Power Rankings - Oct. 14

1) Oregon State (5-0, 3-0, +14, SoS: -7) - Well, I picked the winner, but not the score.  The Beavers beat the BYU Cougars 42-24 and now have their best start to the season since 1939.  Back-up QB Cody Vaz torched the formerly fearsome BYU defense for 332 passing yards and 3 TDs.  These Beavers are for real folks.  They still have tough road games at Washington and at Stanford, but, man ... has the Civil War ever featured two .... no, I won't even say it. 

2) Oregon (6-0, 3-0, +12, SoS: -13) - I hope that the Ducks enjoyed their week off.  If I'm Chip Kelly, sittin' at home watching TV, here's what I saw: A USC team with one of the best quarterbacks and the best receiving corps in the country, but with a defense that is susceptible.  A Stanford team with one of the best defenses outside of the SEC and with a punishing offensive line, but a QB prone to make mistakes, and an Oregon State team that has proven that it can beat good teams in more way than one.  Should be an interesting second half of the season.

3) Notre Dame (6-0, 0-0, +11, SoS: -6.67) - Auuuugh! What a great game, one that I really wanted Stanford to win, but that they ended up losing 13-20 in overtime.  What I saw was two great defenses playing against two average offenses.  Cardinal QB Josh Nunes is no Andrew Luck (12/25, 125 yards, 2 INTs) but he shouldn't have to be.  Meanwhile, the ND defense allowed 0 touchdowns, allowed 272 yards, had those 2 big INTs, and one huge stop on 4th and goal, which I thought was called correctly.  And now how seriously do we need to start taking the Irish's BCS chances?  They still have to travel to USC and Oklahoma, but both of those teams are beatable.  Notre Dame will just need a little bit of luck to get to the national championship game.

4) Florida (6-0, 5-0, +11, SoS: -8.33)

5) Rutgers (6-0, 3-0, +9)

6) Kansas State (6-0, 3-0, +9) -  On a day when West Virginia QB and Heisman Trophy favorite Geno Smith struggled, K-State QB Collin Klein stated his case in a 27-21 win at Iowa State.  Klein was 16/24 with 187 yards and 0 TDs and 0 INTs through the air, plus he ran for 105 yards and 3 TDs.  The man does everything.  Next week, he'll get to go head-to-head against Smith and the Mountaineers in West Virginia.

7) LSU (6-1, 2-1, +9, SoS: -13.428)

8) Alabama (6-0, 3-0, +8, SoS: -8.33)

9) Ohio (7-0, 3-0, +8) - I usually root for the little guys to crash the BCS party, but man, I am sick of the Ohio Bobcats.  This week, they beat 1-6 Akron (go Zips!) by the score of 34-28.  Akron is the third team in a row that Ohio has played with 1 win or less.  And Ohio's schedule means that they get to avoid the other two good teams in the MAC, Toledo and Northern Illinois.  In fact, if the NIU Salukis hadn't lost to Iowa 17-18, they would be sitting right here alongside the Bobcats in the power rankings.

12) Mississippi State

13) Oklahoma (4-1, 2-1, +6) - Yeah, Oklahoma is pretty good.  But Texas is really bad.  In their last four games, they have allowed 31, 36, 48, and 63 points.  Oklahoma had 677 yards of offense against the Longhorns, averaging an astounding 7.2 yards per play.  The Sooners are still in the hunt for the Big 12 championship, although they will need to win out in their conference, including at West Virginia, and have Kansas State lose twice. 

15) Texas Tech (5-1, 2-1, +9) - In a conference that too often seems allergic to even the concept of defense, Texas Tech actually has a pretty good one.  They held West Virginia to only 4.7 yards per play in their 49-14 win, and former uber-efficient passer Geno Smith was 29/55 for "only" 295 yards.  (He had 656 passing yards against Baylor.)  Things don't get easier for Tech with games at TCU and Kansas State next.  Also, they're being kept low in these rankings because of their head-to-head loss to Oklahoma.

22) USC (5-1, 3-1, +3, SoS: -13.167) -The Trojans seem to be a team still looking for their groove.  They showed flashes of brilliance in their 24-14 win against Washington, especially from receivers Marquise Lee and Robert Woods, but they were flat in the second half, turning a game that should have been a route into a pretty close affair.  QB Matt Barkley was particularly listless, with a stat line of 10/20, 167 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT.  But he'll probably do much better next week against Colorado. 

I think we can now safely put Washington in the category of Pac-12 also rans.  However, they seem to play much better at CenturyLink Field than on the road.  It will be interesting when they host Oregon State in two weeks. 

23) UCLA (5-2, 2-2, +2, SoS: -12.571) -