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Each Saturday night throughout the season, I’ll rank the 10 best teams in the country. The order will fluctuate week to week based on new results, player availability and whatever else impacts this chaotic sport. This is obviously a subjective process, and I look forward to the arguments, especially when we have such few data points early in the year. The final spot each week will go to a team that may not actually be the 10th best team in the country but still deserves a little shine.
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The Seminoles get an idle week to bask in their overtime win over Clemson and rest up ahead of a three-game homestand, including two sneakily challenging matchups in Syracuse and Duke, both of which just took their first losses of the season in Week 5. The open date came at a good time for quarterback Jordan Travis, who has played through pain the past two games. Here’s hoping he heals up quickly.
It’s probably for the best that the Huskies’ trip to Arizona was relatively hard to find for many viewers, kicking off late on Pac-12 Network. Washington wasn’t quite as efficient or prolific in Tucson as it had been to start the season, as Michael Penix Jr. threw for 363 yards but zero touchdowns in a 31-24 win. The game stayed uncomfortably close late, with the Wildcats pulling within seven with 68 seconds to play. Ultimately, the Huskies left with a win, but there are reasons to be concerned about a defense that ranks in the bottom half of the Pac-12 and looks the part. We’ll see how much of a problem that unit is in two weeks when the Huskies host Oregon.
GO DEEPER
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The Buckeyes were idle this week, unless you count head coach Ryan Day’s ongoing feud with 86-year-old Lou Holtz. (Which I do!) Last weekend’s last-second win at Notre Dame was important both for the players who made it happen — quarterback Kyle McCord grew up in front of our eyes — and for the outside perceptions of this team. It gave me more confidence in this offense against good opponents.
Speaking of quality teams … next week’s opponent Maryland looks pretty damn good! The 5-0 Terps’ offense is a known threat with Taulia Tagovailoa and all his weapons, but the defense has also improved significantly, particularly on the back end. That sets up a clash of Big Ten unbeatens that should be quite compelling. Maryland has never beaten the Buckeyes in eight meetings.
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Finally! Against Nebraska, Michigan looked like Michigan is supposed to look. The pieces that make up a very good football team have been there all along, but the Wolverines have been winning rather ugly, with sluggish starts and underwhelming passing performances.
In Lincoln, Michigan cruised to a 45-7 win over a Nebraska defense that hadn’t given up more than 60 rushing yards in a game this season. The Wolverines won with a balanced attack: 249 yards on the ground and 187 in the air. Quarterback J.J. McCarthy threw a couple of really nice passes, including two touchdowns to Roman Wilson, his favorite target. This was simply a dominant win, secured in exactly the way Michigan wanted.
It’s hard to write the defending champions’ performances off as slow starts when the Bulldogs seem to be establishing a fairly clear pattern. This is how they start. This is how they come back. And this is how they eke out wins that are closer than they should be. Georgia is lucky to have tight end Brock Bowers, an otherworldly talent whose connection with quarterback Carson Beck saved the day, capped off by a 40-yard touchdown that secured a 27-20 win at Auburn. Kirby Smart knows his team needs to play better, and so do I. I’ll keep dropping the Dawgs a bit each week if they continue to underwhelm.
GO DEEPER
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6. Oregon (5-0)
The Ducks may very well end up being the best team in the loaded Pac-12, and they’ll have a chance to prove that in two weeks when they travel to face Washington. I believe that game’s winner should be the favorite to win the conference, and I’m aware that the team in Los Angeles with the reigning Heisman Trophy winner is not participating. USC’s offense is national championship-caliber, but that defense is going to keep the Trojans from actually playing for one.
Back to Oregon, though. The Ducks were less, uh, emotional and slightly less explosive than they were in last week’s thrashing of Colorado, but they still handled their business in a 42-6 win at Stanford, thanks to a crisp passing day from Bo Nix and a productive rushing attack.
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The Longhorns messed around and let Kansas stay close for a while, even though the Jayhawks were playing without starting quarterback Jalon Daniels. Texas struggled to finish drives in the first half but got rolling after the break to close out with a lopsided 40-14 win. Running back Jonathon Brooks posted a career-high 217 yards with two touchdowns, and he’s capable of providing a spark at any given moment. Now it’s on to a clash of unbeatens in the Red River Rivalry next week, and boy, does that look like it’s going to be a monster of a matchup.
GO DEEPER
Undefeated Texas isn't perfect, and that's just fine for now
8. Notre Dame (5-1)
What. A. Final. Drive. Sam Hartman scrambling to convert on fourth-and-16. Audric Estime breaking through the crowd and dashing to the end zone. Plays like those are the ones that show you everything you need to know about the character of a team. Staring down the prospect of back-to-back losses, the Irish responded. They fought. They kept their season alive and crushed so many of Duke’s big football dreams. There are plenty of things that Notre Dame did not do well and questions this team needs to answer with Louisville and then USC looming. But for now, the Irish can celebrate, exhale and thank their lucky stars they got Hartman out of the portal.
The Nittany Lions looked clunkier than usual against Northwestern, turning in their worst half of football of the season so far this season in Evanston. In the first half, Penn State fumbled the opening kickoff, allowed a third-and-16 conversion, and missed a number of tackles; Drew Allar completed just 50 percent of his passes and struggled with pressure. The Nittany Lions responded well after the break and pulled away for a 41-13 win, though they fell short of the all-phases dominance they showed a week ago against Iowa.
Of course, Penn State doesn’t measure itself against Iowa and Northwestern. It’s all going to come down to the two games against Ohio State and Michigan. And the first of those games is now just three weeks away. The Nittany Lions need to get back to firing on all cylinders by the time they head to Columbus on Oct. 21.
10. Kentucky (5-0)
Ray Davis had a day. The transfer running back (previously of Temple and Vanderbilt) posted a career-high 280 rushing yards and four touchdowns against a Florida defense that had previously been allowing just 82.3 rushing yards per game. Kentucky’s offense did pretty much whatever it wanted to do against what had been one of the SEC’s best defenses. The SEC has certainly underwhelmed this season — the middle of the league seems to be down — but Mark Stoops’ team has been a bright spot. The unbeaten Wildcats are perhaps the second-best team in the SEC East. Between Kentucky’s big win and yet another sluggish Georgia performance, next weekend’s game in Athens is suddenly quite intriguing.
(Photo: Steven Branscombe / Getty Images)
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