Resume over Reputation College Football Power Rankings (Oct. 4): New No. 1 team isn't from the SEC ... or the Big 12 ... or the ACC.

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Oct 04, 2020

In case you missed it last week, I debuted this new weekly feature for the fall called the Resume over Reputation rankings.

It’s designed to rank college football teams based on what happens on the field and nothing else. You won’t get the benefit of being ranked high a few weeks into the season just because you were ranked high in the preseason. You won’t get points or the benefit of the doubt because of the prestige of your program. I’m ranking the 10 best resumes of that college football season at that given time. My only criteria is that you have to have played in one game to qualify to be ranked.

Preemptive disclaimer: Do I think these are the 10 best teams in America right now? No. But I'm doing this as an exercise to amplify the importance of resumes and not voting for schools strictly due to name brand. As the season goes on, I expect this to look a little more "normal," but I still think it will be somewhat significantly different than the AP, coaches (and maybe even CFP) polls and should be interesting to follow.

This will be the last week it runs as a free feature. Starting next week, it will get premium distinction. With that in mind, if you’re not a premium subscriber, please consider doing so. The more financial support there is, the more incentive there is for me to sink additional time/resources into this. You can explore the various premium options offered below:

With that out of the way, here is the latest edition of my national Resume over Reputation rankings.

1. BYU (3-0, last week: No. 2)

I did not expect BYU to have the best resume in college football in October (nor do I expect the Cougars to stay in this spot as other teams start getting a larger sample of games with more difficult opponents), but if I’m staying true to the reason behind this feature, I think BYU needs to be No. 1 at this time.

Every team the Cougars have played this season has come into that respective game unbeaten. That streak ends this week with UTSA coming into town, but the Roadrunners do come in at 3-1. It’s a fairly empty 3-1 with no true “big wins” on the resume, but that’s still a pretty noteworthy element of BYU’s schedule, since its schedule doesn’t look that daunting at first glance. But name brand opponents or not, BYU has absolutely torn through its opposition so far this season, with an aggregate score of 148-24 so far. That’s an average margin of victory of more than 40 points per game.

The best thing this week has yielded in BYU’s favor, outside of the Louisiana Tech game itself, was the news that BYU will be adding Boise State to its schedule in November. The Cougars need as many chances to make statements as they can this year. But just know that someone is noticing so far during this young season.

2. Florida (2-0, last week: No. 10)

Heading into the season, I thought Georgia had the best chance of stepping into the role of “this year’s LSU” — the team that came out of nowhere with an explosive offense and became a legitimate national title contender. The Bulldogs had Todd Monken coming in and installing his pass-happy offense similar to what Joe Brady did in Baton Rouge. But 20% of the way into the SEC season, it’s the Florida Gators — whose identity in past seasons has been the offensively challenged team that finds success thanks to its great defense — that are looking like the school that has had the biggest transformation/offensive renaissance this fall.

The Kyle to Kyle combination of Kyle Trask and Kyle Pitts has been unstoppable through two games, connecting on six(!) different touchdown passes through the first six quarters of the season. The Gators are averaging 44.5 points per game so far this season, making them the only school not named Alabama (45 ppg) averaging north of 40 points per game into the young season. And while on the flip side of things, the Gator defense allowing 29.5 points per game (a hair about the conference average of 27.9 points per game) is concerning to some in Gator Nation, it’s hard not to watch Florida and think of this team as a contender this fall.

Last week’s somewhat unstable (at least final score-wise) 51-35 win over Ole Miss looks a lot better, too, now that Lane Kiffin and Co. marched into Lexington and picked up a road win over Kentucky on Saturday.

3. Alabama (2-0, last week: unranked)

The Crimson Tide are really a 2b to Florida’s 2a. And from an AP ranking standpoint, their resume may actually look a bit more impressive than Florida’s, since Texas A&M was a top-15 team last week. But if you’ve read anything in this space over the past few weeks, you know I’m the farthest thing from a believer in the Aggies this season. So while a win over Texas A&M means less to me than it apparently means to your average AP voter, a decisive win over a quality team with a senior QB is still impressive even with my adjusted feelings for Texas A&M factored in. I think Alabama is the best team in America right now, and it is in position to take the top spot in this poll with its upcoming schedule, too. A trip to Oxford to take on Ole Miss will give a great opportunity to compare head-to-head performances against Ole Miss with Florida. And the following two weeks have Alabama taking on a pair of legitimate foes in Georgia and Tennessee. I’d be surprised if a 5-0 Alabama isn’t a pretty clear No. 1 in this poll at the end of October of it runs through that string of opponents without tripping up.

4. SMU (4-0, last week: unranked)

Saturday was both a great day and a brutal day for the Mustangs. On the plus side of things, they picked up their biggest AAC win in years — maybe even since the school joined the AAC in the first place. Memphis, the reigning conference champ and the Group of 5’s selection to play in the Cotton Bowl last season, had a six-game winning streak over SMU heading into Saturday's game. The Tigers were No. 6 in my Resume over Reputation poll last week, giving SMU one of the biggest wins of the year when using this poll as a measuring stick.

On the bad side of things, SMU might have just lost two of its biggest weapons for an extended period of time — particularly WR Reggie Roberson, who looked to suffer a significant non-contact knee injury. I'm obviously not a doctor, but I'll be surprised to hear anything but "torn ACL" when the injury prognosis comes out. But these rankings are made based on what’s happened on the field so far this season. And while Roberson potentially being on the shelf might stand in the way of SMU making this season truly special in the next month or two, it has no bearing on its resume as of Oct. 4.

5. Miami (FL) (3-0, last week: No. 3)

The Hurricanes were off this week, but their body of work from the three games that preceded the off week is still there, so they still have a comfortable spot in the top 5 — for now. Expect some pretty significant movement either up or down in next week’s rankings, though as Miami (FL) heads to South Carolina to take on ACC final boss Clemson this weekend.

6. Clemson (3-0, last week: unranked)

The Tigers are at the top of the AP poll, and it’s hard to ignore a team that’s unbeaten with an average margin of victory of more than 30 points. But they’re still going to need to beat someone a little more impressive than The Citadel, Wake Forest or Virginia to start flirting with the top of this poll. Luckily for the Tigers, they get that chance next week when they host D’Eriq King and the Miami (FL) Hurricanes.

7. Notre Dame (2-0, last week: No. 4)

Notre Dame has been sitting on the sidelines over the last few weeks. They’re not losing, but the shine on that resume is looking duller and duller as others play and add impressive data points. A game against Florida State this weekend doesn’t mean much in the way of opportunity for the Fighting Irish, either, given how much of a dumpster fire that program has been over the past few seasons. But the Irish should get to show what they’re made of once we hit the middle/back of the month — games against Louisville, Pitt and Georgia Tech should all be challenging. And those matchups lead to a Nov. 7 matchup against Clemson that could end up being one of the biggest games of the year on the college football calendar, if both programs continue to take care of business.

8. Louisiana-Lafayette (3-0, last week: No. 9)

The Ragin' Cajuns didn't play last weekend, but their resume got a lot more impressive with Iowa State's win over Oklahoma. Louisiana-Lafayette looks like the class of the Sun Belt this season. It will be tough to maintain having a top-10 resume all season long while the rest of the nation gets to keep playing top-tier programs, but Billy Napier has done a fantastic job program-building in Lafayette. He’s the first coach in that program in more than 50 years to have a winning record over the span of his career coaching there. Next week’s matchup with Coastal Carolina won’t be the sexiest on the slate from a name brand standpoint, but it should have major implications for the Sun Belt (and most importantly, for my super prestigious Resume over Reputation rankings).

9. Oklahoma State (3-0, last week: unranked)

After another slew of upsets over the weekend, the Cowboys are somehow the Big 12’s lone remaining unbeaten team already. And while a 40-point road win will be impressive no matter who you’re playing (yes, even Kansas), Oklahoma State cracks into my top 10 this week more for what happened in another game than for anything I saw from the Cowboys on Saturday. That’s because Oklahoma State’s season opener against Tulsa — a near-loss that really hurt their resume in my eyes — looks a lot less damning after the Golden Hurricane just beat UCF(!) on Saturday.

Along with being the lone unbeaten team in the Big 12, Oklahoma State is now also one of just three Big 12 unbeaten in conference play through just two weeks of conference play, joining Kansas State and Iowa State.

It doesn’t look like it’s going to be a banner season for the Big 12 this fall. It appears Oklahoma State is the conference’s best (and last?) chance at relevance. With a backloaded conference schedule, it looks like Oklahoma State can comfortably carry that flag and the hopes of a conference for at least a couple more weeks.

10. Georgia (2-0, last week: unranked)

I’ll end this week’s rankings by giving Georgia a little bit of love. I’ve been tough on the Bulldogs after their brutal start the week of their opener, when they trailed Arkansas 7-5 at halftime. But Arkansas showed itself to be much more competent than many expected with a big win over Mississippi State on Saturday, and Georgia looked very solid in a win over Auburn Saturday night. I still think that game might have said more about Auburn than it does Georgia, and I don’t think Georgia’s offense has the firepower that had been advertised/promised this offseason, but it’s a team loaded with five-star talent in the trenches and it can get away with being a little bland on offense — against most teams. Upcoming games against Tennessee and Alabama should tell us a ton about the Bulldogs over the next two weekends.

Eligible teams that also received legitimate consideration for this week’s power rankings: Coastal Carolina (3-0), Cincinnati (3-0), North Carolina (3-0), Virginia Tech (2-0), Marshall (2-0), Tennessee (2-0), Iowa State (2-1).

No longer ranked: Mississippi State (last week: No. 1), Pitt (last week: No. 5), Memphis (last week: No. 6), Marshall (last week: No. 7), UCF (last week: No. 8).

That’s all for this week. If you’re interested in being able to read all of the upcoming content — both free and premium — I highly suggest you look into a premium membership.