1Alabama (5-0) – Tide were dominant against Florida as expected. This Saturday at South Carolina in game three of the ranked team SEC tour was always the most likely stumbling spot, but Florida's rollover job may help prevent that too as Alabama is not beat up at all as one might expect after a hard-hitting national spotlight game.
2Oregon (5-0) – The Ducks continue to play average football in the first half and then be world destroyers in the second half. That will have to change for Oregon to stay undefeated, but it is enough to move the Ducks up to number two despite having only faced one real challenge.
3Ohio St. (5-0) – Sweatervestball strikes again. Ohio St. went on the road for the first time this season and the game plan suddenly got very conservative again. Continue to play like that and the Buckeyes will get tagged on the road against either Wisconsin or Iowa.
4Boise St. (5-0) - Broncos did exactly what teams are supposed to do against teams like New Mexico St. 38-0 at the half and 59-0 is exactly the type of performance I expect from top 5 teams against over matched opponents.
5TCU (5-0) – Why did the media make a big deal about Gary Patterson's first road shutout? TCU has shut out plenty of teams at home and I have no doubt Alabama, Ohio St., Boise St., Nebraska, LSU and a quite a few others could shut out Colorado St. too, especially considering that Colorado only gave up three points to them the week before giving up 52 to Cal.
6Arizona (4-0) – The Wildcats had a well-timed bye week after two tough home games. Now its onto the underbelly of the schedule before a difficult finish. Of course, soft underbelly's in the Pac-10 don't come like they do in most other leagues this season. Saturday opponent Oregon St. is a heck of a lot better than most teams in the bottom half of their leagues.
7Nebraska (4-0) – Cornhuskers face what could be their toughest test of the regular season when they face Kansas St. in Manhattan on Thursday night. I expect a raucous crowd and a tight defensive struggle. Taylor Martinez gets his first real test as the quarterback here.
8Oklahoma (5-0) – Sooners continue to win and continue to do so unimpressively with numerous major errors down the stretch allowing opponents to stay in games. This week the Sooners were bailed out by even worse errors from Texas.
9Auburn (5-0) – Good sign for Tigers: Cam Newton had no rushing attempts against UL Monroe. This means the offense was very good against a team they should destroy without using its most dangerous weapon and the defense was good enough that the coaching staff never thought it needed Newton to run.
10Stanford (4-1) – The Cardinal were the better team in the first half, but Jim Harbaugh was out coached after halftime and the lack of defensive depth caught up to Stanford at Oregon. Considering that most teams don't run nearly as many plays nearly as fast as Oregon, the Cardinal will be fine moving forward.
11Iowa (4-1) – The Hawkeyes were impressive beating Penn St. by the same 24-3 score that Alabama did. Their fans were also impressively creative getting each section in the stadium to alternate between black and gold for a cool looking effect.
12Miami (4-1) – Hurricanes have won the last two weeks, but Jacory Harris continues to throw the ball to the other team. He needs to stop that or it could really hurt the Hurricanes as soon as this week against Florida St.
13Michigan St. (5-0) – Spartans make a huge jump after finally getting the mental monkey off their backs, at least temporarily over the last three weeks. Now they get a huge showcase matchup with Michigan with a run at the Big Ten title in sight, particularly with Ohio St. not on the schedule.
14LSU (5-0) – Nothing more needs to be said about this season's stupid LSU clock situation. That said, LSU needs to find an offense in a hurry or a championship level defense is going to be wasted as soon as this week against Florida.
15Utah (4-0) – I've been talking about the Utes JV schedule for awhile now, but at least there is now a semi-competent team on the schedule. Iowa St. is 3-2 but just obliterated Tommy Tuberville and Texas Tech. If the Utes aren't careful, the Cyclones could make this a four quarter game and then its anyone's game, particularly in Ames.
16Nevada (5-0) – Another matchup with UNLV, another gaudy offensive stat line and another easy win. Ho hum. This happens every year.
17Arkansas (3-1) – Hogs close loss against Alabama looks more impressive after the Tide beat down Florida, but the Georgia win that was obtained in the last minute looks pretty awful right now and there is nothing else of importance that has occurred on the schedule thus far.
18Kansas St. (4-0) – Wildcats sat at last week and watch its resume improve quite a bit with another UCLA win and Iowa St.'s blowout win over Texas Tech. Now its put up or shut up time with Nebraska coming to town and the inside track to the Big 12 North title on the line.
19Florida (4-1) – Gators looked awful against Alabama, particularly on offense. There are two scenarios for who the Gators actually are and both are good for next year even if it means some more losses this season, at least if the right coaching moves are made. The first is 2005 Florida where Chris Leak was the quarterback and Florida was smashed at Alabama (and then again by LSU the next week) in early October on the way to a good but not great 9-3 season. The offense was tweaked along the way and Florida won the 2006 national title. The other is 2003 Auburn where the offensive line coach was elevated to offensive coordinator where he was clearly in over his head. Auburn got it right the next season and went undefeated. For Florida, Steve Addazio exhibits some of the same tendencies that Hugh Nall did for that Auburn teams except that the greatness of Tim Tebow covered it up last season. Long story short: as long as Meyer figures out which team his group is more like, Florida will be just fine next year even if there are more lumps along the way this season.
20South Carolina (3-1) – Gamecocks are good, we think, but Georgia's collapse leaves a lot of doubt in my mind as that in the only good South Carolina win. We will find out more this Saturday with the top ranked team in the country in town.
21Oklahoma St. (4-0) – No I'm not sold on this. Oklahoma St. is Michigan without the superstar but with more balance. I think that the reliance on more players makes the Cowboys a better team in the long run, but get ready for lots of shootouts Cowboy fans.
22Air Force (4-1) – Was it impressive? Heck no. But it got the job done. The important stat for Air Force is that the seven game losing streak to Navy is over.
23Michigan (5-0) – Denard continues to carve teams up. I don't expect this week against Michigan St. to be any different, at least for Denard and the offense. Of course, the Wolverines might need to score on every possession just to force overtime this week.
24Missouri (4-0) – The Tigers haven't really played anyone yet and trailed both Illinois and San Diego St. in the second half, but recent results over the last two week have convinced me those two team are both way underrated. And if they are underrated, Missouri has some better wins than people think.
25Florida St. (4-1) – Seminoles have quietly gone about the business of protecting its young, terrible secondary since the Oklahoma debacle by destroying other teams quarterbacks using the theory of it doesn't matter how bad the secondary is if the quarterback of the other team is on his back.
Others Considered
Wisconsin (4-1) – Badgers have been wholly unimpressive thus far and were lucky for the Michigan St. game to even be competitive at the end. The special teams are a nightmare.
West Virginia (3-1) – The best Big East team has the best win in the league (Maryland) and the most talent along with a loss that is at least not embarrassing. Will do unkind things to UNLV this week.
Northwestern (5-0) – 5-0 is 5-0 but being lucky to escape Minnesota with a victory is not what ranked teams do.
Virginia Tech (3-2) – Might be the best team in the ACC, but its still a week or two early for two loss teams to show up in the rankings and the loss to James Madison still stings (and JMU lost to Delaware down in the FCS ranks this week)
UCLA (3-2) – Has been getting attention because of its two wins over ranked teams, but those teams were both really overrated and unable to use UCLA's kryptonite: power running. Cal with Shane Vereen and a line that can run the ball is the real test of whether the Bruins have turned a corner.
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