The Couch Power 10, Week 7

Ohhhh yes, college football fans. Ohhhh yes. It is officially spooky season, no doubt about it. Just seven days ago I talked about how Week 6 was the week of "almost, but not quite." We the neutral college football viewers had been treated to many a thrilling game, but with the promise of so many upsets that, for the most part, did not come to fruition.

Well, what a difference a week makes. I don't know if it's just the welcome return of the crisp air talking, or the general glow-up from 2020 to 2022, or the copious amount of beer I consumed last weekend, but Week 7 was, for my money, one of the best weeks of college football in recent memory. With seven different matchups pitting ranked teams against each other, expectations were high for the slate of games, and brother, they did not disappoint. If you're reading this piece, you likely watched, or at least comprehensively read up on, Tennessee and Alabama's showdown in Rocky Top. There's not a superlative I can add to what others have already said about the game, but the thriller in Knoxviller, which saw Tennessee win a shootout on a last-second FG, was unequivocally the game of the season thus far. That being said....had it NOT been for that matchup understandably drawing much of the attention, there would have been numerous other candidates for game of the year from last Saturday alone. At the same time Hendon Hooker was leading the Vols to their stunning victory, TCU was engineering an epic comeback, double overtime victory over Oklahoma State in a clash of undefeated Big 12 foes. Texas was holding off a staunch Iowa State upset bid. Syracuse's perfect season remained intact in an ultra-defensive showdown with fellow Top 15, ACC Atlantic team North Carolina State. Later in the night, #4 Clemson would come storming back in a down-to-the-wire contest in Tallahassee to beat rivals Florida State, two previously undefeated teams would take their first L of the year falling to unranked opponents, Utah would end USC's perfect season with an insane late rally that involved a ballsy 2-point conversion call, and in the game at the forefront of everyone's mind, Freshman sensation Drake Maye and North Carolina wrestled a victory from the jaws of defeat against rivals Duke, marching the field in 90 seconds to deliver a last-second winning touchdown.

College football, ladies and gentlemen.

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. Tennessee

I understand that the outsized influence of preseason rankings is very much a thing. And I get that Tennessee being the best team in the country feels like cognitive dissonance. But I remain completely befuddled how this team isn't ranked #1 in the country. They're 6-0, four of the six wins have come against ranked teams, the other two came by an average of 53 points, and now their latest win is the single-best of any team's in the country. Sounds like a frontrunner to me!

2. TCU

It's not quite as egregious, but I'm also not sure how TCU is only ranked #8, "good" enough for the 2nd-lowest of all undefeated teams. Unimpressed by the fact that they dominated Oklahoma a couple weeks back? Well, they followed that up with a road win against a ranked, undefeated Kansas team. Unimpressed by that because Kansas lost the very next week? Well, the team Kansas lost to was the same Oklahoma one TCU annihilated. Unimpressed by the fact that TCU had to rally from a large deficit at home to win last weekend? Well, the fact of the matter is that they DID rally from that deficit, and did so against a Top 10, unbeaten Oklahoma State team. TCU may not actually be the 2nd-best team in the country, but they have the best resumé to date of anyone not named Tennessee.

3. Clemson

Clemson drew my ire last week for still not putting together a complete game, and although that trend continued last week against Florida State, the Tigers' dominant 2nd-half performance in a hostile environment against a team that, frankly, I thought might be good enough to beat them again demonstrated the mental toughness of this group. The ACC Atlantic is low-key one of the best divisions in the country this season, and yet Clemson is once again making it look like a cakewalk.

4. Georgia

It was just Vadnerbilt, yes, but a 55-0 win is a 55-0 win however you slice it. The defending champs had been mired in a slog for a couple weeks, but between the 2nd half against Auburn and this romp, maybe, just maybe, the Dawgs are rediscovering their form.

5. UCLA

UCLA had the week off, but boy did they time that bye right. The Bruins remained unbeaten while many of their peers fell, and one week after claiming a victory over Utah, the Utes made UCLA look even better by turning around knocking off their crosstown rivals, #7 USC.

6. Michigan

Defending Big Ten champions Michigan had won all their games before last week, but the unimpressive schedule strength and manner of winning gave me real pause for declaring them a top team once again. That changed last weekend; it remains to be seen how good Penn State actually is, but the way Michigan stifled them on defense and absolutely blew them apart with their rushing game is objectively impressive, particularly when coming on the heels of doing the same to a very good Iowa defense.

7. Ohio State

Ohio State also had a bye week to take a break from their easy schedule to get some much-needed rest before hosting...*Checks schedule*...3-3 Iowa. Look, I think Ohio State legitimately is one of the best teams in the nation (I had them in my Top 3 just last week!), and it's not their fault both Notre Dame and the Big Ten have turned out to be the equivalent of the poop emoji, but I will need to see them play a real team before I get on board.

8. Ole Miss

Ole Miss looked wobbly from start to finish against an Auburn side that's...well, not having a good time at the moment. But they got the W to stay unbeaten, and after the week that we just had, that's enough of an accomplishment to jump into the Top 10 in my book.

9. Syracuse

Look, is Syracuse the worst of the remaining unbeaten teams now? Almost surely. But stating that is burying the lede: Syracuse is unbeaten!!! A team that's gone 11-24 the last 3 seasons is 6-0, and now owns a win over a ranked team!! That's a remarkable turnaround for Dino Babers and his crew already, and if the Orange can do the unthinkable next week and walk out of Death Valley with a win, they control their own destiny not only in the ACC, but....*whispers*... the playoff??

10. Alabama

The selection of unbeaten teams being whittled down to 9 means we can finally, for the first time this season, welcome a team with a loss to the Couch Power 10. If you asked me before the season who I thought the first 'blemished' Power 10 team would be, Alabama would have been close to the bottom of my list. But, although the Tide's talent and schedule strength thus far easily makes them the cream of the 1-loss crop in my eyes, I can't say their loss last week came out of nowhere. Alabama have had flashes this season of looking like the preseason #1 team and national champion favorite they were, but in truth, have been second-best in games against the three clear best teams they've played. They were very fortunate to get out of games against Texas and Texas A&M with a W, but that luck finally ran out in Knoxville.

Just missed: Oklahoma State, Wake Forest, USC, Illinois, Penn State, DRAKE MAYE HEISMAN HYPE