Week 4 CFRA Rankings
Posted by deaconcat08 on September 28, 2009
The College Football Researcher’s Association poll returned to its roots this week by issuing high rankings to several non-BCS teams. As early as 1901 in the first split national championship of the 20th century, the CFRA has always stood up for teams located outside the current Big 6 conferences. It was that year that the poll ranked Harvard as national champion, while all other major rankings selected Michigan as the champ. This trend continued throughout the next quarter of a century, as eight more times (1904, 1908, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1919, 1922, and 1927) the College Football Researcher’s Association crowned non-BCS national champions, while other polls selected teams from the current Big 6 leagues. Ironically, this trend has re-emerged this week, as Boise State, TCU, and Houston all received rankings as high or higher in the CFRA than they did in the mainstream polls. With that being said, here are this week’s rankings.
1. Florida (7)- 175 points
2. Texas- 168 points
3. Alabama- 161 points
4. Boise State- 152 points
5. LSU- 143 points
6. TCU- 122 points
7. Cincinnati- 121 points
8. Oklahoma- 117 points
9. Southern Cal- 110 points
10. Virginia Tech- 106 points
11. Ohio State- 101 points
12. Houston- 84 points
13. Kansas- 82 points
14. Oklahoma State- 74 points
15. Iowa- 64 points
16. Penn State- 59 points
17. Michigan- 53 points
18. Ole Miss- 47 points
19. Auburn- 44 points
20. Georgia- 42 points
21. Missouri- 38 points
22. South Florida- 35 points
23. Oregon- 33 points
24. California- 27 points
25. Nebraska- 24 points
Others Receiving Votes: Brigham Young 19, Miami 14, Wisconsin 11, Florida State 11, UCLA 10, Georgia Tech 10, Texas A & M 9, South Carolina 7, North Carolina 2
Dropped Out: Miami 11, North Carolina 20, Florida State 25
Besides the non-BCS trend, the biggest surprise here is probably that Miami is not ranked even though they are as high as 17 in this week’s AP poll. Other teams that are ranked 4 or more spots lower in the CFRA than in both the AP and Coaches polls include: BYU, Georgia Tech, and Virginia Tech. On the other hand, TCU, Auburn, and South Florida were all ranked 4 or more spots higher in the CFRA than they were in the AP and Coaches. As always, please let me know if you’d like to take part in the future College Football Researcher’s Association weekly rankings.
