Other Halves of the Weekly Ballots

1. Auburn. The only undefeated team left in the conference that didn't need a second chance at the end of a game.

2. LSU. Also undefeated, but only by the slimmest of margins. But, a zero in the loss column is still a zero.

3. South Carolina. Amazing what happens when Steve Spurrier gets the personnel he needs. He thoroughly outcoached Nick Saban on Saturday.

4. Alabama. Now that the winning streak has been broken, I wonder if the dam has broken too.

5. Arkansas. Suddenly, the Razorbacks are back in SEC West race.

6. Florida. If next week's game was in Starkville, I'd call the loss now. But, MSU never plays well in Gainesville.

7. Mississippi State. Only losses are to the two undefeated teams of the conference. Not bad.

8. Georgia. I think the Dogs excorcized some demons with that win. Or at least some catfish.

9. Ole Miss. The Rebels had the good sense to do something that always appears to be a good move this year: take the week off.

10. Vanderbilt. It's always fun to see the Commodores run up the score on someone for a change.

11. Kentucky. The 'Cats came close, but they still don't have an SEC win and are the only team to make Florida's offense look good.

12. Tennessee. Let's hope that was just a hangover scenario.

I spent all of Sunday with family down in Florida and all of Monday driving back to Charlotte, so I still am catching up on last weekend in a lot of ways. That being the case, let's hope there's not too much that's out of left field here.

1. Oregon

2. Boise State

3. Auburn

4. Ohio State

5. TCU

This list here is all about quality of wins. I think Oregon's got the best, followed by the Broncos. Auburn has more than Ohio State does, as the Buckeyes' lone decent opponent (Miami) looks worse by the week. TCU only has Oregon State, but that's not too bad.

6. LSU

7. Oklahoma

8. Michigan State

9. Nebraska

10. South Carolina

LSU isn't higher up despite the six wins over BCS conference competition because I still remember them being fortunate to win against Tennessee. The Vols aren't any good, and the 13 guys on the field played zero role in the ball skittering past Jordan Jefferson on the fake last play of the game. Oklahoma's win over FSU is looking better, though the rest are still underwhelming. Michigan State has a nice pair of wins over Wisconsin and Michigan. Nebraska is still waiting to play anything more than a merely decent team. South Carolina moves way up thanks to beating Alabama and the Georgia win looking ever so slightly better.

11. Alabama

12. Arkansas

13. Utah

14. Arizona

15. Iowa

Alabama falls behind the Gamecocks. Arkansas is lurking. Utah is undefeated, but none of its victims are all that good. Arizona lost, but it was to a good Oregon State team and not by much. Iowa's resume isn't as great as you might think it is, and it lost to 'Zona.

16. Florida State

17. Stanford

18. Nevada

19. Wisconsin

20. Oregon State

FSU squeaks ahead of Stanford because the win over Miami is better than anything Stanford has done so far. Nevada is creeping up some given that Cal's D has shut down everyone but the Wolf Pack (and being undefeated counts for more and more as the season goes on). Wisconsin is hanging around but has no interesting wins. Oregon State might deserve to be higher; the two losses the Beavers have are to top five teams after all.

21. Miami (FL)

22. Florida

23. Michigan

24. Air Force

25. Oklahoma State

These teams probably could be in just about any order. They all have their pluses and minuses, but none have that great a set of wins. Miami probably has the best pair with Pitt and Clemson, but that really tells you something about them all.