In this thread I will try to keep track of the best wins each week.

I invite feedback as well as input from all college football fans out there.

Too early to have a good feel for who really qualifies as a quality opponent, but we can add/remove as the season progresses.


Week 1

Alabama over Michigan 41-14 at a neutral field. (Very early but this is looking like the best win so far this season. Not any longer. Well still count this as a quality win, but Stanford over USC is now the best so far).

VA Tech over GA Tech 20-17(OT) in Blacksburg. (GA Tech was a bowl team last season. This week they hammered a FCS school so we will still have to wait and see if they are a quality win or not in 2012).

Michigan St over Boise St 17-13 in East Lansing. (Boise didn't play this week, so it is hard to know if they are a quality opponent, but with Chris Petersen at the helm, it is hard to discount them already).



Week 2

UCLA over Nebraska 36-30 in Los Angeles. (Nebraska may prove to not be a quality win, but was a 9-4 team last season. Last week the Cornhuskers solidly beat a Southern Miss team who lost only twice last season. So as of week 2, I think they qualify).

Arizona over Oklahoma St 59-38 in Tucson. (Oklahoma St was one of the best teams in the country last season. Of course Brandon Weeden is gone, so maybe not so much this season).

LSU over Washington 41-3 in Baton Rouge (Washington hung in there with RGIII and Baylor in a great Alamo Bowl last season. They beat a bowl team [SD St] in week one, returned their QB Keith Price, and should be a bowl team again this year).

Oregon St over Wisconsin 10-7 in Corvallis. (My gut says this will not stand as a quality win. Wisconsin struggled against FCS Northern Iowa last week, so there isn't much supporting it even at this point really, but many thought Wisconsin would be competitive this year).



Week 3

Stanford over Southern California 21-14 in Stanford. (Obviously this has to be considered the best win of the season so far).

Notre Dame over Michigan St 20-3 in East Lansing. (Quite possibly the 2nd best win so far. The first to make the list where the winner was on the road).

Pittsburgh over VA Tech 35-17 in Pittsburgh. (Pittsburgh was embarrassed in week one losing by 14 to FCS Youngstown State. This week they double up the Hokies and most would agree that no matter what you think of VA Tech, their D is usually solid).

Florida over Tennessee 37-20 in Knoxville. (Tennessee may soon prove to not qualify as a quality win, depending on how they handle this loss, but Florida dominated the second half, and did it on the road. So for now I'll give them credit for a quality win).

Missouri over Arizona St 24-20 in Columbia (Suggested by Crave. The Sun Devils dominated Illinois (2-1) in Tempe by 31, so it isn't that big a stretch this early on. Only time will tell).


Week 4

Oregon St over UCLA 27-20 in Los Angeles (UCLA was 3-0 and ranked 19th when this game was played. UCLA beat Nebraska in Week 2, so looks to be improved from last season. Oregon St becomes the first team to appear on this list twice).

Miami over GA Tech 42-36 (OT) in Atlanta. (Another tough OT loss for the Yellow jackets. What a crazy back and forth game).

Notre Dame over Michigan 13-6 in South Bend. (As Michigan was ranked 17th, I'll give the Irish the nod).

Kansas St over Oklahoma 24-19 in Norman. (Pretty damn impressive. Snyder has the Cats believing. Beating the Sooners in Norman is not an easy task).

Florida St over Clemson 49-37 in Tallahassee. (It wasn't pretty and they missed covering by 2, but the Seminoles loudly proclaimed they are for real).

Oregon over Arizona 49-0 in Eugene. (Arizona comes in ranked 21. The Ducks make it very clear they are on a different level than the Arizonas of the NCAA).

Missouri over Arizona State, I think it will show to be a quality win by the end of the season

Posted by cravedogg on 9/17/2012 11:10:00 PM (view original):
Missouri over Arizona State, I think it will show to be a quality win by the end of the season

Possibly, but AZ St was only a .500 team last season, and their signature win so far is a beat down of Illinois who hasn't played anybody yet either.

Posted by gregsimon on 9/20/2012 11:50:00 AM (view original):

Posted by cravedogg on 9/17/2012 11:10:00 PM (view original):
Missouri over Arizona State, I think it will show to be a quality win by the end of the season

Possibly, but AZ St was only a .500 team last season, and their signature win so far is a beat down of Illinois who hasn't played anybody yet either.

And what the heck has TN done, they beat a pathetic NCST team and they are coming off a loss.  You got to be consistent with your picks.

TN was ranked when they lost.   Beating a ranked team qualifies as a quality win until proven otherwise.

^^^Exactly.

Plus I specifically said "Tennessee may soon prove to not qualify as a quality win, depending on how they handle this loss, but Florida dominated the second half, and did it on the road. So for now I'll give them credit for a quality win".

I will add Mizzou but my gut says it won't hold up. And as I said before, I think the Oregon St over Wisconsin will fail to hold up as well.

The biggest thing to me was how close TN/FL played in the first half but then how FL dominated the 2nd half on the road.

Updated

Wins over MI might be coming off the board pretty soon.

7 weeks in and I think we have a better idea.

So far my best wins are (in no particular order):

Florida AT Texas A&M
Florida vs LSU
LSU vs South Carolina
West Virginia AT Texas
Notre Dame vs Stanford
Washington vs Stanford
Texas Tech vs West Virginia
Texas Tech AT Iowa St
Kansas St AT Iowa St
Penn St vs Northwestern
Virginia vs Penn St
Ohio AT Penn St
Oregon St AT UCLA
California vs UCLA
Oklahoma AT Texas Tech
Oklahoma vs Texas
NC State vs FSU
Michigan St vs Boise St
Iowa St AT Iowa
C Michigan AT Iowa
Stanford vs USC

I think you are crediting too many quality wins involving the state of Iowa.  Iowa is languishing in the B1G 10.  And, Iowa State's only claim to fame has been to beat Iowa.  Hell, I'd say Iowa State's win over TCU team was a better win than the Iowa game. 

I don't have too many problems with the rest of your Big 12 quality wins but then I see all the quality games you are leaving off and wonder where you could possibly be coming from. 

S.Carolina over Georgia wasn't a quality win for you?  Really?  Did you even see the game or just look at the score?  I'm not saying Georgia is a National contender but since you include Penn State over Northwestern in your list, it doesn't appear to be a requirement.  Florida State and Clemson was surely a more quality win than California and UCLA.  You might have no respect for the B1G 10-- this year I know I don't.  But when Michigan and Wisconsin play each other in the conference championship game, you're going to have to suddenly add on a lot of games to your quality win list, Alabama-Michigan, Notre Dame-Michigan, and Oregon State-Wisconsin for starters.  Oregon State over UCLA is really a better win, really?  If you weren't being so hard on the Irish, you'd also have to admit that Michigan State vs Notre Dame was at least as good a quality win as Boise State vs Michigan State. 

You have pared down the first 7 weeks to 19 games and I think there have probably been almost twice as many season-defining matchups than you are giving credit.  I suspect that my list is also incomplete but I do know that those were quality wins and you are going to have to make some changes to get back to a better sense of legitimacy.  Or do you really think Virginia over Penn State was that much more impressive than all of my suggested games?  (Did you even see that one??? egad!)

PS.  I'm just trying to start a fun debate, not personally attacking you.

Great points all the way around. I simply took the top "scoring" games in my ranking formula that were over X points. 
There were several others that were close but didn't make it. Here is the list of the next tier which brings the total to 40 games.
You'll also see why Iowa figures in the first list so prominently, as they have some pretty solid wins according to opponents records.

Iowa St over Tulsa
Iowa St AT TCU
Iowa AT N Illinois
Iowa AT Michigan St
Notre Dame AT Michigan St
Ohio St AT Michigan St
Kansas St AT Oklahoma
Cincy over VA Tech
North Carolina over VA Tech
Pittsburgh over VA Tech
Auburn over LA-Monroe
Baylor AT LA-Monroe
Louisville over N Carolina
Wake Forest over N Carolina
Nebraska over Wisconsin
Oregon St over Wisconsin
S Carolina over Georgia
S Florida AT Nevada
Texas A&M AT LA Tech

Just going by the "eye test" I would rank K ST over Oklahoma and S Carolina over GA as top 10 type of wins so far.
There are 5 wins that stand out to me as the best victories to date, based purely on the eye.

K St AT Oklahoma
LSU over S Carolina
Florida over LSU
S Carolina over GA
Stanford over USC

You can't just look at the score.   It would be fair to say that LSU dominated SC much like SC dominated GA.    The scores were quite different but the game was the same.   And any win over a ranked team, at the time, has to be a quality win. 

And if you're going to give Stanford a QW of USC, you have to give ND a QW over Stanford.

Finally, VaTech is horrible.   Beating them doesn't seem like a QW anymore.

I agree and am still tweaking my formula. To clarify, when I say "highest scoring" I am referring to the score awarded to the teams in my formula and NOT the actual game score.

I think since Michigan's only two losses are to an undefeated Alabama and an undefeated Notre Dame they should be counted as quality wins. Much more so than VA Tech, but VA Tech's win over Duke has propelled them ahead of Michigan.

This is due to the fact that Michigan's best win to date is vs a Purdue team that is 3-3. So essentially VA Tech has two wins vs teams with better than .500 record, while Michigan has 0.

It is bothering me, but I haven't been able to reconcile it yet.

ND over Stanford should be also, but THAT WAS A TD (LOL)

A win over Duke shouldn't propel anyone.   But I get what you're saying.