Only one undefeated team, Washington, lost this weekend, but no championship heavyweights lost. However, the struggles Ohio State, Stanford and Georgia had in week 6 mean that the first release of the BCS Standings will be affected by these close calls, while Alabama, Oregon and Clemson continued to cruise, leading a group of 17 undefeated teams.
But unlike Georgia, who played against unranked Tennessee, or Stanford, who had their showdown with Washington at home, Ohio State played a very tough, turnover-filled conference game in Evanston against #16 Northwestern, and still came up with the goods and the 40-30 win thanks to some strong special teams play and a huge, 168 yards performance from Carlos Hyde, making up for all the mistakes Braxton Miller was forced into.
So while Ohio State keep their title hopes alive by getting through what should have been their toughest conference game of the season, Georgia added more injured players to the mix while overcoming Tennessee, on the road, with a 34-31 win. With no Todd Gurley (For the entire game) or Keith Marshall who was out very early, Aaron Murray produced another big performance with three touchdown passes, including two in the fourth quarter. It might really hurt Georgia in the polls, but they remain above the field in the SEC East.
Stanford did keep up with Oregon, getting first crack at the Huskies from the two Pac-12 powerhouses, beating them 31-28 thanks to one controversial call overruling Kevin Smith’s reception that finally gave the Cardinal the game. It was proof that there are some flaws to the Stanford defense, but it also showed just how strong this team is when it comes to running the ball and forcing its will, even on talented teams.
It’ll be interesting to see how the computers treat Louisville, who are probably going to be dropped from 7th to 8th after Florida State beat Maryland, a ranked team, 63-0. It might not mean much about the Seminoles, especially due to margin not being a factor of the computers calculations, but Louisville have had an insanely easy schedule, and unless at least two-three teams or even more above them start losing, a perfect season in the AAC won’t be enough to be counted in the title game.
Another undefeated team that’s ranked below teams with a loss is Oklahoma at 5-0 after beating TCU 20-17. The Sooners haven’t faced Texas or Oklahoma State yet, but their wins over Notre Dame and the Horned Frogs will mean there’s a good shot they’ll be going into the top 10, considering how weak Texas A&M’s schedule has been excluding the loss to Alabama.
The least mentioned of the undefeated teams, Missouri, got their first SEC win of the season over Vanderbilt. Their CV, including wins over Murray State, Toledo, Indiana, Arkansas State and Vanderbilt, isn’t very impressive, but n undefeated SEC team should be ranked at this point, even if the voters aren’t too fond of the Tigers.