Week 3 College Football Top 25

This week, some things stat changing in the rankings here. Preseason status no longer matters at all. This is a combination power ranking and resume ranking that from here on out can be considered highly volatile.

1. Alabama (3-0) (Last week's ranking: 1) – Alabama has done nothing to make anyone think differently about its team. Three blowout wins, one a good win over Penn St. is impressive.
2. Ohio St. (3-0) (2) – The win over Miami is immensely valuable and the other two blowouts don't hurt anything since they were comprehensive blowouts.
3. Oregon (3-0) (4) – First in all yardage and scoring categories, the Ducks appear to be on a scorched Earth campaign like nothing we have seen in recent years.
4. TCU (3-0) (7) – Well-balanced and playing great offensive football. The defense is its normal stingy self.
5. Boise St. (2-0) (5) – Hurt by the Virginia Tech loss to James Madison, it appears right now that the Broncos are going to get some unexpected schedule help from conference brethren Fresno St. and Nevada.
6. Nebraska (3-0) (8) – Likely to drop after this week, especially since Washington looks like the same old Washington of the last 4-6 years. The running game has been dominant.
7. Arizona (3-0) (14) – With the exception of 15 ugly minutes against Iowa, the Wildcats have looked like a national title contender.
8. South Carolina (3-0) (13) – I know they only beat Furman last week. Doesn't matter because the Georgia win is still good and the Southern Miss win looks better now than it did then.
9. Oklahoma (3-0) (3) – The Sooners don't seem to have the killer instinct to just obliterate teams, They have some of the best talent, but they don't always use it for some reason.
10. Stanford (3-0) (16) – Obliterated Wake Forest in the game to make up for all the Pac-10 teams that have been killed by the 9am Pacific Time kickoff. Wake Forest had to kick at 11:15 ET not that it would have mattered with how well the Cardinal played.
11. LSU (3-0) (20) – Still not playing up to the talent level, especially on offense, but the defense is really good.
12. Iowa (2-1) (9) – Showed a ton of resiliency despite losing at Arizona. Might want to fix the offensive line (or attribute the loss to the Arizona line hulking out and killing them in the end).
13. Utah (3-0) (12) – Don't know what to make of this team yet. Sloppy win in the opener followed by two layups doesn't tell us anything. Wake me when we get to the Air Force game.
14. Texas (3-0) (6) – The offense here is bad and turnover prone. Luckily for the Longhorns nobody has figured out the defense.
15. Auburn (3-0) (17) – A great win in a hard-hitting game, but will the toll extracted by Clemson cost Auburn against South Carolina.
16. Nevada (3-0) (NR) – The Wolf Pack looked great against Cal. Now they get their first road test against BYU this week. Pass that and Nevada should be either 10-1 or 11-0 when they host Boise St. the day after Thanksgiving.
17. Arkansas (3-0) (NR) – I don't really believe in this team. They can't run the ball and the defense still hasn't proven what they can do what is needed in the meat of the schedule.
18. Florida (3-0) (10) – The Gators have no real offense to speak of until after halftime. That speaks to great adjustments being made by Urban Meyer and horrible preparation by offensive coordinator Steve Addazio.
19. Kansas St. (3-0) (19) – The Wildcats have one of the best running backs in college football with Daniel Thomas. If he goes down though, this team is screwed.
20. Wisconsin (3-0) (11) – The Badgers have been very underwhelming so far with turnovers and a general lack of explosiveness. Were lucky to beat Arizona St.
21. West Virginia (3-0) (NR) – The Mountaineers looked awful against Marshall but appear to have found something in the passing game against Maryland.
22. Air Force (2-1) (24) – Yes, the Falcons moved up after a loss, but they probably should have won that game against Oklahoma.
23. Clemson (2-1) (23) – No quality wins, but played Auburn to a stand still and looked the part of a top 20 team, especially in the first half.
24. Miami (1-1) (21) – Hurricanes return to action Thursday but may not be the favorite in the ACC any longer.
25. Michigan (3-0) (15) – Defenseless once again. Denard Robinson is in for a long season of spectacular plays because there isn't likely to be too much garbage time for the rest of the year.

Others Considered (in no certain order)

Oregon St. (1-1) – One unimpressive win over Louisville and a loss to TCU is not enough of a resume to warrant a ranking at this point.

NC State (3-0) – Looked good in taking apart Cincinnati, but how good are the Bearcats this season?

USC (3-0) – Continuing the JV portion of the schedule for awhile longer. See you October 9 when you reach Stanford at 5-0.

Penn St. (2-1) (22) – Concerns on offense drop the Lions out of the rankings. They can't run and the true freshman quarterback is still a possible liability in big road games.

Fresno St. (2-0) – Same questions as NC State and this weeks game against Ole Miss won't answer anything, unless they somehow manage to lose.