Power Rankings 9/21/21

Welcome Back!

We had quite a bit of movement this week, but a lot of it was teams just swapping spots. There is still less movement than expected, I think because so much is still weighted toward my preseason rankings. 

Again, I use a points based system, and my preseason points ranged from a low of 69.3 points to a high of 1123.54 points, so you can see that there is a lot of room to fit 130 teams in.  As I have pointed out previously, when we get into October, I will begin to drop off my preseason factors one by one over a period of several weeks, and so we will get a truer read on how teams are doing this season, and not have so much weight on preseason expectations. 

USC dropped 10 spots, even though they won convincingly, because with the firing of Clay Helton, I dropped their coach bonus. New coaches don't have a record, and therefore don't get a bonus, and despite his struggles, Helton had a pretty decent record. You may also wonder why a team like Nevada would only drop 1 spot, when they lost by 21 to a team ranked 20+ spots below them.  This is because 6 of the 9 teams ranked directly below them also lost, and the ones that won either beat an FCS team, or were too far away in points to pass them. This happened in a few other places, where 6 or 8 teams in a row either won or lost, and so could not take advantage of what happened around them.

The teams that moved the most were:

Michigan +4 to #20

USC -10 to #29

Pittsburgh -5 to #48

Kansas State +4 to #58

Fresno State +4 to #62

Louisville +4 to #64

Marshall -6 to #69

San Jose State +4 to #83

Utah State +4 to #85

Arkansas State -5 to #87

Colorado State +4 to #110

Arizona -4 to #112

The top 8 remained the same, and 14 of the top 16. The bottom 4 were also unchanged. 53 teams didn't move, 40 moved 1 spot, 17 moved 2, 8 moved 3, 8 moved 4, 2 moved 5, and 1 each moved 6 and 10.

This week, I also list the previous rank, for your convenience!

Here are the new rankings:

Rank	Team	Previous
1	Alabama	1
2	Clemson	2
3	Oklahoma	3
4	Ohio State	4
5	Georgia	5
6	Notre Dame	6
7	Texas A&M	7
8	LSU	8
9	Cincinnati	10
10	Oregon	9
11	Penn State	11
12	Iowa	12
13	Florida	13
14	Wisconsin	14
15	Iowa State	15
16	Washington	16
17	Oklahoma State	18
18	UCF	17
19	Auburn	21
20	Michigan	24
21	Utah	20
22	Appalachian State	23
23	Miami, Fl	22
24	Texas	26
25	TCU	25
26	Louisiana	27
27	North Carolina	29
28	Boise State	28
29	USC	19
30	Arizona State	30
31	BYU	31
32	Stanford	32
33	NC State	33
34	Minnesota	34
35	Memphis	36
36	Indiana	35
37	West Virginia	39
38	Nevada	37
39	Virginia Tech	38
40	Kentucky	41
41	Liberty	42
42	Ole Miss	45
43	FSU	40
44	Mississippi State	44
45	UAB	48
46	Coastal Carolina	47
47	San Diego State	49
48	Pittsburgh	43
49	Northwestern	46
50	SMU	50
51	Wake Forest	53
52	Missouri	51
53	Boston College	54
54	Kansas State	58
55	Toledo	52
56	Virginia	55
57	Washington State	57
58	UCLA	56
59	Army	60
60	Baylor	61
61	Air Force	59
62	Fresno State	66
63	La Tech	62
64	Louisville	68
65	Houston	65
66	Colorado	64
67	California	67
68	Tennessee	69
69	Marshall	63
70	Michigan State	71
71	Nebraska	70
72	Western Michigan	72
73	Wyoming	74
74	FAU	73
75	Texas Tech	76
76	Tulane	75
77	Hawai'i	78
78	Georgia Southern	77
79	Purdue	80
80	Ball State	79
81	Buffalo	81
82	Navy	83
83	San Jose State	87
84	Troy	84
85	Utah State	89
86	Arkansas	88
87	Arkansas State	82
88	Tulsa	85
89	Ohio	86
90	WKU	90
91	UTSA	91
92	Duke	93
93	Miami, Oh	94
94	Temple	92
95	Georgia Tech	95
96	Syracuse	96
97	Maryland	97
98	Rutgers	98
99	South Carolina	99
100	Central Michigan	100
101	Illinois	101
102	Middle Tenn	102
703	Georgia State	105
104	Oregon State	104
105	North Texas	103
106	East Carolina	109
107	FIU	106
108	Eastern Michigan	110
109	Southern Miss	107
110	Colorado State	114
111	Kent State	111
112	Arizona	108
113	USF	113
114	Northern Illinois	112
115	Charlotte	115
116	New Mexico	116
117	Vanderbilt	117
118	ULM	118
119	Rice	119
120	South Alabama	120
121	Kansas	121
122	Old Dominion	123
123	UTEP	124
124	Texas State	122
125	Bowling Green	126
126	UNLV	125
127	Akron	127
128	New Mexico State	128
129	UMass	129
130	UConn	130

 

Come back tomorrow for my Odds and Ends, and check out my TWIF Notes from yesterday. Follow me on Twitter (@pbanderson)

Until next time, may you and your loved ones be blessed!