LSU Tigers

Feldman's Top 10: Clemson vaults to top after crushing Miami

Published Oct. 25, 2015 2:36 a.m. ET

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Bruce Feldman

Editor's note: Each week, Bruce Feldman and Stewart Mandel will break down their top 10 teams based on the most recent slate of games. Here are Feldman's rankings after Week 8 (Also, read Mandel's):

1. Clemson (7-0): The Tigers crushed Miami on the road, beating the ’Canes worse than anyone ever has. Granted Miami’s a mess right now, but the win over Notre Dame earlier this season is nice.

2. LSU (7-0): Brandon Harris continues to blossom (9 TDs, 0 INTs) as the Tigers cruised past a decent Western Kentucky team after handling previously unbeaten UF.

3. Baylor (7-0): Saturday’s 18-point win over Iowa State was the closest game the Bears have had, although the schedule has been very suspect. We’ll find out a lot more about Baylor in November. What’s most pressing for now is the status of QB Seth Russell’s neck injury, which we should know more about by Monday.

4. Iowa (7-0): The Hawkeyes’ 3-point win over Pitt is looking better and better and they also have wins over Northwestern and Wisconsin -- each are 6-2 and both of those wins came on the road.

5. Ohio State (8-0): Now that J.T. Barrett has taken over the offense again, the Buckeyes looked more on point. Of course playing against Rutgers can do that for a team.

6. Michigan State (8-0): The Spartans had their hands full with Indiana for a while, but Connor Cook and company blew them out late and remained unbeaten.

7. TCU (7-0): An explosive offense and a hobbled defense that figures to keep improving under Gary Patterson. Truth is, their best win may be the blowout win over Texas.

8. Notre Dame (6-1): I was tempted to have Stanford above ND. The Cardinal’s wins over the two LA schools got a bump in worth this week, but I went with the Irish, who have a better loss at Clemson in a monsoon, compared to Stanford losing against Northwestern.

9. Stanford (6-1): Christian McCaffrey keeps building his Heisman case and David Shaw’s team keeps dominating folks.

10. Utah (6-1): Blown out at USC as Travis Wilson really had a rough night, but the Utes still have a solid resume that keeps them in the race if they win out, giving them an edge over ’Bama -- which had its hands full at home with Tennessee -- as well as Memphis and OU.

Bruce Feldman is a senior college football reporter and columnist for FOXSports.com and FS1. He is also a New York Times best-selling author. His new book, “The QB: The Making of Modern Quarterbacks,” came out in October 2014. Follow him on Twitter @BruceFeldmanCFB and Facebook.

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