The Mission Top 10, Week IX

After a couple of nice political posts, I now return you to our regular programming. Nothing serious as I am currently enjoying a little vacation time in Maui. So here are your rankings for week IX of the college football season. 1. Ohio St. (8-0) – Beat Indiana 44-3. The Buckeyes are three games away from the showdown with Michigan, and it is a formality that they will enter undefeated. Their remaining opponents are Minnesota (2-6), Northwestern (2-6), and Illinois (2-6). This week: Minnesota (2-6). 2. Michigan (8-0) – Beat Iowa 20-6. Michigan passed their last real test before Ohio St. last week against Iowa. The remaining schedule for the Wolverines before Ohio St. is Northwestern (2-6), Ball St. (2-6), and Indiana (4-4). This week: Northwestern (2-6) 3. USC (6-0) – Bye week. The Trojans need to come out firing after the bye week. Everyone should be healthy and ready to play. Oregon St. this week and Stanford next week are the appetizer before the finishing kick against Oregon, Cal, Notre Dame, and UCLA. This week: at Oregon St. (4-3) 4. West Virginia (7-0) – Beat Connecticut 37-11. The Mountaineers weren’t great early in very cold weather at Connecticut, but a 26 point win shows dominance. West Virginia will be tough to stop next week. This week: Bye week, Louisville next week. 5. Louisville (7-0) – Beat Syracuse 28-13. Another week, another lackluster performance by Louisville. It says something about the talent the Cardinals have that they won against Syracuse and Cincinnati. Past Louisville teams would have folded under the adversity of close games against overmatched opponents. This week: Bye week, West Virginia next week. 6. Clemson (7-1) – Beat Georgia Tech 31-7. The Tigers killed Georgia Tech in one of the most impressive big game performances of the season. James Davis is a great running back and C.J. Spiller might be the fastest player in college football. The scary thing for future Clemson opponents, is that Davis is a sophomore and Spiller a freshman. This week: at Virginia Tech (5-2), Thursday. 7. Tennessee (7-1) – Beat Alabama 16-13. The Vols struggled all game long, but finally pulled out the win with a clutch second half from quarterback Erik Ainge. Play like that again though, and Spurrier will have another win over Phil Fulmer. This week: at South Carolina (5-2). 8. Arkansas (6-1) – Beat Ole Miss 38-3. Arkansas is hitting on all cylinders right now. They are running with authority and passing with confidence. This week is another scrimmage before we see if they really are worthy of being ranked this high. This week: Louisiana-Monroe (1-6). 9. Auburn (7-1) – Beat Tulane 38-13. The Tulane game came at a perfect time for the Tigers as Kenny Irons got to rest his injuries for a game and freshman running back Ben Tate got some time (156 yards). The next two weeks should be more of the same before Auburn gets going again. This week: at Mississippi (2-6). 10. Florida (6-1) – Bye week. The Gators used the bye week to put more plays in for Tim Tebow. That is bad news for reeling Georgia considering Tebow only got four snaps in the loss at Auburn. This week: Georgia (6-2, how did that happen? This team stinks). On the cusp: Texas (7-1), Wisconsin (7-1), Cal (7-1), Notre Dame (6-1), Boston College (6-1)