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| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama | |
| 2 | Virginia Tech |
 1 |
| 3 | Florida |
 1 |
| 4 | Cincinnati |
4 |
| 5 | Texas | |
| 6 | LSU |
6 |
| 7 | Auburn | |
| 8 | Boise State |
2 |
| 9 | Miami (Florida) |
13 |
| 10 | TCU |
1 |
| 11 | Oregon |
2 |
| 12 | Iowa |
2 |
| 13 | Ohio State |
5 |
| 14 | Southern Cal | |
| 15 | Georgia |
6 |
| 16 | Nebraska |
3 |
| 17 | Oklahoma State |
2 |
| 18 | South Carolina |
2 |
| 19 | Stanford | |
| 20 | Michigan |
3 |
| 21 | Penn State | |
| 22 | Kansas | |
| 23 | Georgia Tech | |
| 24 | Houston |
20 |
| 25 | Oklahoma |
9 |
| Last week's ballot | ||
To the ties: I broke deadlocks between Texas-LSU, TCU-Oregon, Georgia-Nebraska, South Carolina-Stanford (Year2 had the Gamecocks higher I did and didn't have Stanford at all, before you start yelling "homerism"), Michigan-Penn State, Kansas-Georgia Tech and Houston-Oklahoma.
My ballot is post-jump. Year2 will be along with his at some point.
A note: My ballot is now entirely resume-based, "something the poll guidelines suggest should be implemented by week five and demand by week eight" according to our Fearless BlogPoll Leader. So if you come on and say something like "how can you possibly think Iowa is a better team than Florida???" -- I will ignore you. Argue that Florida's resume is better than Iowa, if you want, and we can have a civil debate. But know what you're debating first. To borrow from Dr. Saturday, this is not a power poll.
1 Alabama
2 Virginia Tech
3 LSU
4 Auburn
5 Miami
I'm not entirely sure about having Miami here, simply because the loss to Virginia Tech was so awful. But they have some very nice wins. Virginia Tech and LSU are very, very close; it was one of the hardest calls I had to make, but one or two of LSU's wins are of suspect quality and while the Hokies lost to Alabama, the Bengals haven't played anyone of Alabama's caliber. Auburn added to a strong resume by defeating Tennessee. Exclude the garbage-time TD and the Tigers had the same MOV against the Vols as did Florida. And Auburn has played a much better schedule outside of the trip to Knoxville.
6 Cincinnati
7 Iowa
8 Florida
9 Texas
10 Oregon
Cincinnati and Iowa are both teams that are hard to place. The Bearcats have some wins that might look good at the end of the year or might look really bad. Iowa seems to play to the level of competition, something that usually ends up costing you a game here or there. Florida will move up starting this week, assuming they win, with the schedule actually beginning to introduce opponents that are worthy of a Top-5 team. Texas has defeated Texas Tech and no one. Oregon has rebounded nicely and, no, I don't have a problem putting them ahead of someone who had trouble with UC Davis.
11 Southern Cal
12 Boise State
13 Ohio State
14 TCU
15 Stanford
It looks like Southern Cal's loss to Washington might have been their standard Pac-10 loss. Boise State as a Top 10 team is a disgrace. Aside from the Oregon win, they have played three midmajors and an FCS team they defeated by 18. Ohio State -- ugh. TCU has defeated a couple of BCS teams, but neither of them looks particularly good right now. Stanford has a pair of wins over teams (UCLA, Washington) that were ranked before they played the Cardinal and whom I might still have ranked had they not lost to Stanford.
16 Michigan
17 Georgia Tech
18 Kansas
19 Houston
20 Georgia
Michigan's loss was in overtime to a cross-state rival, so I don't think they deserve to drop out of the Top 25 or anything. Georgia Tech -- meh. Kansas is actually quietly having a pretty decent season. I still think Houston is pretty good, even if the UTEP loss is very bad. Don't forget that they have two pretty decent wins. Yes, Georgia is ahead of Oklahoma State. No, that's not a mistake. After defeating Georgia and then losing to Houston, Oklahoma State proceeded to play no one.
21 South Carolina
22 Oklahoma State
23 Missouri
24 Wisconsin
25 BYU
South Carolina ahead of Oklahoma State I have a little bit more trouble with, since the Gamecocks lost to Georgia and the other OSU did not. However, it's again a question of resume; South Carolina has played a better level of competition overall. Missouri is still a team to watch once they get into Big XII play. Wisconsin? Sure, why not? BYU is still held back after it got shellacked by Florida State, but that Oklahoma win is still there. If I'm going to give Miami credit for it, I have to give it to Brigham Young as well.