1) Florida (2)- They may have gotten a couple more “controversial” (that is, wrong) calls go their way, but they win and they looked a lot better than Alabama. At this point, it’s just week-to-week to determine who is #1.
2) Alabama- Tennessee should have won that game. Twice. I know that blocking those kicks shows that Alabama is the better team- and they are, but there is no reason they should have even been in that position. LSU could give them fits.
3) Texas- Thought about moving them to #2, but they haven’t looked great just yet. If they can thump Oklahoma State, then we can talk about perhaps them jumping one of the SEC competitors.
4) Boise State- Tied with Cincinnati, and for no good reason I kept Boise State on top. I can’t determine which one of these teams are better. If Oregon beats USC, Boise State stays here.
5) Cincinnati- They will have enough good-but-not-great opponents in the Big East to validate why they belong in the national championship discussion. This team sure doesn’t seem to miss Tony Pike all that much.
6) Iowa- They keep winning, though they only barely escaped East Lansing with a victory. Beat the Buckeyes later in the season and there won’t be many reasons to keep this team out of the National Title picture.
7) TCU- They got their first big win, and they did it in style. Thumping BYU in Provo was a huge statement, and one that the voters should remember if the Horned Frogs beat Utah the same way.
8) LSU- Tied with USC, but I gave LSU the nod. Why? Their lone loss is to the #1 team in the country, and they beat Washington. USC didn’t. How are the other polls not seeing this?
9) USC- The defense didn’t look great, and for the second straight week they escape with a win. How are they #4 in the AP poll and coaches polls? I don’t get it.
10) Oregon- The Ducks rank here because of what I see as underrating by Falco. This weekend should solve the question of whether USC should be ahead of Oregon, but Oregon’s only loss came on the road to an undefeated Boise State team. No reason that as of today, Oregon should be behind SC.
11) Georgia Tech- Tied with Penn State, but I will give it to the Yellow Jackets based on their strength of schedule. Even in a down ACC, they have played and beaten most of the solid teams in the conference.
12) Penn State- Absolutely throttled a Michigan team that is looking more and more like last year’s squad. Still, it was a huge win in a tough environment.
13) Oklahoma State- Tied with Va. Tech, and this was a tough one. One squad has a bad defense, one has a bad offense, one has a great defense, one has a great offense. Fair or not, Tech has 2 losses so State gets the nod.
14) Virginia Tech- They will have a very manageable schedule going forward, but that offense is still shaky. With the Big 12 schedule hitting its toughest point for Oklahoma State, Tech will have plenty of opportunities to jump them.
15) Miami (FL)- Clemson can, at times, be the best team in the ACC. They can also be the worst. This was one of the latter kind of games. This is a young team with a great future in front of them, especially next year.
16) Pittsburgh- Does Wannstadt have this team back in contention? They have a brutal last three games of the season with West Virginia, Cincy, and Notre Dame. An early seven point loss to NC State keeps this team from being undefeated- they are very quietly creeping up the rankings.
17) West Virginia- Tied with Ohio State, but I think this team is more balanced than Ohio State. They took control of UConn late and have a good shot in the Big East. Late season show1downs with Cincy and Pittsburgh will tell us how good this team is.
8) Ohio State- I still don’t trust this team. Pryor could throw a pick any time he drops back, though the coaching staff is slowly adapting the offense to him (that is, adding the spread-&-shred). The defense is fantastic.
19) Houston- I guess the win over Oklahoma State needs to count for something, but Falco and I had a major disagreement on this one. I put them down at the tail end of the top 25, but they are hardly among the more impressive mid-majors.
20) South Carolina- Tied with Utah, but Utah just hasn’t been that impressive even in their wins this season. South Carolina may have two losses, but they are doing it in the SEC. This one was real close.
21) Utah- They aren’t the worldbeaters of last year so far, but they do only have one loss so far. Their seven point loss to Oregon is looking pretty good right now.
22) Central Michigan- Another one-loss mid-major, but I like them a lot. Falco and I had a bit of a disagreement, which led to Central dropping this week. Maybe it’s the Midwest bias of mine, but they lost in Week 1 and are the best team in Michigan, for whatever that counts.
23) BYU- Tied with Mississippi, but despite their blowout losses at home, the Cougars have at least beaten someone of note (Oklahoma). As for Ole Miss, they have beaten no one of any consequence. Falco ranks them, but I left them off.
24) Mississippi- Why are they here? I guess it would have something to do with winning all of 2 games against major conference opponents and losing to Alabama and South Carolina, two respectable teams. Not a fan of this pick so much…
25) California- They beat up on the little guys, but get blown out by the big players. If I didn’t look at margin of victory, I might have put these guys in my poll as well. Their only losses are to Oregon and USC, and there is no shame in that… but they were absolutely crushed in both games…
Others receiving votes: Navy, Arizona
Update: Spiffy presentation I realized that I should probably be using!
 | ||
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida |  1 |
| 2 | Alabama |  1 |
| 3 | Texas | |
| 4 | Boise State | |
| 5 | Cincinnati | |
| 6 | Iowa | |
| 7 | TCU | 4 |
| 8 | LSU | |
| 9 | Southern Cal | 1 |
| 10 | Oregon | 1 |
| 11 | Georgia Tech | 1 |
| 12 | Penn State | 2 |
| 13 | Oklahoma State | 3 |
| 14 | Virginia Tech | 1 |
| 15 | Miami (Florida) | 8 |
| 16 | Pittsburgh | 2 |
| 17 | West Virginia | 3 |
| 18 | Ohio State | 3 |
| 19 | Houston | 3 |
| 20 | South Carolina | 3 |
| 21 | Utah | |
| 22 | Central Michigan | 3 |
| 23 | Brigham Young | 6 |
| 24 | Mississippi | |
| 25 | California | |
| Last week's ballot | ||
Dropped Out: Texas Tech (#24), South Florida (#25).
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