1 Auburn (13-0) – Cam Newton is going to win the Heisman barring some nefarious voting from the integrity block that fears another Reggie Bush situation.
2 Oregon (12-0) – Another week, another second half deluge though it wasn't nearly as big this week. The Ducks shouldn't count on one of their patented second half rallies against Auburn, by far the best second half team they have faced.
3 TCU (12-0) – Frogs might want to be in the national title game, but the Rose Bowl is a nice consolation for a non-BCS team considering the circumstances.
4 Wisconsin (11-1) – The Badgers offense will be tested for the first time in quite some time when they face TCU in the Rose Bowl.
5 Stanford (11-1) – The Cardinal pass the eye test, but they lack quality victories. A win over Virginia Tech if they get it will be the best of the season by far.
6 Ohio St. (11-1) – Ditto Stanford. Replace Virginia Tech with Arkansas.
7 Michigan St. (11-1) – Probably deserved better than their bowl fate considering the record and the win over Wisconsin. One misnomer: the Spartans are not in this spot because they started lower than Wisconsin and Ohio St. They are in this spot because they got obliterated by a 7-5 team and Ohio St, is the biggest marquee name in the Big Ten.
8 Arkansas (10-2) – The defense hasn't been great during this winning streak, but that might even make the Razorbacks more attractive to bowl organizers. Remember the factors for bowl committees: fan base, marquee name for TV, winning, big offense preferably with average defense.
9 Nevada (12-1) – Wolfpack did a good job of not letting down against Louisiana Tech finishing the season with the needed win to share the WAC title.
10 Boise St. (11-1) – Ho hum win over Utah St. Nothing to see here.
11 LSU (10-2) – The lack of a passing game really killed this team this season. Offensive Coordinator Gary Crowton is still likely on the hot seat going into bowl season.
12 Texas A&M (9-3) – The Aggies have been among the best teams in the country since Ryan Tannehill was inserted as the starting quarterback. If he had been the starter the whole season, the Aggies likely would have beaten both Oklahoma St. and Arkansas (nothing could have saved the Aggies in their terrible performance against Missouri)..
13 Oklahoma (11-2) – Another year, another Big 12 title. Ho hum. Years like this one at Oklahoma under Bob Stoops have generally included a run at the national title the next season.
14 Missouri (10-2) – Too bad the offense hasn't been at its usual level this season. If it was, the Tigers likely would have run the table opposite the best defense Missouri has ever had.
15 Virginia Tech (11-2) – 11 straight wins and the ACC title. The Hokies are the overlords of the ACC. All they need to do is figure out how to win big intersectional games. This years loss to Boise St. just follows the pattern started by losses in recent years both in the regular season and bowl games to the likes of LSU, USC, Auburn and Kansas.
16 Nebraska (10-3) – As it turns out, the offense really isn't all that better than last season. The defense is just as good though that doesn't help when a team can't score against any quality opponents.
17 Oklahoma St. (10-2) – The Cowboys offense is one of the best in the country. The defense, while improved over previous years was still the achilles heel of this team, as usual.
18 South Carolina (9-4) – Gamecocks just had no answer for Cam Newton. After the performance Saturday, maybe the original plan of stopping Newton as a passer is the better way to stop him. It didn't work either way for South Carolina, but at least they kept it close the first time.
19 Alabama (9-3) – As it turned out, this team was way overrated to begin the season. Other than the early road win over Arkansas, this team really didn't beat any one of true consequence.
20 Utah (10-2) – The Utes now get one last non-BCs all-star bowl against Boise St. before joining the big boy ranks. Next season, the Utes could very easily be back in the Las Vegas Bowl as the BCS league overlord.
21 West Virginia (9-3) – Mountaineers defense is really good. If the offense hadn't taken a nap midseason, the team would be 11-1 and headed to the Orange Bowl to play Virginia Tech.
22 Florida St. (9-4) – Just had no answers for Virginia Tech's offense. Things are finally looking up after a few years in the wilderness, but the talent level hasn't returned to normal yet.
23 Hawaii (10-3) – Warriors have one huge quality win over Nevada and not much else. Still, that is enough without any truly awful losses this season to get into the back of the rankings.
24 Mississippi St. (8-4) – Bulldogs had a great season, but still finished 5th in the SEC West That isn't good, but winning every non-division game helped quite a bit.
25 Maryland (8-4) – Terps have been very good this season on the scoreboard despite being average at everything. This is exactly like nearly every other Terps team in the last five seasons except last year's 2-10 disaster.
Others Considered
Nobody – If I could stop the list after 22, I would. Hawaii, Mississippi St. and Maryland don't deserve to be ranked and even Florida St. and West Virginia are marginal. Other than 8-4 NC State who lost every step up game and has a bad loss to East Carolina, nobody is even close. Sorry non-BCS teams, you need to avoid having four losses to get ranked or beat some quality non-conference team (Central Florida lost to both NC State and Kansas St.). Sorry other BCS conference teams, you need to avoid five losses.
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