1 Auburn (12-0) – Tigers finally move to number one. The sheer number of wins over highly ranked opponents trumps Oregon's dominance.
2 Oregon (11-0) – That said, Oregon is really 1A and if both Auburn and Oregon win the championship game will be one heck of a game.
3 TCU (12-0) – The Horned Frogs get to sit and wait and hope for a loss by one of the top two. I don't think it is coming, but if it is, Auburn is the more likely because of the quality of its opponent
4 Wisconsin (11-1) – Badgers are just owning teams right now. The question of course is how good are defenses Wisconsin is playing (really bad) and can this type of run extend against an elite defense like TCU's?
5 Stanford (11-1) – Cardinal are probably undeserving of their number four ranking and might even be undeserving of this rankings. They really haven't beaten anyone of note.
6 Ohio St. (11-1) – Buckeyes smoked Michigan as expected to share another Big Ten title. Now awaiting the call from the Sugar Bowl.
7 Michigan St. (11-1) – Sparty really should get a BCS game this season, but it won't because of the two teams from one league rule. Can we just trade Michigan St. out for the Big East champ but keep the payouts each would have received the same?
8 Arkansas (10-2) – Razorbacks are playing great football right now and would be incredibly dangerous in a playoff if there was one with its offense.
9 Nevada (11-1) – Wolfpack just pulled off biggest win in school history. Now must win at Louisiana Tech to finish off the league title campaign.
10 Boise St. (10-1) – Broncos have had a great run in the WAC. Let's not forget that as they move on to the Mountain West next season.
11 LSU (10-2) – Finally ran out of magical 4th quarter plays. It was bound to happen eventually.
12 Texas A&M (9-3) – Now begins the Big 12 section of these rankings. Most of the next few teams are from that league and all have at least one win and one loss against the others top teams in the league. Texas A&M gets my nod as the top one because it is playing the best right now and the extra loss is to Arkansas, a loss I believe all of the others would have taken too.
13 Nebraska (10-2) – Winners of the North get a chance to take the conference title out of the league with them.
14 Missouri (10-2) – Nobody knew at the time that the blown lead to a very average Texas Tech would cost Missouri a shot at the league title.
15 South Carolina (9-3) – A team to break up the Big 12 monotony, they got housed by Arkansas early this month but have been amazing since. They have a decent chance to knock off Auburn Saturday.
16 Oklahoma (10-2) – Back to the Big 12 where inconsistent Oklahoma resides next. The Sooners are good enough to beat any team in these rankings including Auburn and Oregon on a given day, but also flaky enough to lose to nearly anyone on a given day as well.
17 Oklahoma St. (10-2) – The defense collapsed in the two biggest games of the year. It's still a problem. 51 points to Nebraska and 47 to Oklahoma won't cut it.
18 Virginia Tech (10-2) – Amazingly, Hokies are the first team to get through ACC regular season conference schedule unscathed since Florida St. in 2000.
19 Alabama (9-3) – Well that didn't go to plan. IF you had told Alabama fans they were going to have a 24-0 lead, they would have taken it too the bank. Now the Tide has some legit question marks going into next season.
20 Florida St. (9-3) – Seminoles are truly on the way back. I don't expect arrival to happen quite yet though as Virginia Tech is just a better team this season.
21 Utah (10-2) – Utes have struggled the last two weeks, but gotten two tough wins to close out its Mountain West tenure on a high note.
22 West Virginia (8-3) – Mountaineers have one of the best defenses in the country. They are the only one to not allow more than 21 points in a game all season.
23 Hawaii (9-3) – Now things get murky. Warriors have a couple of blight worthy losses to Colorado and USC, but have one huge win over Nevada, even if it came on the islands.
24 Mississippi St. (8-4) – Bulldogs don't really have any big wins considering the state of the Florida offense right now. They also have no bad losses for the first time in recent memory.
25 Maryland (8-4) – Terps finally did something well in throwing for over 400 yards in the upset of NC State over the weekend
Arizona (7-4) – Wildcats have lost three in a row and have watched signature victory Iowa fall off a cliff as well. A nice team that took advantage of a weak first half schedule and an overrated signature opponent.
Northern Illinois (10-2) – 10 wins is nice, but there is nothing of note in those ten wins and a loss to Iowa St. in blowout fashion on the resume.
NC State (8-4) – Wolfpack are here as much because they managed to beat Central Florida on the road as anything else. They are really inconsistent, just like most of their ACC brethren.
Central Florida (9-3) – Golden Knights are heavy favorites to win Conference USA again. George O'Leary has done a heck of a job with this team.
San Diego St. (8-4) – Aztecs most important item is keeping Brady Hoke. Everything else should be secondary.
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