NCAA Football Week 4 Rankings – Rising and Falling

AP Rankings Top 5

1. Florida Gators (3-0 SU, 1-1 ATS)
Tebow wasn’t electric, but he got the win and that’s what counts.

2. Texas Longhorns  (3-0 SU, 0-3 ATS)
The Longhorns remain right on the heels of the Gators, but they’ll have to put up bigger wins, especially when they’re playing teams like Texas Tech. No top-10 team is murdering their betting backers more than McCoy’s Longhorns.

3. Alabama Crimson Tide (3-0 SU, 2-1 ATS)
The Trojan’s loss is the Tide’s gain. Can Saban maintain his tsunami-like offense in the grind of the SEC? A 53-7 throttling of North Texas is nice, but this week they get Arkansas.

4. Mississippi Rebels (2-0 SU, 1-0 ATS)
The rousing Rebels have a lot to prove when they face off with the South Carolina gamecocks and open their SEC schedule.

5. Penn State Nittany Lions (3-0 SU, 0-3 ATS)
The Lions are knocking on the door, but can they satisfy the thirst their betting backers have? The Lions are winless against the spread this year so far despite inspired play on both ends of the football.

Biggest Riser – #9 Miami Hurricanes (previously ranked 20th)

The Hurricanes used speed, speed and more speed to demolish the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Are the Hurricanes back? We get a test against Virginia Tech to see if they’re for real with a standoff against the potential return of Sam Bradford and Oklahoma around the corner.

Miami is riding the back of a insanely aggressive defense, and the standout play of Jacory Harris at quarterback, to muscle their way through the ACC. It’s not the dream squad that we’re used to seeing from a top-10 Canes team, but it will certainly do. An 11 spot rise makes the Hurricanes the biggest risers in the AP Rankings.

Biggest Bust – #12 USC Trojans (previously ranked 3rd)

The Trojans went in to the fray in Week 3 without Matt Barkley, and summarily lost their BCS bid chances. This team always loses one big game to an unranked, non-conference opponent and this season was no exception. Suddenly, that comeback win over USC doesn’t look like such a big deal. Unless, ya know, you’re a Buckeyes fan.

Stock Watch – #23 Michigan Wolverines

They destroyed Notre Dame’s chances of making Charlie Weis look like a winner, and now they’ve cracked the top-25 after being on the outside. Strength of schedule is going to be a big deal for the Wolverines, and they have to get past Penn State and Ohio State to even get considered, but Michigan is doing all the right things by going 3-0 SU/ATS after hanging 45-points in Week 3.