I haven't posted the Lineal Top 25 all year, since Florida was at the top and without a change in the "Heavyweight Champion" the rest of the list is pretty much a novelty. But now that there's been a change at the top, I've refigured the entire list.
The list begins with the first college football games in 1869 and, every time the top team gets defeated, they are pushed down to #2 and the winner takes over. Follow this simple logic for a list of 25 teams and you have the Lineal College Football Top 25.
Here's how the top 10 looked at the end of last season:
1. Florida 13-1
2. Oklahoma 12-2
3. Mississippi 9-4
4. Texas Tech 11-2
5. Texas 12-1
6. Oregon 10-3
7. Oklahoma State 9-4
8. Kansas 8-5
9. Missouri 10-4
10. Utah 13-0
Alabama began the year at #11.
Right off the bat, #2 Oklahoma lost to BYU, putting the Cougars at #2. Two weeks later, Florida State knocked off BYU to take over the runner-up spot.
The very next week FSU lost to South Florida, who held the spot for a few more weeks before losing to Cincinnati. The Bearcats finished 12-0, meaning they held the #2 spot for the rest of the year until pushed to #3 behind Alabama and Florida.
Alabama bounced around, treading water in the 2nd ten as there weren't SEC teams in the top ten to jump over with a win. Texas lost ground as the #2 teams kept losing, but stayed in the top 25 by beating Oklahoma. TCU beat BYU to jump nearly into the top ten, while Boise State's win over Oregon initially put them at #7 but they were slowly but surely pushed out of the top 25.
Here is what the Lineal Top 25 looked like at approximately mid-season:
1. Florida
2. Cincinnati
3. Pittsburgh
4. South Florida
5. Georgia Tech
6. North Carolina
7. Virginia Tech
8. Notre Dame
9. Boston College
10. Florida State
11. TCU
12. BYU
13. Clemson
14. Miami FL
15. Texas
16. Oklahoma
17. Alabama
18. South Carolina
19. Mississippi
20. Houston
21. Southern Miss
22. East Carolina
23. Memphis
24. UAB
25. UTEP
Houston's loss to UTEP brought a lot of C-USA teams into the mix, and the Cougars' win over Southern Miss put them back on top of all those teams.
As of this week, this is how it looks. Texas has been pushed off the list, and so was Alabama until their win over Florida put them at #1.
- Alabama
- Florida
- Cincinnati
- West Virginia
- Pittsburgh
- Connecticut
- Syracuse
- Rutgers
- Miami FL
- South Florida
- Georgia
- Georgia Tech
- North Carolina State
- North Carolina
- Virginia Tech
- Wisconsin
- Hawaii
- Navy
- Stanford
- Notre Dame
- Boston College
- South Carolina
- Clemson
- Florida State
- TCU
Notre Dame, who entered by beating Boston College, had lost to Navy and Stanford by this time. Rutgers beat South Florida, then lost to Syracuse, putting a glut of Big East teams at the top. The bowl games should mix things up a bit, though the SEC might become entrenched at the top unless Texas or Cincinnati wins their bowl game.