TEXAS, Sporting Alert – Baylor is the team No. 1 in the ESPN NCAA College Football Power Rankings, according to the latest release over the weekend.
The Bears, who many also think should be No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll, replaced Utah at the top, following another impressive performance in Week 7.
In Waco, Texas, on Saturday, Seth Russell threw five touchdown passes and ran for another score to lead Baylor to a one-sided 62-38 victory over West Virginia.
Russell, who went 20 of 33 on passes for 380 yards, also rushed for another 160 yards for the Bears, while Corey Coleman caught 10 passes for 199 yards and three touchdowns to break the single-season school record in the win.
On the back of that performance, which saw them beating a team they usually struggle against – leading the nation in points per game and claiming its 19th consecutive home game, there is no doubt Baylor deserves to be the top team in the latest NCAA College Football Power Rankings.
Art Briles’ side collected 300 points in this week’s power rankings.
Meanwhile, also up one place in this week’s release is defending national champion Ohio State, which despite not playing its best football at the moment, remains No. 1 in the AP top 25 poll.
The Buckeyes remain undefeated this term and head coach Urban Meyer has found a way to fit in all three of his quarterbacks week-in-and-week-out.
It is understood though that Meyer has decided that J.T. Barrett, who was very impressive as the “finisher” against Penn State, will be the starting quarterback against Rutgers this coming weekend.
Let’s see if this is indeed true, and if so, how well will Barrett play.
It will also be interesting to see what role Jones plays, if he doesn’t start this game.
The Utes have slipped two places in this week’s rankings to No. 3, the same position they hold in the AP top 25 poll.
They will face USC this weekend and the result from this game could decide where they will be ranked next week.
Rounding out the top 10 teams in the ESPN NCAA College Football Power Rankings are, LSU, who is up two spots to No. 4, Clemson at No. 5, with TCU, Alabama, Michigan State, Florida State and Stanford at 6 through 10.
Memphis, which stunned Ole Miss in the last outing was the biggest jumper – up nine-places to No. 17, while Northwestern makes the biggest drop – going down 14 places and out of the rankings.
Ole Miss dropped 11 places to No. 24, while Michigan, on the back of that unfortunate late defeat to Michigan State dipped nine spots to No. 18.
This week’s ESPN NCAA College Football Power Rankings welcome a new team, Pittsburgh (5-1), which was rewarded for a third successive win in the Coastal after edging Georgia Tech 31-28.
The Panthers’ only loss of the season came against Iowa, a team that is playing impressive ball at the moment.
NCAA College Football Power Rankings
RK TEAM REC PTS TREND – Via ESPN.com
1 Baylor 6-0 300 1
2 Ohio State 7-0 296 1
3 Utah 6-0 295 2
4 LSU 6-0 292 2
5 Clemson 6-0 277 2
6 TCU 7-0 258 1
7 Alabama 6-1 249 3
8 Michigan State 7-0 242 3
9 Florida State 6-0 217 3
10 Stanford 5-1 207 5
11 Florida 6-1 193 5
12 Notre Dame 6-1 190 2
13 Iowa 7-0 163 5
14 Oklahoma State 6-0 159 2
15 Oklahoma 5-1 132 5
16 Texas A&M 5-1 123 8
17 Memphis 6-0 122 11
18 Michigan 5-2 115 9
19 Houston 6-0 85 5
20 California 5-1 77 2
21 Temple 6-0 54 2
22 Toledo 6-0 53 3
23 Duke 5-1 46 3
24 Ole Miss 5-2 24 11
25 Pittsburgh 5-1 17 —
Others receiving votes: Georgia (7), Mississippi State (7), Navy (6), BYU (5), UCLA (5), North Carolina (4), Wisconsin (3), Northwestern (2)
