College football is unpredictable and always changing. With the Top 25 an ever-morphing mystery, it's never a perfect science in deciding which teams are worthy of accolades and praise, and which teams deserve to be rocketed into the sun.
As week 8's results fell into place at Saturday's end, a couple of top 10 squads fell to the upset monster, namely number one Texas and 7th-ranked Alabama. Each of these defeats carry varying weight and call into question the idea of a "quality loss". Each of these teams will certainly slide in the rankings, but the Tide's second loss could see Alabama free fall, as has been the case with other SEC squads this season.
The Big 12's best two teams--BYU and Iowa State--each escaped an upset on their home fields. The chaotic Big 12 owns only two unbeaten squads in Iowa State and BYU, who may slip into the top 10 after their miraculous win over Oklahoma State.
But with the SEC cannibalizing its golden programs in the first few weeks of conference play, I can't help but wonder what this will mean for the implicit bias that conference shares with the Big 10 when it comes to national polls. These two conferences are looking mortal, and parity has reached such a high level in this sport, that even the top schools in the polls are drowning in a raging tempest of question marks.
Boldly declaring which teams are deserving of a prestigious position and which teams are hollow to the core is never an exact science, but this season isn't taking it easy on anybody.
Here is this week's prediction of the college football top 25 rankings. May the football gods be pleased by my meager offering and refrain from smiting this list.
College Football AP Top 25 Ranking Prediction: Week 9
1. Oregon
2. Georgia
3. Penn State
4. Ohio State
5. Miami
6. Texas
7. Clemson
8. Tennessee
9. LSU
10. Iowa State
11. BYU
12. Notre Dame
13. Texas A&M
14. Indiana
15. Boise State
16. Kansas State
17. Alabama
18. Ole Miss
19. Missouri
20. SMU
21. Illinois
22. Pitt
23. Army
24. Navy
25. Vanderbilt