Week 9 - Top 25 - No Lions, Two Tigers, No Bears...Oh My

Clemson's convincing road win at Miami FL this weekend enabled the Tigers flip back into the top spot of the My Number rankings this week AND pushed Al Golden off the hot seat and into the soup line.  

LSU slides to #2 by the thinnest of margins this week and Alabama remains a solid #3.  Alabama's schedule has been so tough to date, the mathematical probability of them falling out of my Top 4 is slim and none if they continue winning.   LSU, on the other hand, is balanced and is getting better-than-expected play from QB Brandon Harris to compliment an Eric Dickerson-like backfield weapon in Heisman favorite Leonard Fournette.  Both teams are off this weekend and on bye weeks to prepare for . . . each other.  The LSU @ Alabama game on November 7th is clearly set up as a My Numbers final four play-in game and could very well be one of the best match-ups of the season from where I'm sitting.  A heavyweight war.

Oklahoma rounds out the Top 4 this week, trailing Alabama by only a decimal point.  Interestingly enough, the My Numbers model likes the Sooners more right now than any of the three unbeaten Big 12 teams (TCU, Oklahoma State, and Baylor).  Why?  Schedule.  TCU's schedule to date has been middle-of-the-road, OK State's has been weaker than TCU's, and Baylor's has been so soft I still don't know what to make of the Bear's off-the-charts offensive efficiency rating.  To Baylor's defense, though, their upcoming Big 12 gauntlet (vs. Oklahoma, at Oklahoma State, and at TCU on consecutive November weekends) will spice up their SOS rating for sure.  QB Seth Russell's neck injury last weekend, however, was simply awful news for an exciting Baylor offense that will now turn to true freshman Jarett Stidham under center.  Damn...

	team	W	L	sos	oeff	deff	rank score
1	Clemson	7	0	27	35	6	14.0
2	LSU	7	0	31	6	29	14.3
3	Alabama	7	1	8	61	7	17.6
4	Oklahoma	6	1	26	20	13	17.7
5	Iowa	7	0	37	45	9	18.7
6	Stanford	6	1	24	17	40	20.6
7	Notre Dame	6	1	19	4	66	21.0
8	TCU	7	0	57	2	46	23.6
9	Ohio State	8	0	70	16	12	24.4
10	Utah	6	1	9	73	47	25.3
11	Florida	6	1	20	75	25	25.6
12	Mississippi	6	2	48	11	8	27.6
13	Oklahoma State	7	0	79	28	14	29.0
14	Florida State	6	1	56	23	35	29.9
15	UCLA	5	2	22	29	37	30.7
16	Mississippi State	6	2	53	14	34	33.1
17	Baylor	7	0	99	1	31	33.3
18	Texas A&M	5	2	11	58	50	33.6
19	California	5	2	15	27	74	33.7
20	BYU	6	2	38	32	51	33.9
	USC	4	3	10	7	60	33.9
22	Pittsburgh	6	1	42	72	45	34.3
	Michigan State	8	0	63	49	62	34.3
24	Georgia	5	2	54	15	21	35.6
25	Northwestern	6	2	18	123	17	36.3