1Oregon (6-0) – Ducks have the best offense in college football and a defense that gets the job done, especially in the second half. At this point, I'm not sure anyone can completely contain the offense without extra time to prepare.
2Ohio St. (6-0) – Buckeyes have looked impressive and the struggle with Illinois looks better after the Illini blowout win at Penn St., but that is the best win (yes better than Miami right now) putting the Ohio St. resume on par with Missouri. This is really the last of the preseason aided wait and see rankings. This week will tell the tale.
3Boise St. (6-0) – Broncos have two of the better wins of the season over Oregon St. and Virginia Tech and have won each game against the others teams on the schedule in blowout fashion. Still not lots of help to not get jumped later in the season.
4Nebraska (5-0) – Looked impressive at Kansas St. and while that win is very valuable, it didn't really answer any questions about the team. Kansas St.'s one big weakness is run defense (as is Washington's) and the Cornhuskers will run over any team without a strong run defense. What happens when this team either has to throw because the run has been stuffed or score with a team like Oklahoma St.?
5TCU (6-0) – Another week, another shutout of an over matched Mountain West team. Yawn. Wake me up when they reach the meat of the schedule and BYU doesn't really count this season.
6Oklahoma (5-0) – Sooners probably struggled to beat bye week before holding on in the end just like every game except the Florida St. win. Of course blowing the Seminoles off the field looks even more impressive right now.
7Auburn (6-0) – The Tigers continue to give their fans like me heart attacks, but they continue to win. With traditional ruiner of seasons Arkansas on the schedule this week, Auburn fans have a lot more to worry about than a few close calls though.
8South Carolina (4-1) – Gamecocks big win was probably the best game the program has ever played. Now we see if they can avoid the traditional toe stubbing after a big win against Kentucky this week. Also have to survive the November Orange Crush with Tennessee, Florida and Clemson, but all of those games look easier than normal this season.
9Alabama (5-1) – Why did they abandon the run? It may not have made the difference, but the running game got Alabama to where they were and the running game kept South Carolina from upsetting Alabama last year.
10LSU (6-0) – Les Miles continues to confound everyone, but it continues to work. This week should finally be the hang 50 type of blowout everyone in Baton Rouge wants before the Auburn game.
11Michigan St. (6-0) – Sparty has a good chance to go undefeated. Too bad they don't play Ohio St. With that problem, the Spartans really have no realistic chance at the national title and could go undefeated and get squeezed out of the Rose Bowl by Boise St. or TCU.
12Utah (5-0) – Utes smashed Iowa St. by a huge margin. Now is back to minor league football until they face one of the most difficult stretches I have seen for a non-BCS conference team: at Air Force, TCU, at Notre Dame.
13Florida St. (5-1) – Are they all the way back yet? No. Are they finally truly on the way? Yes. Should win 10 or even 11 games this season in the weak ACC. Game against NC State could be a legitimately big game.
14Arkansas (4-1) – Despite tons of yards, the Razorbacks aren't scoring tons of points. That could be a problem at Auburn who gives up tons of yards, but doesn't give up a ton of points.
15Arizona (4-1) – Wildcats got beat at home by Oregon St. but that is not completely unsurprising. This team was never going undefeated anyway and probably topped out at 10-2. That is still on the table.
16Iowa (4-1) – Hawkeyes drop through no fault of their own. Losing to Arizona handcuffs them to the Wildcats until they lose a second game. Don't like it, win the game.
17Stanford (5-1) – Cardinal also drop, but this was of their own doing. USC's offense is good but shouldn't look like world beaters on the road against a top 10 level team and the Stanford offense while very good has some limitations.
18Missouri (5-0) – Missouri is still undefeated and still nobody knows how good they are. They are one win away from a mega matchup with Oklahoma that will answer our questions one way of the other.
19West Virginia (4-1) – The LSU loss wasn't a bad loss on the road and the offense seems to have stabilized since the near defeat to Marshall. Still might be a little high though.
20Air Force (5-1) – Falcons continue to fly high and have entered all of the mainstream polls. Contenders in the Mountain West and could spoil Utah or TCU's season, or both.
21Nevada (6-0) – Wolfpack have looked unimpressive for a few weeks now. If they don't get things going again offensively, they could get tagged at Hawaii this week.
22Wisconsin (5-1) – Badgers return to my rankings after a one week absence. I don't really believe in them though. Beat Ohio St. and that all changes.
23Oregon St. (3-2) – Now holding three good wins to go along with two competitive losses against top 5 teams. Could reach the Civil War with Oregon with everything on the line for the 3rd straight year.
24Virginia Tech (4-2) – Hokies have recovered from their haze after losing to Boise St. With Miami's struggles, and the current state of affairs at Georgia Tech (no defense and lots of fumbles) and North Carolina (well-documented both here and everywhere else on the internet at this point), Virginia Tech is likely to play in the ACC Title game again after a one season absence.
25NC State (5-1) – Russell Wilson is playing out of his mind, but he needs to tighten up the interception problem to keep his team in the ACC race.
Others I considered
Oklahoma St. (6-0) – Cowboys will be back if they win this week. Not being ranked is a one week punishment for trailing a bad Sun Belt team at halftime.
Kansas St. (4-1) – It was ugly against Nebraska, but the Wildcats should bounce back. There are no strong power running teams left on the schedule and that is the type of team that will incinerate the Kansas St. defense. The resume still looks good though it took a couple of hits over the weekend (UCLA and Iowa St.)
Florida (4-2) – The Gators just look awful on offense. Don't let the 29 points against LSU fool you. That was just LSU keeping Florida in the game as the Tigers seem to do for everyone.
Michigan (5-1) – The resume says yes they are deserving. The defensive yardage numbers say no. I am going with the defensive problems. This team is still a bottom half of the Big Ten team.
Mississippi St. (4-2) – Bulldogs might be really good. The losses to Auburn and LSU weren't considered bad when they happened and they look even better know. The win over Georgia looks better than it did last week and this team looks like a lock for at least seven wins with the remaining schedule.
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