CFB 365 Top 25

More teams in the top 25 won than lost this week. There weren't too many shake ups. I wonder if Notre Dame fans will stop bugging me for not including the Irish in the top 25 now. I ranked Notre Dame in my top 25 for the first time last week and they went out and lost to Navy.

Here's how they rank this week.


1. Alabama Crimson Tide - Bama took care of LSU this week. Easily the biggest victory of any of the Big three. Julio Jones finally re-appeared. We can now officially start talking about a Florida-Alabama SEC Championship.





2. Texas Longhorns - Colt McCoy strengthened his Heisman candidacy with a huge day against UCF. Jordan Shipley is also starting to get some Heisman buzz after his big receiving day. Still, a win over UCF at home isn't the stuff championship teams are made of.





3. Florida Gators - The Gators complete the top three once again this week. I've already gone into detail on my thoughts about their Vandy victory in an earlier post. They'll need to pick it up next week against the Cocks.





4. Cincinnati Bearcats - Cincy barely squeaked by Connecticut on Saturday. Despite defensive struggles against the Huskies, Cincinnati remains undefeated. The most surprising thing about their current run is the fact that they are doing it without Tony Pike. The schedule is only going to get harder from here on out.




5. TCU Horned Frogs - I guess you can finally count me in among the believers of the Frogs. All the media attention and love fest for TCU finally wore me down. Add to that the fact that Boise St. struggled to put away Louisiana Tech this week and you can see why TCU climbed into my top 5.




6. Boise St. Broncos - Boise St. gets knocked out of my top 5 by TCU this week. There's not too much time left for the Broncos to prove themselves, plus the Oregon loss makes their win against the Ducks look a little less impressive.





7. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets - Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson went all ballsy against Wake Forest in overtime by going for it on fourth and one trailing in overtime. The Yellow Jackets turned that move into a game winning touchdown a few plays later. Ga Tech seems to be pulling away from the ACC pack. Then again, I've said the exact same thing about Virginia Tech and Miami this season.



8. Pittsburgh Panthers - Pitt and Cincy are on a collision course for a de facto Big East Championship game. With Jahvid Best's scary injury against Oregon St., Dion Lewis is now the nation's top back.






9. Miami(FL) Hurricanes - The Canes climb back into the top ten after they demolished an improved Virginia team at home on Saturday. Miami still has a decent resume, including handing Georgia Tech it's only loss of the season.





10. Iowa Hawkeyes - The Hawkeyes slide out of the top 5 after their loss to Northwestern. They remain in the top 10, however. This is partly because the Hawkeyes loss came with a back-up Freshman quarterback in the game. Also, Iowa only has 1 loss. There's not too many one loss teams left in the country.




11. Oregon Ducks - Oregon falls out of the top ten after losing to Stanford this weekend. The PAC-10, much like the ACC and the Big XII North seem to be races that no one is stepping up in. The Ducks loss only makes things much more cloudy in the conference.





12. USC Trojans - Speaking of the PAC-10, their case has not been helped out at all by the suddenly mediocre USC Trojans. I actually think their 14-9 victory over the Arizona St. Sun Devils was more embarrassing than last week's thumping at the hands of Oregon.





13. Utah Utes - Utah was struggling despite winning their games heading into this week. Good thing for the Utes they payed San Diego St. this week. The Aztecs put up little resistance to Utah as the Utes now turn their attention to Mountain West front runner TCU.





14. LSU Tigers - The Tigers looked like they might have been able to pull off the upset over Bama this weekend. Unfortunately, the Tiger secondary forgot how to cover anyone or tackle. As a side note, it was strangely eerie to hear all the Gator fans on campus this week cheering for a LSU victory.




15. Ohio St. Buckeyes - Terrelle Pryor and the Buckeyes finally came out the victor in a "big game." Amazingly, Ohio St. can still win the Big Eleven if they can knock off Iowa, setting up yet another BCS loss.






16. Houston Cougars - Houston barely escaped with a late second field goal over Tulsa on Saturday. Case Keenum is still a dark horse Heisman contender.






17. Arizona Wildcats - Zona is still n the hunt for the PAC-10 title. Their contest against Cal became a little bit easier with the news that Jahvid Best is going to sit out with a concussion.






18. Oklahoma St. Cowboys - OSU held off the suddenly decent Iowa St. Cyclones on Saturday. Does anybody really care?







19. Penn St. Nittany Lions - Penn St. coughed up their shot at a Big Eleven title with their loss to the Buckeyes this week. Penn St. could still play themselves into a BCS game if they win out and get some help.






20. South Florida Bulls - USF was one of the few teams in the country that enjoyed a bye week this week. That helped them move up a few spots in this week's poll.






21. Wisconsin Badgers - The Badgers scored an impressive win over Indiana this week. The Hoosiers looked out matched the entire game. Something even Iowa was not able to do. Surprisingly, the Badgers still have an outside shot of winning the Big Eleven crown.





22. Virginia Tech Hokies - Virginia Tech avenged last season's disastrous loss to East Carolina on Thursday. Va Tech managed to avoid the distraction of what is quite possibly the ugliest alternate helmet in college football. What the hell was ECU thinking?





23. Oregon St. Beavers - It came down to Oregon St. and Stanford for this spot. Stanford's recent win over Oregon was a bit more impressive than the Beaver's win against Cal this week. However, OSU wins the head to head match up over the Cardinal. Jacquizz Radgers may be the best back in the PAC-10.




24. BYU Cougars - BYU climbs back into my top 25 after a few week's hiatus. If TCU loses twice and BYU knocks off Utah, the cougars will win the Mountain West. That's probably not going to happen. But they can dream, can't they?





25. West Virginia Mountaineers - West Virginia hangs on to the 25th spot this week. They hold off Clemson, Stanford, Temple and Auburn for the coveted spot.

CFB 365 Top 25

The top schools actually played like top schools this week. For the most part that is. Seven of the top 9 teams are undefeated. Oregon and LSU are the only 1 loss teams in that realm. Here's how they rank:


1. Alabama Crimson Tide - The Tide enjoyed the week off. They'll face a monster test next week against LSU.







2. Texas Longhorns - The Longhorns once again played an impressive game this week. Texas had no problems knocking off Oklahoma St. on the road. It's clear that this team is the class of the Big XII. Every remaining game on UT's schedule is extremely winnable.





3. Florida Gators - Florida played their first real impressive game since their win against Kentucky. The Gators stay at number three, however, due to Texas' very big win over Ok St. The Gators should roll again next week against Vandy, They've held up their end of the SEC Championship rematch vs. Bama.




4. Cincinnati Bearcats - Cincy is rolling right along despite the absence of Quarterback Tony Pike. Zach Collaros is proving to be more than capable of filling in for the injured Pike. His touchdown pass on a botched field goal against Syracuse was the play of the day for the Bearcats. Even though it shouldn't have counted due to the entire offensive line being down field.



5. Boise St. Broncos - Another weak WAC opponent, another big win for the Broncos. Boise St. had no trouble with San Jose St., just as they should have no trouble with the remained of their schedule. It will be real interesting to see what the BCS does with an undefeated Boise St. and an undefeated TCU.




6. Iowa Hawkeyes - Another weak Big Eleven opponent, another close victory for the Hawkeyes. Iowa is proving to be the captain of fourth quarter comebacks. We'll see how long they can keep it up. The rest of their schedule is extremely manageable. Which means we're in for more slim victories.




7. Oregon Ducks - The Ducks jump a few teams in this week's poll. Jeremiah Masoli and LaMichael James were very impressive in the huge win over the Trojans. The Ducks are now the best one loss team in the country.





8. LSU Tigers - LSU slides a few spots. That's what they get for playing Tulane. I know the annual match-up with the Green Wave is supposed to be an in-state rivalry game, but come on! It's never going to be competitive. Time for the Tigers to opt out of that one.





9. TCU Horned Frogs - TCU dominated UNLV this week. Beating up on one of the worst teams in the nation is not all that impressive. That's why TCU is the lowest ranked unbeaten team in my poll.






10. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets - Ga Tech allowed Vanderbilt to hang in the game for nearly 3 and a half quarters. That's when Paul Johnson's bunch unleashed a fury of points to pull away from the Commodores. The Yellow Jackets are clearly the best team in a very weak ACC right now.




11. Penn St. Nittany Lions - Penn St. beat up on another out matched Big Eleven team this week. We'll get to see how good the Nittany Lions are when they take on the Ohio St. Buckeyes next week.






12. USC Trojans - USC slides out of the top 5 after being throttled by Oregon on Saturday night. The only thing that kept the Trojans from sliding further is the fact that there aren't really too many teams that are worthy of being moved up.





13. Miami(FL) Hurricanes - Miami escaped from Winston-Salem with a slim win over the Demon Deacons on Saturday. If Wake's starting QB Riley Skinner doesn't take on a defender without a helmet, the Deacs probably win the game. Still, a win is a win for Miami.





14. Pittsburgh Panthers - The Pitt Panthers move up a few spots after having a bye week. USF's win over West Virginia makes the Panthers' win over the Bulls all the more impressive.






15. Utah Utes - Utah struggled offensively against a much improved Wyoming team this week. The Utes were able to pull away late, but the game showed how much the offense has slipped for Utah. That's not a good sign with TCU still on the schedule.





16. Houston Cougars - Houston has the exact opposite problem that Utah has. Their offense is fine, but their defense looked terrible against an average Southern Miss squad. Houston is obviously the best team in C-USA, but their defense will keep them out of any top notch bowl games.




17. Ohio St. Buckeyes - Ohio St. moves up a few spots after destroying New Mexico St. this week. The win might provide the Buckeyes with the confidence they need heading into the showdown against Penn St. next week.





18. Arizona Wildcats - Arizona enjoyed a bye week. Nick Folk is strongly getting consideration for PAC-10 passer of the year.







19. Oklahoma St. Cowboys - The Pokes slide a few spots after shitting all over themselves vs. Texas. So much for OSU showing up in big games. I guess we have to wait another year for that to happen.






20. California Golden Bears - Cal needed a last second field goal to get past Arizona St. on Saturday. Cal is starting to get some of the respect back that they loss with competitive blowouts to Oregon and USC.






21. South Florida Bulls - The Bulls climb back into the top 25 after their Friday night victory over West Virginia. The win takes some of the sting off of their blowout loss to Pitt the week before.






22. Wisconsin Badgers - The Badgers re-appear in the top 25 after shutting out an improved Purdue team. 'Sconsin has beating the teams that they were supposed to. Could you really ask for anything more?






23. Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Believe it or not, but this is the first appearance for the Irish in my top 25 ever! Granted I've only been doing this for two years. The Irish finally break into the top 25 after beating Washington St. in San Antonio. Obviously, that game alone isn't the only reason why the Irish are at number 23. The rest of the schedule, outside of Pitt, seems pretty easy.



24. Virginia Tech Hokies - The Hokies nearly slide out of the top 25 after their loss to North Carolina on Thursday. I still think Frank Beamer's team is a top 25 team, but they are no longer among the nation's elite.






25. West Virginia Mountaineers - West Virginia stays in the top 25 despite losing to South Florida. This is mainly because of the lack of good teams behind them. The Mountaineers get the nod for the 25th spot over Oregon St., Clemson, Boston College and Idaho.