Real Top 25 College Football Rankings Week 4

The Real Top 25 College Football Rankings for Week 4 is here.  I don’t trust AP voters and certainly not Coaches Poll voters.  The people voting in both of those polls either don’t watch enough college football, vote against other teams on purpose due to regionalisms or simply have their respective sports information directors or other minions vote for them.

My real top 25 rankings are not necessarily based on style points.  I take into consideration previous rankings, strength of opponent, home, away or neutral site victories and heart.  You may not always agree with my rankings, however I will be as fair and impartial as possible while basing all my rankings on the previous criteria.

I will be posting my Top 25 College Football Rankings every Monday.  They will be out before noon time.

I witnessed this attempt by the Canes to play football first hand on Saturday.  Yes, I ended up at Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday afternoon for the 3:30pm kickoff.  Weather delayed the start until about 3:55.  Too bad they didn't cancel the game all together.  No excuses.  It was an absolute pathetic performance as the Canes fell at home to Middle Tennessee State 45-31.  The Blue Raiders were a 25.5 point dog.  I will have much more on this game during the Shemon and Sheppard Show this week.

One week ago, the AP Top-10 scored 521 points and defeated their opponents by 401 points, both of which are records in a single week in the Poll Era (since 1936). This Saturday was a different story as No. 6 Oklahoma and
No. 10 Arkansas both fell and several others were challenged.  Arkansas was not in my "Real Rankings" as a top 10 team, they were 13th in my poll last week.  Pete right again.

If you had Warner at +97, YOU LOST!

Stephen F. Austin destroyed Warner 98-0, matching its school record for touchdowns in a game with 13. In addition, its 98 points are the most in a game in Western Athletic Conference history.

This poll is for you, the tremendous fans of the Shemon and Sheppard Show.   I hope you enjoy it.

In a battle of basketball blue bloods, Kansas beat Duke 35-27 to improve to 4-0 for the first time since 2009. The Jayhawks snapped a streak of 12 straight seasons winning 3 or fewer games.

Welcome to the Real Top 25 Rankings Golden Gophers!  Minnesota improved to 4-0 on the season after defeating Michigan State, 34-7. Gophers RB Mohamed Ibrahim recorded his 41st career Rush TD, breaking a tie with Darrell Thompson for the most in program history.

Adam Szmyt knocked in five field goals, including the 31-yard game-winner with just over a minute left, and Syracuse held off Virginia's second-half comeback to beat the Cavaliers 22-20 on Friday night.  The Orange are now 4-0.  They will improve to 5-0 when they host Wagner on Saturday afternoon. 

The Red Raiders beat Texas in overtime, 37-34. It’s the Red Raiders’ first win over a ranked Texas team since 2008 (beat No. 1 Texas). As for the Longhorns, it’s their 5th loss since start of last season in which they led in the4th quarter, tied with Nebraska for the most blown fourth-quarter leads in FBS over that span.

Arkansas lost 23-21 to No. 23 Texas A&M after missing a go-ahead 42-yard field goal attempt with 1:30.  remaining in the 4th quarter. The Razorbacks hit the top of the right upright and missed the field goal.  Devon Achane recorded a career-high 159 rushing yards, 123 of which came before contact.

See above plus this little nugget.  Texas A&M trailed 14-0 after the 1st quarter, marking its largest comeback win vs a SEC opponent since 2017 vs Arkansas, also in Arlington, Texas.

The Cougars beat Wyoming 38-24.  BYU hosts Utah State on Thursday.

The Panthers beat a pretty good FCS team in Rhode Island, 45-24.  They will beat up on Georgia Tech when they host the Yellow Jackets on Saturday night.

The Ducks trailed by 12 points with less than 4 minutes remaining, but scored 22 points from that point on to beat Washington State, 44-41. Oregon scored 29 of its 44 points in the final frame, their most fourth-quarter points since at least 2004.

Jordan Travis completed 16 of 26 passes for a career-high 321 yards and a touchdown as Florida State dominated Boston College 44-14 on Saturday.  The Seminoles have opened 4-0 for the first time since 2015.

Penn State is 4-0 and will host Northwestern on Saturday afternoon.

The Bears are solid.  They went on the road and defeated Iowa State 31-24.  They have a huge Big 12 matchup this week when they host Oklahoma State.

For the 2nd straight time at Oklahoma, Kansas State came away victorious, this time winning 41-34. Since
2000, there have been 2 instances of a team winning consecutive road games at Oklahoma:

Kansas State in 2020 and 2022
Kansas State in 2012 and 2014

Over the last 30 seasons, Kansas State is 6-5 on the road vs Oklahoma. The Wildcats are the only team with awinning record vs Oklahoma on the road during that span (min. 2 games).

I warned teams last week that if you schedule UConn you are likely to drop in my poll.  I took mercy on the Wolfpack and kept them idle at #12 after they defeated the Huskies 41-10.  They are at Clemson on Saturday night in a huge matchup.

The Cowboys have a huge game at Baylor on Saturday afternoon.

The Rebels rushed for 300+ yards for a 2nd straight game as it beat Tulsa, 35-27, to bring its home win streak to 12 straight. The Rebels did allow more points today than they did in their first 3 games combined (13).

The Vols held off a late rally by No. 20 Florida to win, 38-33.  It’s the first time the Volunteers have started a season 4-0 since 2016, which happens to be the last time they beat the Gators (had lost 16 of previous 17 meetings entering Saturday) and the last time GameDay was in Knoxville.

The Wildcats are solid.  They won 31-23 vs Northern Illinois, securing its 8th straight win, the 2nd-longest active win streak in the FBS (Clemson, 10).

The Utes won easily at Arizona State, 34-13 on Saturday night.  They host Oregon State this Saturday afternoon.

Not very impressive Wolverines.  You drop.  defeated Maryland 34-27. Blake Corum had a monster day, finishing with 243 Rush yds and 2 TD. It’s the most rush yards by a Michigan player since Denard Robinson on Sept. 11, 2010 at Notre Dame (258 Rush yds).

The Trojans won a close game against Oregon State, scoring a late touchdown to earn a 17-14 victory. The Trojans recorded 14 takeaways and 0 turnovers this season. Their +14 turnover margin is tied for the highest by an FBS school in their first 4 games of a season over the last 15 years. In addition, USC has 11 interceptions on defense this season, the most by a Pac-12 team through its first 4 games of a season since Oregon State in 2002.

Clemson outlasted Wake Forest, 51-45, in double overtime. The Tigers have now won 10 straight – the longest active win streak in FBS – and improved to 14-0 against Wake Forest under Dabo Swinney.  As for the Demon Deacons, they’ve now lost 63 straight games vs AP Top-10 teams, extending the longest streak by any team in the Poll Era (since 1936).  Both quarterbacks shined, as D.J. Uiagalelei and Sam Hartman became the 2nd pair of ACC opponents to each throw 5 Pass TD in the same game in conference history

Sorry Dawgs.  I have to drop you a couple notches this week.  Georgia won 39-22 over Kent State in an ugly performance.  Stetson Bennett finished with 272 Pass yds to go along with a rushing touchdown. He’s the first SEC QB with four straight games with 250 passing yards and at least one rushing TD since Tim Tebow did it in 2007.  Dogs are at Missouri Saturday night.

Buckeyes are moving on up. (que Jeffersons Theme Song Here).  Ohio State won easily as predicted by me over Wisconsin.  C.J. Stroud recorded 5 passing touchdowns for the 7th time in his career, the most in school history. He now has 60 career passing touchdowns, 3rd-most in Ohio State history, trailing J.T. Barrett and Justin Fields.  They will beat up on Rutgers this Saturday afternoon at The Horseshoe.

Crimson Tide are back up at number one as they should be.  Unlike Georgia, Alabama defeated Vanderbilt 55-3, its 23rd straight win against the Commodores. The Crimson Tide joined 2008 Florida as only teams in SEC history to win 3 straight home games within a season by 50+ pts (Florida won BCS Championship that season). Bryce Young recorded his 4th career half with 4 passing touchdowns, tying Tua Tagovailoa for most in Alabama history.  Alabama will visit Arkansas this weekend in a very interesting matchup.

Middle Tennessee went on the road and took down Miami, 45-31, to earn its first win all-time against an AP-ranked opponent (entered Saturday 0-24) and hand Miami its 2nd straight loss (lost last week at Texas A&M). The Hurricanes closed as -25.5 point favorites, making this the largest spread upset against Miami since the 1978 FBS/FCS split.