2017 ACC Football: Coastal Division Power Rankings week 11
Another week of college football means another week of the ACC Coastal Power Rankings.
Week 11 did not disappoint. Not only did we have another undefeated team fall to the ground, but we also saw several one-loss squads fall as well as creating much chaos around the college football landscape.
These changes led to changes in my top ten as we say adieu to Washington, Notre Dame and TCU and hello to several two-loss squads that looked dead before this week.
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Let’s start with number ten where things start to get shaky within the world of college football with the first of three two-loss teams. I decided to go with USC first, who clinched the Pac-12 South this past weekend.
USC would need massive amounts of chaos to happen to make the top four, but anyone who has a chance to win their conference has an outside shot.
At No. 9 is Ohio State, who like USC, should be in their conference championship game. A lot of people left a two-loss Ohio State team for dead, but if they win out, would have to be among the top two-loss conference champions for the committee to choose from.
All of that brings us to No. 8 where UCF jumped up two spots this week. UCF continues to be the team I and the committee disagree on as the Knights were 18th last week, whereas I had them at No. 10.
But what else am I supposed to do with an undefeated squad? They would need every other Power Five team to have three losses to be top-four worthy, but they should at least get some consideration over the multitude of two-loss teams that the committee continues to rank them behind.
Coming in at seventh is the highest ranked two-loss squad on my list in Auburn. Last week I said the Tigers would be ranked tenth in the CFP rankings, and as usual I was right. With their win over Georgia, Auburn is easily the team in the best position to make the top-four with two losses.
Speaking of Georgia, the Bulldogs come in at No. 6. Auburn fans may feel that they should be ranked ahead of the team from Athens, but Georgia has one fewer loss and they are still going to play in the SEC Championship game, which definitely keeps their season alive.
That brings us to the top-five where Wisconsin jumped up three spots this week. I knew after their win over Iowa a two-spot jump was inevitable, but didn’t see the Bulldogs losing, opening the door for the three-spot bump.
I’ve been telling people all season that an undefeated Wisconsin team would make the top-four and I don’t see that changing even with the four teams in front of them.
At No. 4 is Miami, who got a huge win this week. I will get into the Hurricanes’ win later, but for now I only ranked them fourth, because I was never impressed with Notre Dame and this game did nothing to change my opinion on that.
Jumping up a spot to No.3 is Oklahoma. A week after the offensive onslaught known as Bedlam, the Sooners had no trouble with TCU, crushing the Horned Frogs 38-20. I have been a big fan of Oklahoma and they did nothing to change that Saturday.
Moving up to No. 2 is Clemson. The Tigers continue to find ways to win, even in a trap game against Florida State. Clemson has not been overly impressive the past two weeks but will be a shoe in for the top-four if they win out.
That leaves Alabama as the top team in the top ten. I know the Crimson Tide have been second in the CFP for the past two weeks, but I’ve had them first and they pulled off the win in Starksville to keep it.
With all that worked out, we move on to our conference rankings.
This week I went with Tim McGraw to lead our headings. First up is the only Coastal squad on a six game losing streak.