Another huge weekend of college football saw a separation of contenders and pretenders, although there are still a few teams that could go either way in the next couple of weeks. One of the teams that most experts figured to be a lock is starting to show some faults.
After a second straight lackluster outing, is it time we start questioning the title candidacy of Georgia? Although the Bulldogs are 5-0, their recent games have been anything but dominant and their Effective Strength Rating is now almost nine points worse than Alabama’s. Again … is it time for concern or are they just bored by the mediocre competition?
We probably won’t find out the answer to that until their schedule picks up dramatically at the end of October. For now, though, let’s take a closer look at my strength indicators after what was a very influential college football weekend with eight ranked teams losing.
Power Ratings
Georgia’s near upset loss at Missouri has dropped the defending champions to No. 3 in my Power Ratings and within a TD of fourth-rated Michigan. Alabama maintains the top spot with a PR of 75.5, two points better than Ohio State. Michigan, Utah, Tennessee, Clemson and Texas are next, although we could find out a bit more about a few of those teams who face difficult Week 6 road games. Utah is at UCLA, Tennessee travels to LSU, and Texas takes on Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry game. Meanwhile, Texas survived what may wind up being its toughest test of the regular season by beating NC State last weekend. There are a few other remaining undefeated Power 5 teams that might wind up being sleeper playoff contenders by season’s end, including Ole Miss, Penn State, TCU, USC, Oklahoma State, UCLA and, gasp, Syracuse and Kansas.