- Alabama gets bumped from #1 for being on a bye while Texas was busy beating Oklahoma. Texas has destroyed each and every opponent, with the exception of what I used to consider the #4 team in the land, which - horrors - they merely beat by hanging 45 points on. Welcome to the top of the mountain, Texas.
- Penn State gets to hang on to the number two spot. Nobody they've beaten has quite the cachet of Oklahoma, but they too have wiped the floor with everyone they've met up with, including two teams that were supposed to be Big Ten pests. This means Alabama drops to #3.
- Okie State beats Mizzou (which was previously #5 on this ballot) after dropping 50+ points on four opponents in a row. That sounds like a pretty good resume to me. Oklahoma is not punished too severely for losing to the best team in the land.
- I am breaking my preseason promise to put any 7-0 or better team above any team with a loss. However, I think Ball State at #9 is still plenty generous. They're 7-0 for crying out loud. Only two other teams in the land can claim that - and further, Ball State's slimmest margin of victory is 12.
- Last weeks Blogpoll breakdown questioned why Cal would be ranked below Michigan State, despite beating them. It's simple. MSU was 5-1, Cal was 4-1. Now MSU is 6-1 and Cal is still 4-1. Wins are better than Not Wins, even if the Not Wins aren't losses either.
- Virginia Tech takes a fairly precipitous fall after a bye week, as a result of sitting on their ass while other teams went out and won. Last week, for example, it was fair to claim their 5-1 was better than MSU's 5-1 - now, MSU's 6-1 is better than their 5-1.
- LSU? Where? Huh? There is no LSU on this ballot. LSU is on the wrong end of a couple of conspiring events. First, and most obvious, they got choke-slammed by Florida. At least put up a fight, gentlemen. That was terrible. Second, Auburn lost. LSU is only 4-1, you see. There are just two 4-1 teams on the ballot: Cal and USC. Both beat top-15 teams and have those wins to thank for their ranking. LSU's calling card was beating Auburn and being undefeated. Auburn has been exposed as nancy-boy pretenders. Auburn sucks. Beating Auburn doesn't make you good, it makes you Arkansas. Frankly, removing LSU was extremely easy. Chances are they'll need to win both of their next two (South Carolina and UGA) to get back in, because they're getting lapped by the field right now.
- So who to replace them with? The candidates: Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, Kansas, Minnesota, Northwestern, South Carolina, Western Michigan. Cross off Northwestern, you don't get to jump into the rankings following a 17-point loss which you never really had a chance in. Cross off WMU, their loss is to an unranked team and their wins aren't too impressive. Cincy has too many close calls to bad teams (Akron, Rutgers.) South Carolina has two losses and a bunch of narrow wins. So no. That leaves GT, KU, and Minny. GT was next in line, but 10-7 over Gardner-Webb? KU and Minnesota. They've got very similar resumes. So, I'm going with the 6-1 team over the 5-1 team. Welcome aboard, Gophers.
- If I had to rank the next few teams that missed, it's Kansas, Georgia Tech, South Carolina, Cincinnati, WMU, and Northwestern. LSU can get in line behind Wake Forest and Pitt for all I care.
 | ||
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas |  2 |
| 2 | Penn State | -- |
| 3 | Alabama |  2 |
| 4 | Oklahoma State | 10 |
| 5 | Oklahoma | 1 |
| 6 | Utah | 1 |
| 7 | Florida | 8 |
| 8 | Brigham Young | -- |
| 9 | Ball State | 7 |
| 10 | Southern Cal | 1 |
| 11 | Ohio State | 1 |
| 12 | Texas Tech | 1 |
| 13 | Missouri | 8 |
| 14 | Michigan State | 3 |
| 15 | Virginia Tech | 5 |
| 16 | North Carolina | 5 |
| 17 | Boise State | 2 |
| 18 | Tulsa | 5 |
| 19 | Georgia | 3 |
| 20 | California | -- |
| 21 | South Florida | 3 |
| 22 | Connecticut | 3 |
| 23 | Vanderbilt | 17 |
| 24 | TCU | -- |
| 25 | Minnesota | 1 |
Dropped Out: LSU (#9).
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