Chris ‘The Bear’ Fallica’s Top 10 College Football Rankings: Week 9 Edition

This past weekend was absolute chaos.

Four AP top 10 teams lost, which marked the second time this season that four top 10 teams have lost in the same week. 

The last year that there were two instances of four or more AP top 10 teams losing in the same week within the first eight weeks of the season was 2007— a whopping 18 years ago. 

With that in mind, here’s my top 10 entering Week 9.

It may have well been a 7-on-7 passing scrimmage in Madison on Saturday. Julian Sayin continues to grow and the defense continues to dominate, although it will be interesting to see them against better offenses in the CFP. With five games left, they face four teams that have a losing record until the showdown with Indiana in the Big Ten title game.

The Hoosiers did exactly what a team should do against an overmatched opponent. But still, there could have been a big letdown off the win at Oregon and there wasn’t. In the same vein as Ohio State, Curt Cignetti’s team has five games remaining— with all of them against teams with losing records, until the showdown against Ohio State. 

Seriously, how do they continue to step up week after week? The Tide have four straight weeks with a win over a ranked foe. There’s probably not many teams that would run through that stretch 4-0. The interception right before the half was the biggest play of the game, emphasizing how Bama looks more and more complete every week. Are we still looking to win the lottery to buy out Kalen DeBoer? Yeah, that’s what I thought. 

History suggested the Aggies wouldn’t have an easy go of it against the Razorbacks, and they didn’t. Vandy and Ole Miss had a good bit of success against the LSU defense, but that was at home— not in Tiger Stadium. It’s always dangerous to suggest a team will walk out of LSU with a win, but the trajectory of these teams right now couldn’t be more opposite. Should be a fun one between the Aggies and Tigers. 

Georgia has followed the script we’ve seen all season. Fall behind, fail to get a stop and then voila— put together a dominant fourth quarter to hand Ole Miss its first loss. Losing Colbie Young long-term could be a problem, but it wasn’t on Saturday. An off-week couldnt come at a better time before taking on interim coach-led Florida in Jacksonville. It would not surprise me at all to see Gunner Stockton in New York on the second Saturday in December, and this team playing on January 19th. 

Cross-country post loss hangover was non-existent for the Ducks, handing Rutgers a 56-10 thrashing. Dan Lanning’s bunch has a real chance to hand Wisconsin its third straight shutout loss this week. The Badgers have been outscored 71-0 in the last two weeks, and Oregon ranks second in the country in scoring at 44.1 points per game. 

I really wasn’t sure where I would rank Miami this week off the loss, but it’s still hard to ignore what the Canes did prior to the Jeff Brohm masterclass on Friday night. Miami couldn’t run, Carson Beck threw four interceptions and the late-game drive to win or tie seemed to lack a bit of urgency. Are these long-term concerns or a one-off? We’ll see as the schedule gives the Canes a good bounce-back opportunity this week against Stanford. Oddly, Miami’s loss could be good for the ACC as it means the Canes may not make it to Charlotte, but would be a CFP team, allowing for the ACC to send two teams to the big dance.  

If we’re doing a national champion draft, how many teams are you taking before taking Notre Dame? Price and Love are going to be a problem, and CJ Carr survived the inevitable “off” game. The Irish are now rightly a significant favorite to win out and make the CFP. I don’t care about the two losses, as they are better than everyone below them— and I’d like their chances vs. many of the teams above them too. 

Trinidad Chambliss owned the Georgia defense for three quarters but the Rebs couldn’t seal the deal. It’s pretty concerning Ole Miss couldn’t get a stop, but that offense is scary good. Play like that and there aren’t many, if any defenses, (including Oklahoma) who will stop them. I saw Ole Miss was -110 to make the CFP which seems like a really good bet. Even if they lose in Norman, the Rebels have home games with South Carolina and Florida before the Egg Bowl in Starkville. Seems like 10-2 is quite attainable and that would put Ole Miss in.

It’s the final weekend of October and we’re talking about Vandy as a top ten team, possibly making the CFP and Diego Pavia as a Heisman candidate. Incredible, and all deserved. The Commodores are legit good. Vandy had its way with the LSU defense and if you look at the schedule, why can’t the Commodores beat Missouri, win at Texas and Tennessee to finish 11-1? All this Clark Lea talk about going elsewhere? I’m not sure he’s going anywhere. Oh, and congrats to my BNK colleague Dave Portnoy for cashing his biggest bet of the year with Vandy on Saturday! 

Chris “The Bear” Fallica has covered sports for nearly three decades. While college football has been his focus, he also enjoys the NFL, Soccer, Golf, Tennis, MLB, NHL and Horse Racing, with an “occasional” wager on such events. Chris recently won the inaugural Circa Football Invitational and finished in the Top 10 of the Golden Nugget Football Contest. He’s a multiple-time qualifier for the NHC Handicapping Championship. Remember, “The less you bet, the more you lose when you win!” Follow him on Twitter @chrisfallica.

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