrape out a win against a decent Mizzou team this weekend with all those guys hurt they may have a shot.


8. Texas A&M (4-1) – They were off last week and travel to play a dangerous Ole Miss team this weekend. With their sorry ass defense anything could happen. We know they will score points but the question remains can they stop anyone? Usually when that happens all it takes is a couple of turnovers on offense to cost you a game or two.


9. Louisville Cardinals (5-0) – They played a decent Temple team on the road last week and won 30-7. This team is just not ready to compete with the upper echelon as they should have waxed Temple and put up 50+ like the top teams in these ranking would have. They play Thursday night at home against Rutgers and they better play some D or they could be trouble if Bridgewater struggles in the least.


10. Miami (Fla) Hurricanes (5-0) – Miami defeated a good Georgia Tech team 45-30 on Saturday and the game was not as close as the score. I watched it all and this is a good football team. They have an explosive offense and a good defense. They are off this week and travel to North Carolina on the 17th on Thursday night football.


11. Oklahoma Sooners (5-0) – Oklahoma beat a good TCU team at home 20-17 this past weekend. This team scares me and is a borderline top 12 team. The “Red River Rivalry” is this weekend against the Texas Longhorns and if they win this game decisively I will be sold they are better than they show.


12. Ohio State Buckeyes (6-0) – They barely hold off the Baylor Bears for the 12th spot this week. They go into Northwestern and barely escape with a win. They were up by 3 and got a pick 6 with time running out to seal this game. This team is in trouble once they play a team with a good offense. This may be the last week they are ranked in these rankings as I can’t be bought off like the media and coach’s poll voters can as they just want higher ranked teams playing each other for TV Dollars and ticket sales. They are off this week before playing Iowa at home on the 19th.


I expect lots to change over the next two weeks of this poll. Thanks guys and good luck with your wagers this weekend!!! Be back early next week with the 3rd edition.
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“The Dirty Dozen” College Football Rankings Week 2