NCAA Top 25

For an Oregon fan, a better day of college football could not be had, at least for a bye week. Two top competitors to the Ducks lost, Ohio St. and Nebraska. There were top games all around. Things are falling really well for my Ducks. Except for the 6 tough games they still have to play...

The other big change I made I boosting Oklahoma St. and Missouri. They are undefeated and come from major conferences. I don't expect them to stay where they are. But they've deserved the chance to prove themselves with the big boys. When they lose, Ohio St. and Wisconsin and Nebraska will rise right back up. I did keep Alabama ahead of them simply because I believe they are better than those other teams. 

1. Oregon (2)
2. TCU (3)
3. Boise St. (4)--another tough win, this time over San Jose St.......
4. Oklahoma (6)
5. Auburn (7)--a little defense might help me believe in this team more. Cameron Newton is pretty awesome though
6. Utah (8)--still the nation's most underrated team
7. Michigan St. (9)--given their amazingly easy schedule, they really could go undefeated. And then get crushed in their bowl game
8. LSU (10)--I still don't believe after another uninspired effort against McNeese St.
9. Alabama (12)
10. Oklahoma St. (20)--I don't believe in them, but they deserve the big bump because they keep winning
11. Missouri (21)--I believe in Missouri even less, but they play Oklahoma this week so we'll see if they are for real or not.
12. Wisconsin (17)--Huge win over Ohio St.
13. Ohio St. (2)--better than the 13th best team in the country. Jim Tressel is a massively overrated football coach though. Way to punt down 13 points with 6 minutes left from your own 50. Loser move.
14. Nebraska (5)--I didn't expect Nebraska to lose to Texas, but if you stop their running game you can beat them.
15. Iowa (14)
16. Stanford (15)
17. Arizona (16)
18. Florida St. (19)
19. South Carolina (11)--nice let-down at Kentucky.
20. West Virginia (24)
21. Arkansas (13)--SEC defenses are clearly superior.....
22. Virginia Tech (NR)--they may have lost to James Madison but they've won every game since and probably will win the ACC.
23. Texas (NR)
24. Georgia Tech (NR)
25. USC (NR)--I didn't expect them to reappear but they absolutely crushed Cal. And now I'm scared of Oregon's trip down there in 2 weeks.

Out--Nevada, Oregon St., North Carolina St., Air Force. Tough week for lesser west coast teams.

Key games for next week:

1. LSU at Auburn. Time for one of the SEC undefeateds to be exposed as a poser. I expect it to be LSU big time.

2. Oklahoma at Missouri. This is an interesting game. I don't really expect Missouri to win but then again, they are playing at home in a pumped atmosphere against a top opponent. This is exactly the kind of set-up for an Oklahoma loss. Plus, other than the Florida St. and Iowa St. games, Oklahoma hasn't looked great in their wins.

3. Wisconsin at Iowa. Key Big 10 matchup. Not for the Rose Bowl, but certainly for pecking order in their upper-tier bowls.

4. Air Force at TCU. TCU doesn't play a lot of tough opponents the rest of the way. This is one of them. Air Force lost this week to a much improved San Diego St. team. So I don't think they can beat TCU. However, if they can move the ball on TCU's tough defense, this could be an upset. As an Oregon fan, I'm really hoping so.

And for an Oregon fan, other than rooting for the Ducks crushing UCLA on Thursday, I am a huge Missouri and Air Force fan this week.