Last week, I had a hard time determining which teams deserved to be near the top. This week, there were several teams I wanted to rank higher but ended up lower than I intended. A wild weekend of football will do that. Anyway, here's what I'm throwing out there for now; rip it to shreds in the comments if it's that horrible.
Just keep in mind that we haven't yet reached the phase of the BlogPoll where you go by resume more than subjective assessment. My preseason ballot was here, so you know what I'm referencing when I talk about teams moving up and down. The TSK ballot is a combined version of cocknfire's and mine.
1. Florida
2. Texas
3. Alabama
4. USC
5. Ohio State
Florida and Texas demolished their respective cupcakes, so they get to stay. Alabama was impressive, except for maybe the final margin, so they move up. USC answered some of my questions, but not all. Ohio State stays up there based on what I saw in the first half against Navy. This is a very good football team when it wants to be, and I'll bet that it will want to be all of next week's game instead of just the first half over the weekend.
6. Penn State
7. BYU
8. Ole Miss
9. Oklahoma
10. Boise State
Penn State also had no trouble with its bakery run. BYU and Boise State move up for obvious reasons. Ole Miss slides up by eventually putting Memphis away. Oklahoma falls some, but I think they'll end up fine. I just wish someone had told me that Kip Dynamite was OU's backup quarterback.
Seriously, people. You have to tell me about these things.
11. Virginia Tech
12. Cal
13. Oklahoma State
14. LSU
15. TCU
Virginia Tech only slides a spot because some teams jumped ahead of them. I thought Bama would win and VT showed up better than I thought, so I see no reason to penalize them for it. Cal and Oklahoma State were teams I was cautious on in the initial poll, but they lived up to their hypes for at least one week. LSU was a team that I thought all off season was probably a year away from being elite, but I let everyone talk me out of that right before the season. After seeing them struggle with Washington, I think I was right all along. Consider this a correction. TCU is hanging tight after not playing.
16. Georgia Tech
17. Nebraska
18. North Carolina
19. Texas Tech
20. Utah
Georgia Tech slides a little bit because teams earned spots above where I had the Yellow Jackets last week. Nebraska and North Carolina slide up, though the Huskers were by far the more impressive team. Same goes for Tech. Their final over their I-AA team wasn't that impressive, but Mike Leach takes it easy in these while running it up against in-conference opponents. Utah jumps in because I probably should have had them in the poll in the first place.
21. Georgia
22. Cincinnati
23. Arkansas
24. Houston
25. Air Force
Georgia only slips by one spot because, like VT, I thought they'd lose to a higher ranked team and they did. Yes that's right: I had them at 20 last week. High five, T. Kyle (and condolences on the loss). I really feel at least one Big East team should be ranked, so I'm going with the one with the most impressive win of the weekend. Arkansas and Houston reprise their rankings from last week for blowing out overmatched opponents. Air Force gets my last vote because if any team beats anyone 72-0, I have to recognize it.
Falling Out
Oregon falls out for sucking out loud against Boise State. Iowa falls out because I have little patience for teams that beat I-AA teams by only one. Nevada falls out for once again failing to show up against a BCS conference opponent.
On the Radar
In alphabetical order.
Florida State - But only if they beat Miami (note posting time: before kickoff).
Iowa - I'm not ready to give up on them, but as I said, I don't take kindly to having to block field goals to beat UNI.
Kansas - I want to believe in Kansas, but its breakthrough year was in 2007, the flukiest year on record.
Missouri - The win was dominating, and I like that. It's looking good for them making another run at the Big 12 North.
Notre Dame - The talent appears to be there again, but you only learn so much against a WAC team not from Boise.
Oregon - Salvation comes in league play.