Analyzing NCAA Top 25 Rankings & College Football Upsets
Explore NCAA football teams that soar or plummet in top 25 rankings. Discuss Texas A&M's roster, challenging schedules of SEC teams, and pressure games.
Video Transcript
Every year, Bill, we go through the task and we go through process of this top 25.
And it's interesting, every year in the top 10, there's teams that start in the top 10 and fall all the way out of the top 25.
And last year I remember trying to pick two teams that could potentially do it.
I wanna say I picked, Miami as one of 'em, which they were, I was woefully wrong on.
And then maybe the other one was Clemson, if they were up there.
I was right on one and completely wrong on the other.
I, I remember that because Miami went to the national championship, for heaven's sake.
So I'm like, "What, what the heck do I know about anything?"
are there any teams when you look at this that you say, "Hey, I could see them maybe winning 11, but if you told me they were gonna win six or seven, that might also be the case"?
I don't know in the top 10.
It looks pretty solid one through seven.
And don't sell yourself short, Bob.
They, Miami lost two games in the regular season, and if we weren't in a 12 team playoff, it might've been close where they were outside the top 10, remember?
Yeah.
So they needed a They were the 10 seed, right?
So they were right on the line.
If I had to, because it's a tricky science, if I had to answer that question, I'd probably go Texas A&M, which is foolish because I do like their roster around Marcel Reed.
I think he could have a really good season.
They're ranked a little bit higher than I thought they would be.
A little bit.
But- The one thing, though, about them is their schedule last year was pretty easy.
Yeah.
And it's almost more schedule now, Bill, than rosters.
And if you look, I think their last three games are pretty tough.
Tough.
And they have Texas in there.
I wanna say they have Oklahoma.
Like, there's, there's a gauntlet down, coming down the pipe for some of those teams in the SEC where either, like, they start, like, Michigan starts pretty fast with some of their games in their first five or six with, like, Oklahoma, and I think they have a USC in there, or Tennessee.
Like, they've got Or, Indiana, and then some of them they're, they're tougher on the back end.
I think A&M might have a pretty daunting finish.
Yeah, they do.
A- and then the other one, and it's, you, you, you've gotta take a s- a swing that maybe it, it doesn't look like it'll happen, and I don't really believe it will happen.
But, I mean, I would pick Indiana just because of their schedule, and they did lose a lot of teams.
And I have them number one, so you're like- "Dude, you're the biggest hipster ever."
but, like, if you're looking at what could go wrong, you know.
You could say Indiana could lose to Ohio State, and Indiana could lose, you know, maybe at the Big House, where they haven't won at Michigan since the 1960s.
Maybe they could lose that one.
May- And it, it I just trust Ohio State even though they have the schedule to, worst case scenario, Ohio State would finish, like, 10 and 2 or 9 and 3, and still b- be At 10 and 2, you're still in the top 10.
So it is a really interesting thing.
And notice I didn't pick Ole Miss, because I still think Pete Golding and Ole Miss have some things figured out.
They've got a really good backfield with Trinidad Chambliss and Keywan Lacy.
I, I, I can't make that call yet because it's almost like, can I at least see the LSU game first?
Yeah.
Can I see how they do against LSU?
Because I do think the winner of that game will, will take off like a rocket ship and, and the loser, there's gonna be a lot of emotion into that one for the winner and the loser.
Yeah, that's certainly gonna be a pressure point game for both of those programs.
Now, for a couple teams that I feel like are almost locked for the college football playoffs, I look at Texas, I look at Oregon, you look at their rosters, I feel like there's not a lot of question marks as far as guys coming back and then people that they were able to get from the transfer portal.
Who do you think has more pressure to prove this preseason poll right and then ultimately get to that national championship that both of them have really been looking for for the past three or four years?
Texas, for sure, right?
Like, I mean, there's pressure on Arch, there's pressure on Sark, there's pressure on the transfer ads they made from Cam Coleman to the running backs.
It feels like, you know what, the, the additions they made in the portal to me feel very similar to Ohio State a couple years ago in '24, where it's, it's not a ton of additions, but when you're bringing in Cam Coleman, you're, you're filling a need.
The two running backs.
You bring in Rasheem Byles on the defense, instant impact player at linebacker next to Colin Simmons.
They've got a five-star roster.
It feels like it, it's, it's a little bit of now or never, but that pressure from Sark, Arch, who knows, Bevo might be feeling some pressure this year.
I don't know.
But I do know when Ohio State comes to town, that's that heavyweight fight that if Ohio State goes down there and wins, we're all, you know what we're gonna say afterward.
I know, you guys could write it for me.
It's just gonna say Texas can't handle the big game.
Texas can't beat Ohio State.
Texas can't beat Georgia.
They're 0 and 5 against those schools the last couple seasons.
So once Texas beats an Ohio State or Georgia, and I hate to put it in that simple of terms, then maybe we'll believe
