by guest blogger, Dr. Don Pope

Well sports fans, it was one of those weeks.  3 of the top 4 CFP ranked teams went down in flames to defeat, as well as my dear old Texas Aggies. Since the top 4 CFP ranked teams end up in the most significant bowl games and play each other for the unofficial (not recognized by the NCAA) national championship, then we are going to see a scramble for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th ranked teams at the end of the regular season.  That assumes, of course, that Alabama remains in their overwhelming number 1 ranked position, which is surely to occur unless their team bus blows an engine and they fail to show at their remaining games.  Our rankings did not change a great deal from the previous week (week 10) to week 11 (shown below).

JP_top50_rankings_2016_wk11_phat136 (2)

This is due to several factors:  first, our algorithm is not bothered by a “defeat” as much as other rankings, as in the case of Michigan only losing by 1 point on the road against Iowa.  Secondly, our rankings were never as excited about Clemson and Washington as other rankings had been.  Our rankings, after the 800 pound monster Alabama, are very impressed with the body of work of several Big 10 conference teams.  Among these is Northwestern, which is still flying below the radar on many rankings, but our rankings feel that they are a strong contender.

Stay tuned for this coming weekend’s games.  The only certainty is more surprises.