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MRI Football 2008 - Rankings Week 2
September 28, 2008 | By Benjamin Miraski
Remember all of those comments from last week's rankings? Ignore them.
It is obvious that being in or near the top of the MRI rankings was poisonous for a number of teams.
Take USC. There is no explaining how a team that looked as good as it did in its first two games could look as bad as they did in the next game, against Oregon State of all teams. I have watched USC look poor in the past, but this team was supposed to be beyond all of that. Maybe my hesitation at putting Mark Sanchez in the top five of my Heisman Rankings was well grounded.
USC may react badly to being at the top and almost guaranteed a No. 1 ranking, but one team didn't and never does.
Welcome back Texas to the top spot in the rankings, all on the back of their signal caller, Colt McCoy. McCoy is turned in one of the most dominant performances of the weekend, and his wasn't against some Sun Belt team, or Division 1-AA squad.
This was against Arkansas. Granted the Razorbacks are not supposed to be at the top of the SEC this season, but at the same time, this is an SEC squad. They are not supposed to be this bad.
With four games under his belt, McCoy has thrown for over 1000 yards, 14 touchdowns, and run for 278 yards and four scores. He leads his team in rushing, he is the No. 2 rated quarterback in the country and he is set to break almost every record at Texas.
I think this guy is good (Wait until Wednesday's Heisman rankings), and his team is a deserved No. 1.
Penn State, last week's leader, drops to No. 2 despite a win against Big Ten foe Illinois. They may not look like the best and brightest at all times, but JoePa's squad is playing like they have a shot to sweep through the conference without a blemish.
Alabama shocked a lot of people with their win over Georgia, but the MRI thought it was almost a given. The tide move into the top five at No. 3.
Utah remains the top team from the Mountain West, which keeps its No. 4 league rankings this week. The Utes get tricky Oregon State on Thursday night, which might just make or break their season.
Rounding out the top five is another Big XII squad, the Oklahoma Sooners, who creep up after beating down upstart TCU (still in the top ten). The Sooners showed top-spot ability, including another huge game from Sam Bradford.
Check out all of the rankings in Week 2 of the Football MRI.
MRI Top 25 Rankings
| Rank | Team | Record | MRI | LW |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Texas | 4-0 | 73.62 | 4 |
| 2 |  Penn State | 5-0 | 72.30 | 1 |
| 3 |  Alabama | 5-0 | 62.38 | 6 |
| 4 |  Utah | 5-0 | 61.54 | 2 |
| 5 |  Oklahoma | 4-0 | 60.85 | 8 |
| 6 |  TCU | 4-1 | 57.22 | 3 |
| 7 |  Tulsa | 4-0 | 56.10 | 12 |
| 8 |  BYU | 4-0 | 54.47 | 11 |
| 9 |  Missouri | 4-0 | 54.15 | 14 |
| 10 |  Oklahoma State | 4-0 | 53.75 | 19 |
| 11 | Wisconsin | 3-1 | 52.08 | 7 |
| 12 | South Florida | 5-0 | 51.99 | 25 |
| 13 | Texas Tech | 4-0 | 51.57 | 16 |
| 14 | Oregon | 4-1 | 51.41 | 24 |
| 15 | Cal | 3-1 | 51.08 | 20 |
| 16 | Arizona | 3-1 | 50.02 | 15 |
| 17 | Michigan State | 4-1 | 49.34 | NR(27) |
| 18 | Florida | 3-1 | 48.87 | 9 |
| 19 | Boise State | 3-0 | 48.53 | 22 |
| 20 | Kentucky | 4-0 | 48.08 | NR(28) |
| 21 | USC | 2-1 | 47.96 | 5 |
| 22 | LSU | 4-0 | 45.67 | 23 |
| 23 | Nebraska | 3-1 | 45.09 | 10 |
| 24 | Vanderbilt | 4-0 | 44.04 | NR(29) |
| 25 | Kansas | 3-1 | 43.70 | NR(32) |
Teams Dropped From The Top 25: Minnesota (LW #13, TW #26), Wake Forest (LW #17, TW #31), Arkansas State (LW #18, TW #40), Georgia (LW #21, TW #27)
Other Teams People Might Care About
| Rank | Team | Record | MRI | LW |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 | Auburn | 4-1 | 41.29 | 30 |
| 29 | Florida State | 3-1 | 39.79 | 34 |
| 33 | Boston College | 3-1 | 37.21 | 33 |
| 34 | Georgia Tech | 3-1 | 36.96 | 37 |
| 35 | Iowa | 3-2 | 36.81 | 31 |
| 36 | Northwestern | 5-0 | 36.40 | 40 |
| 37 | Ohio State | 4-1 | 34.99 | 45 |
| 39 | Duke | 3-1 | 33.68 | 50 |
| 41 | Pittsburgh | 3-1 | 32.73 | 49 |
| 42 | Notre Dame | 3-1 | 32.49 | 67 |
| 53 | Northern Illinois | 2-2 | 26.03 | 74 |
| 58 | Clemson | 3-2 | 24.71 | 47 |
| 60 | Maryland | 4-1 | 24.65 | 64 |
| 61 | Michigan | 2-2 | 24.44 | 75 |
| 65 | Tennessee | 1-3 | 23.48 | 52 |
| 67 | Indiana | 2-2 | 23.20 | 42 |
| 71 | Miami | 2-2 | 20.46 | 51 |
| 75 | Illinois | 2-2 | 18.75 | 54 |
| 84 | Purdue | 2-2 | 10.02 | 80 |
| 90 | Texas A&M | 2-2 | 6.26 | 93 |
| 96 | Miami(Ohio) | 1-3 | 1.03 | 104 |
| 97 | UCLA | 1-3 | -1.15 | 100 |
| 119 | Washington State | 1-4 | -31.96 | 118 |
Last Place this week: Idaho (1-4) at -46.85.
Biggest Gain this week: San Diego State gained 18.56 points. (Beat Idaho (45-17))
Biggest Loss this week: Idaho lost 24.73 points (Lost to San Diego State (17-45))
Conference rankings this week: Big 12, Big Ten, SEC, Mountain West, ACC, Big East, PAC-10, C-USA, MAC, WAC, Sun Belt
Conference rankings this week: Big 12, Big Ten, SEC, Mountain West, ACC, Big East, PAC-10, C-USA, MAC, WAC, Sun Belt
The MRI Rankings are copyright 2008 by MRISports.com. Ben Miraski is a reporter for the Medill News Service, edits and writes for MRISports.com and is a featured blogger on FanIQ. Readers can contact Ben at bmiraski@mrisports.com
Posted September 28, 2008 5:22 PM
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