1) Stanford (5-0, 3-0, +13) - The Cardinal's stopping of Keith Price and Washington on 4th and 10 with under 2 minutes to play was not the only controversial ending Saturday night. Stanford held on to beat the Huskies 31-28, and take the inside track in the Pac-12 North. However, many questions remain, especially about Stanford's offense. QB Kevin Hogan looked mediocre for the first time all season, going 12 for 20 for 105 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT. Also, Stanford's offense was outgained by Washington's 284-489. They're going to have to fix these problems fast, too; after a trip to Utah next week, Stanford faces UCLA, Oregon State, and Oregon in succession.
2) Washington (4-1, 1-1, +10) - It's no consolation to come up just short in a big game like this one, but the Huskies have plenty of reason to be confident going forward. I believe that they have two legitimate Heisman candidates: QB Keith Price (33/48, 350 yds, 2 TD, 1 INT) and RB Bishop Sankey (125 yds on 27 carries, 2 TDs). Oregon comes to Seattle next week, in what should be an awesome game. Washington hasn't beaten the Ducks since 2003. Next week they get their chance.
3) Alabama (5-0, 2-0, +10) - Alabama beat Georgia State 45-3. Next week they play at Kentucky. Good for them.
4) Georgia (4-1, 3-0, +10) - Georgia's 34-31 overtime win over Tennessee was the game that had me howling. The Bulldogs trailed 31-24 with less than 2 minutes left, but Tennessee couldn't stop them from tying the game on a 3rd and goal from the 2. Then in overtime, Tennessee's Alton Howard fumbled the ball as he was crossing the end zone, resulting in a touchback and a turnover to Georgia. So, I just want to point out that Georgia needed a couple of plays varying from unlikely to miraculous in order to pull out the win against a team that Oregon beat 59-14. Next week, Georgia is at home against undefeated Missouri.
5) Michigan (5-0, 1-0, +9) - I think the Wolverines have been happy to be out of the spotlight for a while. They beat Minnesota 42-13, and are at Penn State next week in a game that looked a lot more intimidating before the Nittany Lions lost at Indiana 44-24.
6) Clemson (5-0, 3-0, +9) - Clemson QB Tajh Boyd ought to be at or near the top of most Heisman lists. In Clemson's 49-14 win over Syracuse, Boyd went 20/27, 455 yds, 5 TDs, and 2 INTs. Ten different Tigers had receptions, led by Sammy Watkins, who had 4 catches for 126 yards and 1 TD. Clemson is at home against Boston College next week before they host Florida State in the ACC game of the year.
7) Miami (FL) (5-0, 1-0, +9) - The Hurricanes still have plans for the ACC Championship, but they will need next week's bye to fix some problems. Two weeks ago, they looked lethargic against a terrible South Florida team, turning the ball over 4 times and giving up 4.8 yards per play, and this week they fell behind Georgia Tech 17-7 before rallying for a 45-30 win. In this game, they also turned the ball over 4 times, and gave up 5.0 yards per play.
8) Ohio State (6-0, 2-0, +9) - The Buckeyes escaped Evanston with a 40-30 win, and have now passed the toughest part of their schedule. Michigan is the only other ranked team that Ohio State will face in the regular season. That means that they will have a very good chance of going undefeated. However, it also means that they would probably be ranked behind an undefeated Pac-12 champ at the end of the season. They are at home against Iowa next week.
9) Florida State (5-0, 3-0, +8) - The Seminoles made the biggest statement of the weekend, crushing previously undefeated Maryland 63-0. Jameis Winston had a stat line of 23/32, 393 yds, 5 TDs and 0 INTs. On the other side of the ball, the defense held Maryland to 234 total yards, including 33 rushing yards on 1.3 yards per rush. They get a bye week before traveling to Clemson on Oct. 19.
10) UCLA (4-0, 1-0, +7) - QB Brett Hundley had an off game against Utah, but the Bruins defense didn't, catching 6 interceptions to help UCLA to a 34-27 road win. Utah, USC, and Colorado are all 0-2 in conference, and UCLA is the only team in the South without a loss. The Bruins play Cal next week before back-to-back trips to Stanford and Oregon. Fortunately, UCLA gets Arizona State - probably the second best team in the South - at home on Nov. 23.
11) Texas Tech (5-0, 2-0, +5) - The Red Raiders continue to roll along, beating Kansas 54-16. Next week they are at Iowa State.
12) Louisville (5-0, 1-0, +5) - The Cardinals won at Temple 30-7, and Teddy Bridgewater had a stat line of 25/35, 348 yds, 2 TDs, 0 INTs. They play Rutgers next weekend. Louisville is 4-0 in non-conference games; the rest of the American Conference is 14-20.
13) Oregon (5-0, 2-0, +5) - Here are the final scores for Oregon's last four games: 59-10, 59-14, 55-16, 57-16. That is consistency. Granted, they have not been playing against elite teams (ahem, Tennessee .... ) but if the box score next week against Washington is anything like that, we will know that this is a special team.
14) Oklahoma (5-0, 2-0, +5) - The Sooners held on at home to beat TCU 20-17, and play Texas next week in what is looking like it's going to be a Red River Bloodbath. Oklahoma has the #1 defense in the Big 12, allowing 281 yards and 13 points per game. Texas' defense is last in the conference, giving up 465 yards and 28 points per game. This will be the first time Texas enters the game unranked since 1998, and the Longhorns haven't won this game since 2009. I don't think Saturday will be their day, either.
15) Fresno State (5-0, 2-0, +5) - Go Bulldogs! Fresno State whooped the Idaho Vandals 61-14, and look like the best team in the Mountain West right now. Of course, that's easy to say when your conference includes No. 122 Hawaii (0-5), No. 120 Air Force (1-5), and No. 93 New Mexico (2-3! A good year!). The second best team in the conference right now is No. 43 Wyoming, who just lost to Texas State by 3 touchdowns. The Bulldogs have zero room for error if they want to get to a BCS Bowl. They play UNLV next week.
16) Missouri (5-0, 1-0, +5) - Along with Alabama, Missouri is the only other undefeated SEC team remaining. Yes, that's against teams like Murray State, Arkansas State, and Indiana (ugh, talk about a cupcake, eh Penn State?). But they did win at Vanderbilt 51-28, and they're averaging 543 yards and 46 points per game. They're at Georgia next week, who is 95th in the nation in points allowed, at 32. Don't sleep on this one.
17) Northern Illinois (5-0, 1-0, +5) - In my Top 25 this week, there are 4 Tigers, 2 Huskies, and 2 Bulldogs. I've also got 2 Wildcats and a Cougar, a Bear and a Bruin, a Wolverine, a Duck, a Beaver, a Cardinal (the bird), and Cardinal (the principle.) That would be a cool zoo. NIU plays Akron next week.
18) LSU (4-1, 1-1, +4) - LSU struggled early, but then pulled away to beat the Mississippi State Bulldogs (Tigers! Bulldogs! Unimaginative Southern team names! Princeton! Yale!) 59-26. In a suddenly offense crazed conference, LSU is 4th in yards per game at 488 and 3rd in points at 45.5. They are at Florida next week, who is #1 in defense in the SEC allowing only 217 yards per game (2nd in the nation) and 12.2 points per game. It may not exactly be unstoppable force versus immovable object, but it should be interesting.
19) Houston (4-0, 2-0, +4) - Houston is trying to make the most of their AQ moment. They're 4-0, although that includes wins against FCS Southern, No. 108 Temple, No. 104 UTSA, and No. 50 Rice. They play No. 95 Memphis next week.
20) Baylor (4-0, 1-0, +4) - Baylor continues to put up "Oregon-like" numbers on offense, beating West Virginia 73-42 and hanging 864 yards of offense on 9.1 yards per play on the Mountaineers. The Bears are #1 in he nation in total offense (779 ypg) and points (70.5 ppg). And what kind of freaking all-star team could you put together from Oregon transfers like Lache Seastrunk and Johnny Manziel? (One that is slightly worse than De'Anthony Thomas and Marcus Mariota. #GoDucks.) Baylor is at Kansas State next week.
21) Virginia Tech (5-1, 2-0, +4) - It was kind of hard to tell after they lost 35-10 to Alabama, but Virginia Tech has a really good defense. Remember, in that game, they only gave up 1 offensive touchdown, and held the Tide to 96 rushing yards on 2.5 yards per carry. They beat North Carolina this week 27-17, and gave up 99 rushing yards on 2.6 yards per carry. Last week, they beat Georgia Tech 17-10, giving up 129 rushing yards on 3.1 yards per carry. Next week they play Pittsburgh. Consistency is a good thing.
22) Auburn (4-1, 2-1, +3) - The headlines say that Auburn "upset" Mississippi 30-22, but it really wasn't an upset. The Tigers already had wins over No. 48 Washington State (4-2, 2-1 Pac-12) and No. 56 Mississippi State, and they played well in the second half against LSU. Mississippi, on the other hand, was overrated because they beat a pooptacular Texas team in Week 3. Auburn is home against Western Carolina next week.
23) Northwestern (4-1, 0-1, +2) - Poor Northwestern. They went into the 4th quarter at home up on Ohio State 23-20, only lose 40-30. Also, poor bettors, as Ohio State got a pick six on the last play of the game and THEY DID IT! THEY BEAT THE SPREAD! On the other hand, there are a lot of reasons for the Wildcats to be optimistic. They have every reason to believe that they are the No. 2 team in the Big Ten, and they know they could beat Ohio State. They are in a very winnable, albeit tough division; every game they play is both winnable and losable. They get Michigan at home. And they could get another shot at the Buckeyes in the Big Ten championship. They're at Wisconsin next week.
24) Arizona (3-1, 0-1, +2) - Whereas Arizona State has had big game (beat Wisconsin!) after big game (lose to Stanford!) after big game (beat USC!) after big game (lose to Notre Dame!), Arizona has quietly gone 3-1, beating teams like Northern Arizona and UTSA, but losing to Washington. We'll see if they're worth anything when they play at USC next week.
25) Oregon State (4-1, 2-0, +2) - One team that is worth something is the Beavers. They got ambushed by Eastern Washington in their season opener, but since then have won 4 in a row, most recently beating Colorado 44-17 behind a 27/52, 414 yds, 6 TD, 1 INT performance from QB Sean Mannion. The Beavers are at Washington State next week in the Pac-12's "Fascinating Undercard of the Week" Game.
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