LSU #11 USA # 11 AP

horseshite!!!!!!!!

Oklahoma is still probably a better team than Alabama and maybe Penn State. USC probably shouldn't be as high as they are but still better than LSU or Ohio State. The Big 12 is the top conference with 6 teams in now. SEC and Big Ten both have 4. Mountain West has 3, ACC and Big East each have 2, and the WAC, MAC, Conference USA, and Pac-10 each have one. That's right the Pac-10 only has one.

1. Texas (58) 7-0 1,522 1
2. Alabama (1) 7-0 1,436 2
3. Penn State (2) 8-0 1,413 3
4. Southern California 5-1 1,264 4
5. Oklahoma 6-1 1,218 6

Where's Oklahoma State? I don't understand how Southern Cal and Oklahoma deserve to be ranked ahead of Oklahoma State right now -- according to the poll itself, Oklahoma State has better credentials (haven't lost, beat Missouri -- only challenger is Southern Cal because they beat Ohio State, but 0 loss w/Missouri win > 1 loss w/Ohio State win). I would also put them above Penn State here because, again, Oklahoma State has done more (neither have lost, but Penn State has yet to beat a quality opponent).

6. Texas Tech 7-0 1,210 5
7. Florida 5-1 1,184 7
8. Oklahoma State 7-0 1,083 10
9. Georgia 6-1 1,067 9
10. Ohio State 7-1 995 11

Southern Cal needs to be moved below Georgia, for sure. I'm not sold on Texas Tech -- their best win is over 4-3 Nebraska. South Carolina is definitely a better win than that, and Texas Tech's competition besides Nebraska has been total crap. Georgia's at least played a couple of good teams. I would go with Florida - Southern Cal - Georgia - Texas Tech - Boise State for 6-10. (Rationale on Boise State below.)

11. LSU 5-1 903 14
12. Utah 8-0 891 13
13. Boise State 6-0 786 16
14. South Florida 6-1 643 20
15. TCU 7-1 582 24

Boise State's undefeated record needs to be respected here, in my opinion. They've played and beaten a decent team in Oregon and haven't yet lost -- something Ohio State, LSU, Utah, South Florida, and TCU all can't simultaneously claim. That said, I would keep LSU where it is and put Ohio State at #12. Utah's undefeated record comes against entirely bad teams and in my opinion shouldn't yet be considered better than Ohio State and LSU. We'll see what happens when TCU comes to town. Speaking of which, TCU and South Florida are in the right spot IMO.

16. Missouri 5-2 551 12
17. Brigham Young 6-1 464 8
18. Kansas 5-2 342 15
19. Tulsa 7-0 328 NR
20. Pittsburgh 5-1 292 NR

This is ridiculous. Brigham-Young hasn't played anyone good yet -- sans TCU, who blew them out of the water. Same with Kansas, only they now have two losses, to South Florida and Oklahoma. (To its credit, Kansas was at least competitive against Oklahoma and South Florida...but two losses, above some of these teams, is ridiculous anyway.) Tulsa's 7-0 record comes against arguably the absolute easiest schedule in college football -- they haven't earned a ranking yet, never mind jumping from unranked to 19. I think Georgia Tech and Boston College are far more deserving of a top-20 ranking, and I'd put Pittsburgh at 18, Missouri at 19, and Virginia Tech at 20.

Now, I know Virginia Tech lost yesterday. They lost for the second time yesterday. But while Kansas had yet to play anyone of value and win, Virginia Tech defeated a team I have at #16 (Georgia Tech), and another team that had they not choked in OT I would also have ranked (North Carolina) -- in other words, they've earned a top-20 ranking, despite two losses. Besides, at this point we're comparing three distinct groups:

- undefeated non-BCS teams
- one-loss BCS teams with easy schedules
- two-loss BCS teams with quality wins

I think those groups are all about equal in theory, so the questions to ask are "Is the schedule of this one-loss BCS team enough to jump an undefeated non-BCS team?" and "Are the good wins this two-loss BCS team has on a decent schedule enough for this two-loss BCS team to jump this one-loss BCS team?" The answer for this -- yes, Virginia Tech does deserve to jump them.

Virginia Tech does have a loss to ECU that looks worse and worse with each week -- but conversely, at this point most teams with a loss either haven't played anyone or have an embarrassing loss on their record.

21. Georgia Tech 6-1 282 NR
22. Ball State 7-0 274 25
23. Florida State 5-1 258 NR
24. Northwestern 6-1 177 NR
25. Minnesota 6-1 165 NR

As I said, Georgia Tech needs to be higher. After that, though, this is pretty much a pick-who-you-want session. FWIW, I have BYU, Michigan State, Vanderbilt, Minnesota, and California -- and half of the teams here are arguable, if not all. I don't like this part, but I can't say it's wrong because at this point there are too many close teams to differentiate clearly which ones are top-25 and which are not.

I don't think Florida State should be ranked, though -- their 5-1 record is nice, but two I-AA schools will make it that way. Their best win is probably 4-3 Miami (FL) -- other than that they've played 3-4 Colorado and 2-5 North Carolina State.


Just my two cents.