The D1scourse 30

It is difficult to differentiate between Nos. 1 through 3 in college football this week.

Just like it’s sort of tough to figure out how Nos. 4 through 8 stack up.

SEE RELATED:

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Beyond them, it’s probably not much of a concern.

Anyway, here’s one guy’s way of looking at it. Alabama, while far from perfect and now without a top-10 win, is probably the most consistent team in the country.

Texas Tech, suddenly in possession of one of the best victories anywhere, still squeaked out an OT win against Nebraska (which gave up 62 points to Oklahoma this week).

Penn State plays in a not-so-scary league and only played one real team in its nonconference schedule.

It’s a slim 1-2-3. I will say Alabama’s impressive win at Georgia is slightly better than Penn State pulling one out late at Ohio State. Texas Tech has the greatest accomplishment, but it’s tough to ignore that OT game.

In the next group of five teams, by head-to-head performance it’s fair to place Texas ahead of both Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Southern California and Florida fit in there someplace, too. The best road win in the whole mix is Oklahoma State at Missouri. The only team to lose at home is Florida.

Maybe Southern Cal is a little high here, but the Trojans’ defense means something. And Oklahoma’s neutral-field loss to Texas hurts less than Florida losing at home to Ole Miss.

Just remember, though, the following games must still be played this season:

Nov. 8: Oklahoma State at Texas Tech

Nov. 22: Texas Tech at Oklahoma

Nov. 29: Oklahoma at Oklahoma State

Dec. 6: Big 12 and SEC (Florida-Alabama?) title games

Here’s the full rundown, with all overtime games counting as ties (as usual for this exercise):

(EDIT: AP ranks added at 1:45 p.m.)

No./Team	Adj. record	AP	Pvs.	Notable Wins/Head-to-Head
1. Alabama	9-0	1	2	* Georgia (A) and Kentucky (H)
2. Texas Tech	8-0-1	2	8	* Texas (H); OT win vs. Nebraska (H)
3. Penn State	9-0	3	3	* Ohio State (A), Oregon State (H)
4. Texas	8-1	5	1	* Okla. (N); Okla. State (H); lost at TT
5. Southern California	7-1	7	4	* Ohio State (H); lost at Oregon State
6. Oklahoma	8-1	6	5	* TCU and Kansas (H); lost to Texas (N)
7. Florida	7-1	4	7	* LSU (H) and Ga. (N); lost to Miss. (H)
8. Oklahoma State	8-1	8	9	* Missouri (A); lost at Texas
9. Boise State	8-0	9	11	* Oregon (A)
10. Utah	9-0	10	10	* Oregon State (H)
11. Texas Christian	8-1	11	13	* BYU (H); lost at Oklahoma
12. Ohio State	7-2	12	12	* Michigan State (A)
13. Missouri	7-2	13	14	* Losses to Texas (A) and Okla. St. (H)
14. Georgia	7-2	14	6	* LSU (A); lost to Bama (H) and Fla. (N)
15. Louisiana State	7-2	15	20	* Lost to Georgia (H) and Florida (A)
16. Ball State	8-0	16	18	* Navy (H); about as far as they go
17. North Carolina	6-1-1	19	21	* UConn (H); lost to VT (H); OTL at UVa
18. Brigham Young	8-1	17	19	* Lost at TCU
19. Maryland	6-2	23	23	* Cal and Wake (H); lost at MTSY
20. California	7-2	21	24	* Michigan State (H); lost at Maryland
21. Michigan State	8-2	18	25	* Lost to Ohio State (H) and at Cal
22. West Virginia	6-1-1	20	30	* Connecticut (A); OTL at Colorado
23. Georgia Tech	7-2	22	NR	* Florida State (H); lost at VT
24. Florida State	6-2	24	16	* VT (H) and Miami (A); lost at GT
25. Pittsburgh	5-2-1	25	27	* ND (A); lost to BGSU and Rutgers (H)
26. Cincinnati	6-2	T-30	NR	* USF (H); lost at Okla. & UConn
27. Oregon State	5-3	T-30	29	* USC (H); lost to Penn St. and Utah (A)
28. Northwestern	7-2	26	NR	* Minnesota (A); lost at Indiana
29. Minnesota	7-2	29	22	* Losses to NW (H) and at Ohio State
30. Miami	5-3-1	NR	NR	* OTW at UVa; lost to FSU, UNC, Fla.

—- Patrick Stevens