2021 Couch Power 10, Week 4

How do I know college football is the best sport in America? Because I can spend money to fly down to Atlanta on a whim just to go to a college football game with my family, have a miserable time at said game, and still manage to lift my spirits by catching up on the goings-on of college football results elsewhere in the country. No other sport can do that for me. College football giveth, and it taketh away.

Last week, six more ranked teams lost, and four of them to unranked teams. Perhaps the biggest stunner of them all was Clemson falling in Raleigh to North Carolina State, dropping the Tigers to 2-2, and putting their six-year playoff streak on life support. That brings our grand total to 23 ranked-team losses on the season, and we're not even to Week 5 yet! We came oh-so-close to even greater pandemonium, too; West Virginia, Nebraska, and Georgia Southern were mere minutes from ultimate shockers against Oklahoma, Michigan State, and Auburn respectively.

Just a refresher: this is not a definitive ranking on how good the teams are, or on who I think will be/deserves to be in the playoff at the end of the year. Rather, it's more of a "What if preseason rankings and bigwig bias didn't predetermine the top teams" kind of thing, an ideal ranking of the country's teams based on what they've actually proved on the field to date:

1. Georgia

Welcome to the #1 spot, Georgia. I recognize the irony in not granting this slot to the Bulldogs after their season-opening win over #2 Clemson, and instead doing it after they beat up on the two worst teams in the SEC and Clemson loses for the second time already. But one thing is already clear in this wild season, "good" or even "great" wins will probably be fleeting. What is more likely to age well is the fact that the Dawgs followed up their defensive masterclass in a hostile environment against Clemson with dominance on both sides of the ball against their next three opponents, winning by an average score of 53-7. Yes, you read that right.

2. Alabama

Alabama bounced back from their one week of looking human against Florida with a 63-14 blowout win. Beating up on Southern Miss won't really move the needle, but looking like their old selves again will, and it comes right in time as Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss pay a visit this weekend.

3. Oregon

Oregon opened their Pac-12 slate by reaffirming they are the toast of their conference, demolishing lowly Arizona. Again, like the two teams ranked ahead of them, it's not the win over this particular team that will garner attention, but they're doing what great teams should do: beat good teams (Ohio State and Fresno State) in competitive games, demolish overmatched teams.

4. Arkansas

Skeptics could probably explain away Arkansas' big win over Texas in Week 2 by complaining that the Longhorns are 'always overrated,' are 'breaking in a new coach,' are 'young,' etc. That skepticism about Arkansas' quality is a little harder to support after this weekend. Not only did that same Texas team annihilate a previously unbeaten Texas Tech team, the Razorbacks themselves went into Arlington and beat a Top 10 Texas A&M team that returned most of the key parts from their 11-win, Orange Bowl champion team in 2020. In terms of resume, it's not hard to argue Arkansas has been the most impressive team in the country to date, but the thing holding them back for me is that they're yet to play a road game. The good news is they very quickly have more chances to prove themselves: road games at Georgia and Ole Miss come next, followed by a visit from Auburn.

5. Penn State

Penn State did a good job avoiding a letdown from their 2nd big win of the season by holding off pesky Villanova, one of the better FCS schools in the country. That said, last week's #1 team saw its seemingly impressive resume take a serious shot, with Wisconsin getting demolished by Notre Dame and Auburn needing a late winner (and home-cooking from the officials) to hold off Georgia State. The good news for the Nittany Lions is if they can avoid a repeat of Indiana's 2020 upset next week, two weeks from now they'll have another primetime showdown in a Big Ten blockbuster against...

6. Iowa

...Iowa! Yes, the Hawkeyes, who like Penn State fell 4 spots in our ranking this week, have a pretty similar story. Holding off an upset bid from Colorado State and staying perfect was all good, but their quality wins aren't quite as quality anymore, thanks to both Indiana and Iowa State falling out of the rankings. They will need to survive a tricky road game at Maryland this weekend, and if they do that, it will very nicely set up a high-stakes, all-eyes-on-us visit from Penn State in Iowa City.

7. Oklahoma State

A hearty welcome to The Couch's Power 10 to the Fightin' Gundys! In a week that saw the 14-year anniversary of their coach's famous "I'm a man! I'm 40!" rant, Oklahoma State celebrated the occasion by upsetting Top 25 Kansas State and improving to 4-0 on the season. That unbeaten season so far is sneakily impressive, as the K-St win immediately followed wins on the road at Boise State and at home over the same Tulsa team that pushed Ohio State to the limit.

8. Cincinnati

Cincinnati got a bye week after their road win over Indiana. Good thing, too; they'll need that extra time to prepare for their next opponents...

9. Notre Dame

Up until last weekend, the Fighting Irish weren't exactly doing anything to quiet the perennial cries of "overrated!!!" from the large crowd of Notre Dame haters. They were 3-0, yes, but only on the back of three very late wins against three very mediocre teams in Florida State, Toledo and Purdue. However, in Soldier Field on Saturday, with College GameDay in town, the Irish whipped up on Wisconsin, blasting away with 31 points in the 4th quarter to put the Top 20 showdown out of reach. It certainly adds some legitimacy to their resumé for the first time this season, but Notre Dame will have to get better quickly, as #6 Cincinnati comes calling this Saturday.

10. Michigan

For the first time this season, Michigan was really pushed, holding off Rutgers 20-13. Lest you think that's reason to drop the Wolverines, though, the fact they got a test from a solid opponent (don't laugh...Rutgers is probably a bowl team this year) for the first time all year and responded well impresses me. They have a tricky matchup at rivals Wisconsin this weekend, but if they can pull off the W there, there's no reason they shouldn't be 7-0 headed into a huge game against Michigan State.

Just missed: Michigan State, BYU, Ole Miss, Baylor, Wake Forest, future Mackey Award winner Kamari Morales