Ha-ha! My "system" of ranking is coming out with some pretty interesting results now - most notably Illinois at No. 9 and Kansas State at No. 12. The AP Poll has them 19th and 20th, respectably. Fine. But the AP also has Florida State and Texas A&M in the poll, two two-loss teams. And I know that they've both lost to quality opponents (Oklahoma, Clemson, Oklahoma State, Arkansas) but need I remind you all: The only goal in football is to win games. No one should be rewarded for a loss, even a "quality loss."
1) LSU Tigers (5-0, 2-0) - I wish that I could rank LSU and Alabama 1a and 1b. LSU looked like they were sleepwalking there a little bit in their 35-7 win over Kentucky, forcing only one turnover the entire game. But I guess you're allowed to do that when you only give up 155 total yards and don't allow a score until the fourth quarter.
2) Alabama Crimson Tide (5-0 , 2-0) - Time for my first "Totally Premature BCS Nightmare Scenario": #9 South Carolina (10-2) upsets #1 Alabama (12-0) 24-21 in the SEC Championship. #2 Oklahoma wins the Big 12 at 11-1, #3 Boise State is the only undefeated team at 12-0, and #4 LSU finishes 11-1. No other team has fewer than 2 losses. Who do you put in the BCS Championship?
3) Boise State Broncos (4-0, 0-0) - Boise State got some sort of catharsis in dominating rival Nevada 30-10. But the sad truth is that the Broncos have a much tougher road to the BCS this year than they did last year. By my count, they are going to have to run the table, and have no more than one other team go undefeated, and have at most one SEC team finish with one loss or fewer.
4) Wisconsin (5-0, 1-0)
5) Oklahoma (4-0, 1-0)
6) Stanford (4-0, 2-0)
7) Oklahoma State (4-0, 1-0)
8) Clemson Tigers (5-0, 2-0) - The Clemson Tigers have now won back-to-back-to-back games against ranked opponents, (Auburn, Florida State, Virginia Tech) and have the inside track to reach the ACC title game. CB Xavier Brewer had his third interception of the season against VT.
9) Illinois Illini (5-0, 1-0) - Yeah, I may be a homer, considering that the Illini have won their last three games by a total of nine points, and needed two miracles to come back from 18 points down to beat Northwestern, 38-35. But they're also off to their best start since 1951, when they finished the season 8-0-1 and claimed a National Title by beating Stanford in the Rose Bowl, 40-7.
10) Michigan Wolverines (5-0, 1-0) - It may have been against lowly Minnesota, but Michigan sure looked like a complete team in a 58-0 rout. The football gods have blessed the Wolverines by not putting Wisconsin on their schedule, but they're still going to have to win at Michigan State if they want to reach the Big Ten championship.
11) Texas Longhorns (4-0, 1-0)- Boo. Texas continues to be on the revenge path, this time winning at Iowa State 37-14. The worst part about it is that now ESPN will be losing their sh*t all week long about undefeated Texas versus undefeated Oklahoma. But remember, not counting Iowa State, Texas' previous opponents (Rice, BYU, UCLA) have a combined record of 6-8. Final score: Texas 17, Oklahoma 42.
12) Kansas State Wildcats (4-0, 1-0) - Heisman Trophy Watch: QB Robert Griffin III: 23/31, 346 yards, 5TDs 1 INT.... oh, wait... wrong team. K-State has now won back-to-back thrillers against Miami and Baylor. Let's see if they can do it again next week against Missouri.
13) Georgia Tech (5-0, 2-0)
14) Houston Cougars (5-0, 1-0) - Heisman Trophy Watch: QB Case Keenum: 30/46, 471 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs. He also leads the country in passing yards per game, and has 14 TDs to 2 INTs for the season.
15) Texas Tech (4-0, 1-0)
16) Arkansas Razorbacks (4-1, 0-1) - I definitely expected Arkansas to beat Texas A&M. I didn't expect them to have to rally from down 17 to do it, though. They gave up 230 yards rushing to RB Christine Michael. Auburn and RB Michael Dyer are coming to town next week. Arkansas' defense has some work to do.
17) Oregon Ducks (3-1, 1-0) - For almost 30 minutes, the Ducks looked like an elite team in building a 35-3 lead over the Arizona Wildcats. Then they let their foot off the gas and allowed Arizona to score 21 consecutive points, before waking back up and cruising to a final 56-31 win. 3-1 Cal comes to Eugene on Thursday night. I bet the fans at Autzen will remember all those "injuries" the Bears suffered in last year's 15-13 thriller in Berkeley.
18) Florida Gators (4-1, 2-1) - There was about, maybe, 30 seconds in the first quarter of the Alabama-Florida game when I thought to myself, "Hey, Florida just might pull this off." Nope, wrong. The Gators now have to play at LSU, possibly without QB John Brantley. My question is, "Who now should be favored to win the SEC East?" Georgia Bulldog fans should be pricking up their ears.
19) Nebraska (4-1, 0-1)
20) West Virginia Mountaineers (4-1, 0-0)- With South Florida getting embarrassed at Pitt 44-17, West Virginia remains the only ranked Big East team. (They're #16 in the AP.) Sometimes I'm glad that the Big East is self-destructing. Then maybe we don't have to keep letting a 9-3 team go to the Orange Bowl.
21) Auburn Tigers (4-1, 2-0) - I like Auburn. They won ugly again, this time 16-13 over South Carolina in a game that had a total of 8 turnovers. Things get tougher for the Tigers, as their next three games are at Arkansas, vs. Florida, and at LSU. Winning just one of those games might be considered a positive outcome.
22) Penn State Nittany Lions (4-1, 1-0)- I've ranked Penn State because I don't feel like I can punish them for a) losing to #2 Alabama or b) winning ugly 16-10 at a bad Indiana team. They'll have a chance to prove themselves again against Iowa next week. Also, it gives me six top 25 teams with big cats as their mascots. (Tigers, Tigers, Wildcats, Cougars, Tigers, Nittany Lions)
23) Arizona State Sun Devils (4-1, 2-0) - There's a whole platoon of one-loss Pac-12 teams that could be bunched up here at the bottom of the rankings. ASU gets the edge over the Huskies for now, because they have two quality wins over Missouri and USC, and Nebraska just got clobbered by Wisconsin while Illinois remains undefeated. The Sun Devils have a big showdown next week at Utah, a game which should decide the Pac-12 South.
24) Virginia Tech (4-1, 0-1)
25) SMU (4-1, 2-0)
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