muy_thaiguy wrote: And yet, Auburn jumped out from almost nowhere just a couple of weeks ago and jumped every team in front of them to be #1?
By jumped from out of nowhere, I presume you mean, "Beat two #12 teams and a #6 ranked team over a 5 week period, including rushing for over 500 yards against one of the top rushing defenses in the country." I think that tops a #24 and a #5 separated by 9 weeks. I'd also point out that the only thing that kept the Auburn-LSU game from being a blowout for Auburn was LSU's punter pinning Auburn inside the 10-yard line on most of their drives.
Now, those were the rankings of those teams at the time the games were played. I'd agree that it would be fair to consider the opponents entire seasons rather than the ranking at the time the games were played. Though, in that case, BSU no longer has any wins against opponents ranked in the top 20. Also, my guess is that Utah ends up ranked around #10 this week, and LSU jumps back to about #6. So Auburn's signature win looks better from that end as well.
Plus, look at remaining schedules (assuming both teams win out): Next week Auburn plays Georgia and TCU plays San Diego State. It's possible SDS will be ~ #25 after this week's rankings, though in all metrics other than current W-L record, Georgia is similar to SDS. Advantage: Slight TCU. The last week of the season Auburn plays Alabama and TCU plays New Mexico. Assuming Alabama beats Mississippi State next week, they'll probably climb back to ~ #10 or #8. NM finally this week got their first win of the season and ranks among the worst in the country in all metrics. Advantage: Strong Auburn.
I'm not claiming TCU, BSU. or Utah are bad teams. I think they could all match up well against Auburn or Oregon. My complaint is the sense of entitlement without actually earning a spot. Winning a single signature victory against a highly ranked opponents with a full month to prepare is a lot easier than beating 4+ highly ranked opponents with only 1-2 weeks to prepare for each.
