This is a resume ranking. I am only looking at what teams have accomplished thus far, not at what they might do ahead or what I think they will do. Believe me, if this were a traditional ranking system of the the power poll variety, Auburn wouldn't be within 20 miles of the top 25 and Kansas St., Michigan and Illinois would be ranked somewhere in the teens and maybe lower in some cases.
1 LSU (6-0) – Another week, another blowout win. Given the schedules, there is no way LSU drops out of the top spot before the Alabama game unless they lose and that's not going to happen (at Tennessee, Auburn before that)
2 Alabama (6-0) – Ole Miss and Tennessee all that remains before the big game. Just playing the string out here until then.
3 Oklahoma (5-0) – Sooners clocked Texas to move back in front of Clemson and control their own destiny in the national title chase. Win out (including the title game) and win the national title.
4 Clemson (6-0) – Poor Clemson. Finally over the yips and they are pretty much in Boise St. territory. At least should enjoy their moment the next two weeks until College Gameday shows up in Atlanta for their game against Georgia Tech.
5 Wisconsin (5-0) – Given Nebraska's struggles with Ohio St. the question must still be asked, who has Wisconsin beaten. The answer is nobody until Penn St., Illinois stretch in November (never thought I would type those words).
6 Kansas St. (5-0) – Remember that this is a resume ranking. Wildcats aren't this good in a power poll. Remember that they started 4-0 last season before being taken behind the woodshed against Nebraska.
7 Boise St. (5-0) – If Boise St. wants to win the National Title, they need to schedule more aggressively. Playing Georgia (good) and 4 non-AQs from weaker league (ouch) just won't cut it for a non-AQ team in the title chase. Only ranked in front of AQ undefeateds now because many haven't hit the meat of their schedules yet.
8 Michigan (6-0) – Wolverines have shown some vulnerabilities, but the collapse of their league means they might actually be title contenders.
9 Oklahoma St. (5-0) – The schedule actually kind of kicks in this week with the trip to Texas. Blow them up like Kansas was blown up last week, and this ranking will be much higher next week.
10 Illinois (6-0) – The fact that Zook is 6-0 just shows the sorry state of the Illinois schedule.
11 Georgia Tech (6-0) – Other than North Carolina, the best win is against Kansas. I think that says enough.
12 Stanford (5-0) – The schedule so far would be an insult to the Little Sisters of the Poor. Next week's game against Washington can't get here quick enough.
13 Arizona St. (5-1) – Sun Devils are one mind numbingly stupid loss to Illinois from a top 5 ranking (17-14 in a game that actually wasn't played at noon ET)
14 Baylor (4-1) – Defenseless Bears continue to win, blowing up Iowa St. I want to see them against a real defense though.
15 Arkansas (5-1) – Razorbacks are probably underranked here (resume or power ranking it doesn't matter). They appear headed to 10-1 going into the LSU game.
16 Oregon (4-1) – Ducks have gotten the offense in gear since the LSU debacle. The schedule gets into gear Saturday (Arizona St. visits Autzen with College Gameday along for the ride).
17 West Virginia (5-1) – Mountaineers continue to play only one half of football. That one half usually is enough, especially in the Big East.
18 Texas (4-1) – While bad, that beating was no worse than the ones suffered in 2000 or 2004 when Oklahoma was cruising to the title game.
19 Penn St. (5-1) – I can't believe they have won enough to force me to rank this team given the state of the offense (Nittany Lion games are totally unwatchable, possibly even for fans of the team).
20 Nebraska (5-1) – Well that was ugly. Take the win Nebraska and be thankful the comeback at the end was being led by Bauserman and not Braxton Miller. The defense has some major issues.
21 Washington (4-1) – Huskies are surprisingly very good. Wins over Cal and Utah are nice and the Nebraska loss was at least a game.
22 Notre Dame (4-2) – Now that the turnover machine has been fixed, Notre Dame looks really good. I expect them to be 9-2 when they head to Stanford on Thanksgiving weekend.
23 North Carolina (5-1) – Tar Heels have done well working through another year of adversity. I'm actually kind of rooting for these guys now, dirty program though it was.
24 Auburn (4-2) – Anybody with half a brain could see these guys had little chance against Arkansas. That they still might somehow cobble together 8 wins is a testament to the weakness of the SEC this season.
25 South Carolina (5-1) – With Stephen Garcia gone entirely, maybe this team can finally just play football, especially on offense where the team struggled all season until last week's 54-3 win over Kentucky.
Others
Florida (4-2) – With Tennessee's demise against Georgia, the Gators have no quality wins. The losses aren't really black marks though.
Houston (6-0) – The only win of note is a home game that was a struggle against UCLA. This will continue to be the case until the SMU game in mid-November. Despite the weakness, this schedule is not a total abomination though like the Hawaii 2007 undefeated schedule was.
Georgia (4-2) – Four straight wins, but they have been unimpressive on offense and playing against a ton of bad offenses, pumping their defensive rankings up. Probably will be in with another win this weekend though (despite playing Vanderbilt's awful offense).
Virginia Tech (5-1) – Beating Miami was a start, but the Hurricanes have a losing record at this point.
Wake Forest (4-1) – The loss to Syracuse hasn't quite been canceled out yet. Win this week and a ranking is assured (plays Virginia Tech, that ultimatum also goes for the Hokies)
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