Roberts Poll Update: Week 8

After an unexpected Sunday game, we are back with this week’s Roberts Poll. This week was a fun one to watch for both the AP Top 25 upsets and the close MAC games.

In case you weren’t here the first time, we at Hustle Belt (with the help of yours truly) came up with a formula to rank FBS teams. It basically comes down to a mathematical formula that takes the quality of a win or loss and combines it with margin of victory to assign a team points.

Keep in mind that these are just statistics, not our human rankings. My projections do not take into account any MACtion that makes this conference so much fun to watch.

MAC Standings:

In a strange turn of events, only the top four MAC teams moved position. The 17-14 upset of the Kent State Golden Flashes over the Miami-Ohio Redhawks certainly helped Kent State, but not enough to push them ahead of the Ball State Cardinals. Three separate one-point games kept anybody from moving very much.

The largest drop came from the Western Michigan Broncos, who failed to overcome the powerhouse that is the 2017 Akron Zips. Akron did not move, but the Broncos fell three positions.

From my patent-pending calculation machine, seven teams are predicted to be bowl eligible with six wins, with one more on the cusp at 5-7. Without a MACtion-packed end of the year, Miami, Ball State, Kent State, and Bowling Green will each sit out. Staring down a 5-7 record, the Eastern Michigan Eagles may have to hope for an opening for a bowl bid.

The Toledo Rockets is still looking to finish 12-1. With such a finish, the Rockets may well earn a New Years Six bowl berth. Currently, they are in the biggest competition with the South Florida Bulls and UCF Knights.

RP Top 25:

This is where things get a bit complicated. Plenty of movement in the Robert Poll Top 25 came from the nine upsets this week.

This week, the California Golden Bears, #8 Miami-Florida Hurricanes, and #18 Michigan State Spartans each joined the RP Top 25 from being unranked last week. Those three teams each took the place of three teams that fell out of the RP Top 25. The Navy Midshipmen, Iowa Hawkeyes, and Kentucky Wildcats fell out of the top spots from a Navy loss and two bye weeks.

Despite the ESPN “cupcake controversy”, the Washington Huskies have earned the fifth-best slot in the Roberts Poll through blowing out their competition. Even with this week’s loss to Arizona State, Washington lost very few points, keeping them in the top-five.

The #22 Stanford Cardinal jumped up seven spots in their 49-7 take-down of the Oregon Ducks. Auburn Tigers only lost 34 points against the LSU Tigers, but Auburn still managed to slide downward nine slots. Also sliding down nine slots were the highly-discussed San Diego State Aztecs. The 31-14 loss to the Boise State Broncos was enough to knock them out of the AP Top 25 as well.

Analysis:

First place is still held by the #1 Alabama Crimson Tide. Their 123-point lead over #2 Georgia Bulldogs will prove very hard to overcome. Last place is still held by Charlotte, who is 61 points behind the Texas-El Paso Miners.

Winning big this week were the California Golden Bears. Their 37-3 upset of then-#8 Washington State Cougars gave California 127 points on the week. The biggest losers of the week were the Kansas Jayhawks. Their 45-0 blowout loss to the Iowa St. Cyclones took away 85 points from the Jayhawks.

Again this week, the Big Ten holds a 64-point lead over the SEC. Blowout wins over non-conference opponents and losses to ranked opponents led to the advantage over other conferences.The Big Ten is up to 3,153 points now. Last place continues to be the Sun Belt Conference. Their total has not changed from -964 points because their conference games negate each other in points if neither team is ranked. The Mid-American Conference sits at -347 points, which is still eighth of all conferences.