Posted by Bryan Fischer
A buddy of mine was talking about how college football right now has a few elite teams and a bunch of others that could be grouped into a couple of classes. After a lengthy discussion, I decided to run with that after week five to see how everyone shapes up. Feel free to get angry at me in the comments.
(In no particular order)
The Elite:
Wisconsin: It's all Russell Wilson for the frontrunners in the Big Ten title race but this is a very good squad that has balance on offense and a very well coached defense.
Alabama: Best defense Nick Saban's ever had plus two great running backs and an efficient offense. The Tide will continue to roll this year.
Oklahoma: Another win, another week they lose some ground in the polls despite being the best team not playing in the SEC.
LSU: They have a Honey Badger so who cares how mediocre the offense has been?
Boise State: Kellen Moore and the offense get all the press but the defensive line is among the best in college football.
We're still not sure how good they are:Stanford: They have the best quarterback in the country but haven't played anyone of note and lost their best linebacker to a knee injury.
Oregon: Still the class of the conference, they might be better on offense then they were last year.
Oklahoma State: Questions still remain about the defense but Brandon Weeden and company are legit.
Florida: They're a top 25 team but haven't played anyone besides Alabama and will trot out a true freshman in their first road trip against LSU. Yikes.
Notre Dame: The Irish have rolled up 500 yard games like they're no big deal but turnovers are the difference between 5-0 and 3-2.
Nebraska: The defense should be better than what they've shown so far but their struggles are reflective in the team as a whole.
Texas: Undefeated heading into the Red River Shootout, this young team will have their hands full this week but have come along nicely under their two young coordinators.
Clemson: An impressive victory on the road against Virginia Tech but there's no denying that everyone thinks Clemson will be Clemson at some point this year.
Virginia Tech: Many had pegged them as a national title dark horse but that is no more after losing to Clemson at home.
Kansas State: Bill Snyder is a miracle worker but the Wildcats haven't faced a big time opponent until this week.
South Carolina: They have a great running back, a great defense, a great wide receiver but the team itself is a giant question mark week-to-week.
Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets have an explosive offense that's difficult to prepare for but the defense remains questionable at best.
Arkansas: The stunning comeback this week proved one thing: the defense is average but the offense can carry this team.
Illinois: Ron Zook is their head coach so there is that but both the offense and the defense have responded when needed to keep the Illini undefeated.
Michigan: The defense does look better but they haven't really been tested by a good team and have yet to play a game outside the Big House.
Good not great group:
Arizona State: Injuries have hurt on defense but they're the class of the Pac-12 South.
North Carolina: Perhaps a little surprising at 4-1 but they've played solid football and bonded as a team with all that has gone on around the program.
Southern Miss: They've lost to Marshall which hurts them in conference play but this is an ok football team that could breakthrough.
Hawaii: Their offense gives everyone fits but it's really hard to comprehend how they lost to UNLV.
Washington: Perhaps the surprise of the Pac-12 North division, the defense isn't super but Keith Price and the offense are very dangerous.
SMU: A big win over a ranked TCU is a huge sign of progress under June Jones.
West Virginia: The loss to LSU was a setback but this is a very good football team that can score some points.
Baylor: They have a quarterback who's among the best at his position this year in Robert Griffin III but the defense has issues.
Auburn: They're winners, that's for sure, but the defense struggles every game and the offense has been inconsistent.Michigan State: They've got the defense but the offense hasn't clicked like it should under Kirk Cousins.
Cincinnati: There's plenty of questions about this team but they're solid and can beat any Big East team.
Tennessee: They can't run the ball at all but they sure can throw it.
Texas Tech: Undefeated but have struggled in the first half just about every game they've played.
Georgia: SEC East is wide open and the Bulldogs are fighting hard each game so don't be surprised if they make a run for it.
Florida State: Injuries have made them thin but Jimbo Fisher should regroup them and turn them into a good team by the end of the year.
Houston: Best offense to watch in college football is good because the defense will allow points galore.
Looking forward to 2012:
UCLA, Oregon State, New Mexico State, East Carolina, Rice, Louisiana Tech, Utah, North Texas, Tulsa, Ball State, Ole Miss, Purdue, New Mexico, UAB, Troy, FAU, Louisiana-Lafayette, Memphis, Duke, FIU, Iowa State, Colorado State, TCU, USC, Arizona, Washington State, Colorado, Bowling Green, Virginia, Idaho, N.C. State, Ohio State, Maryland, Miami, UConn, Western Michigan, Louisville, Marshall, Nevada, Northern Illinois, Central Michigan, Miami (Ohio), Ohio, Akron, Eastern Michigan, Buffalo, Wake Forest, Boston College, Kentucky, Texas A&M, Navy, Air Force, Army, Tulane, Kansas, Northwestern, Temple, Toledo, Minnesota, Rutgers, Syracuse, Penn State, Indiana, Mississippi State, BYU, Utah State, USF, Pitt, UTEP.
Stat of the week
Via the blog Hustle Belt, the last time Michigan, Michigan State, Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan and Central Michigan all won on the same day: November 5, 1994. Add in the fact that the Detroit Lions won on Sunday and it's a pretty good weekend for football in the state of Michigan.
Stats of the week- With four touchdowns against Nebraska, Wisconsin's Montee Ball now has 13 on the ground this season. That's halfway to the Big 10 record of 26 (by week 5) and his 14 total touchdowns leads the country. Ball has scored 14 points more than the next person on the scoring list.
- Oklahoma had the ball 15 times against Ball State and scored seven touchdowns. Wisconsin had the ball 10 times against Nebraska and scored seven touchdowns (via Brian Fremeau)
- USC has allowed 40 points in consecutive games for the first time in 119 seasons. Matt Barkley did set a school record for passing yards and total offense against Arizona however.
- Arkansas had nine plays of 20 or more yards against Texas A&M. At one point, receiver Jarius Wright had more yards of total offense than Penn State, Indiana, Minnesota and Kentucky as well as 80% of the Razorbacks' offense at halftime.
- Tyrann Mathieu has the LSU record for career forced fumbles with eight in 18 games (via Scott Rabalais).
Yard-by-yard
- RussellMania is indeed here. Wilson's masterful performance against Nebraska really was something to behold as he made play after play. The knock on Wisconsin was that they haven't played anyone (they still haven't on the road). That question seems to have been answered with their resounding victory against Nebraska on Saturday however. Wilson was efficient once again, going 14-20 for 255 yards and two touchdowns. He had some beautiful throws, placing the ball perfectly into the hands of his receivers on a few big gains. Though Wilson doesn't look to run like other quarterbacks, he can and will if need be. That added dimension is what separates this Badgers team from previous iterations. On the other side, Nebraska's B1G moment - their first ever conference game - very much exposed them as a team with serious issues.
- Coming into their primetime game, both Florida and Alabama featured top 10 defenses and plenty of future NFL draft picks. Yet, you just got the feeling as Trent Richardson was running through players like a battering ram that the Gators were boys among men. There's plenty of talented four- and five-star recruits but they're still young and almost seemed overwhelmed by the big stage. The swarming Tide defense, meanwhile, was punishing Florida players left and right - including quarterback John Brantley. With a true freshman seeing his first significant game action, plenty of people on Twitter were calling for Charlie Weis to call plays that simply didn't get Jeff Driskel killed by an Alabama defender. Richardson ran for a career-high 181 yards and two touchdowns and was pretty much the offense. Good defense, good running game and a big, big road victory for Nick Saban's squad.
- Poor, poor Utah State. The team has been minutes from being 4-0 and likely ranked in the top 25 but instead they're 1-3 thanks to a last second loss to BYU on Friday. They lost to a backup quarterback who threw a pass that was deflected by an Aggie defensive back right into the hands of Marcus Matthews for the game-winning touchdown; which pretty much sums up what Utah State has gone through, coming close to a win before tipping it into the hands of the opponent. They nearly upset Auburn before a perfect onside kick and subsequent score and lost to Colorado State on a failed two-point conversion in OT last week. The Aggies might be the best, unluckiest team in college football.
- I'm still not sure how Arkansas pulled off that comeback other than to say Texas A&M allowed them to. Mike Sherman seemed to deflect some blame for the loss but one has to put this one (and last week's) solely on his shoulders. His first half play-calling has been great but it's like the Aggies go into the locker room and fail to make a single adjustment. They had great success rushing the ball but failed to go for it on a key 4th down in Arkansas territory and punted the ball instead. At that point, the momentum had fully shifted to the Razorbacks, who made play after play to rally from 18 down. A&M looked like they'd be fine in the SEC if you watched that first half but if you watched the second... they looked more like Ole Miss.- Melvin Ingram had 11 tackles, 4.5 for a loss, 3.5 sacks and an interception but that just wasn't enough for South Carolina, who lost to Auburn thanks to an anemic offense that was actually playing one of the worst defenses in the SEC. I listened to part of the game on radio and I'm glad I did because it saved me having to see some terrible quarterback play on both sides. The Gamecocks' defense is good but the offense has been puzzling - not something one would expect with Marcus Lattimore and Alshon Jeffrey. But then again, they do have Stephen Garcia at quarterback.
- Michigan State's defense is well coached and the best in the Big Ten so far this year but that doesn't explain the offensive ineptitude of Ohio State on Saturday. The Buckeyes had negative yardage for most of the game before getting a 4th quarter touchdown in the final 10 seconds to avoid the program's first shutout in nearly 18 years. As much as people mocked Tresselball, Buckeyes fans would welcome a return to those days in a heartbeat.
- Notre Dame's win over Purdue is best summed up by two words: Michael Floyd. After grabbing just four catches against Pitt, Floyd grabbed 12 for 137 yards and a touchdown against the Boilermakers. As one would expect given the competition, the Irish were rolling on offense and racked up 551 yards with Cierre Wood running for a career-high 191 yards on 20 carries. Most importantly, there were no turnovers after 15 in Notre Dame's first four games.
- It's rare for an SEC team to leave the South so props to Ole Miss for traveling to Fresno State to play. Randall Mackey had an ok day but made the big play when needed, including an 88 yard drive to seal the win. This is the Rebels' first win over and FBS team and, with more SEC West play ahead of them, could be their last for a while.
- Playing so late, it's doubtful that many in the Eastern or Central time zones stayed up to catch Stanford crush UCLA 45-19 so here's a quick recap: Andrew Luck is really, really good. He had a Heisman highlight moment with a spectacular one-handed catch and somehow managed to stay in bounds. Just as impressive as Luck (23-27, 227 yards, 3 TDs), the Cardinal played before a sellout crowd and looked solid on defense against the Bruins' Pistol offense that looked like it had some life. Still, the story in this game was Luck, who surprisingly called his own plays on a couple of drives Peyton Manning-style. "He called better plays than me," head coach David Shaw said after the game.
| More on College Football |
| Analysis |
 Dennis DoddRussell Wilson stacks plays like corn at harvest to spoil Nebraska's night and entrench Wisconsin atop the conference. . Read >>  Brett McMurphyClemson coach Dabo Swinney told his team that if they did 'common things in an uncommon way,' people would notice. Read >  Bruce FeldmanRussell Wilson and the Badgers -- a match made to contend. The playmaking QB paired with a solid supporting cast may rule the Big Ten. Read >> |
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Quote of the week
"I apologize to the fans of Nebraska because that was a joke."
- Huskers head coach Bo Pelini on his team's embarrassing loss to Wisconsin and the state of the defense.
Fisch's Finest
1. LSU
2. Alabama
3. Oklahoma
4. Boise State
5. Wisconsin
6. Stanford
7. Oklahoma State
8. Oregon
9. Clemson
10. Georgia Tech
Where we'll be this week
Senior writer Dennis Dodd will head to Dallas for one of the best events you can go to, the Red River Shootout (or, if being politically correct, Rivalry) between undefeated Texas and Oklahoma. While he's trying the fried beer, Tony Barnhart will be in Baton Rouge for a LSU night game against Florida. Brett McMurphy will pack his bags for Manhattan (Kansas) to see Missouri play undefeated Kansas State and see first hand how good a coaching job Bill Snyder has been doing.
Leaning this way
Oklahoma vs. Texas
I have to imagine that Dan Beebe, from his comfortable Dallas home, will have this game on his television set rooting for both teams to end this in a tie. Texas offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin has done some very good things with some young talent and without a doubt has some surprises up his sleeve for OU. That said, the Sooners are the top team in the country and will be scoring enough points to keep the fans singing 'Boomer Sooner' well into the afternoon.
Florida at LSU
This will be the coming out party for true freshman quarterback Jeff Driskel with the injury to Jeff Brantley. And by coming out, I mean just that he'll come out. Having seen his film and him throw in person, I think Driskel will be a good quarterback but he's just going to be overwhelmed by the scenery in Death Valley. LSU makes several plays on defense to blow this one open and let the Tigers push the Gators around.
Ohio State at Nebraska
After both teams lost, I didn't really consider this game in this spot until I remembered this was a B1G game not only in terms of conference standings, but the fact that the Tattoo Four will make their return to the Buckeyes. Nebraska was embarrassed on the road but I don't think they'll allow that at home as the Ohio State returns several much-needed starters. In the end though, there's just been such a lack of execution by the Buckeyes as a whole to pick anyone but Nebraska by more than a touchdown.
Hooray! More conference realignment news!
I'd like to start this post by congratulating the Big 12 for lasting nearly an entire week without talk of another one of its schools leaving and reports of the conference's possible expansion. Kudos to you, Big 12.
1. SEC (LW: 1)- The giants in the SEC West each pass their Week 4 tests with flying colors, and LSU takes over as the No. 1 team in the nation according to the writers. Mississippi State avoided dropping two in a row barely, but the Bulldogs can pick themselves up before heading back into conference play. Florida performed their annual slaughter of Kentucky, and their defense and running game could give them a shot to challenge South Carolina in the East. 
2. Big 12 (LW: 2) - The Big 12 is definitely closing the gap on the SEC for top conference in the nation, which is interesting considering the instability off the field. While Oklahoma and Oklahoma State continue to lead the way in the polls, the depth of the conference has been more impressive as of late. With Kansas State knocking off Miami in Coral Gables and Baylor continuing to follow Robert Griffin III's lead the league has five teams in the top 20. That's just as much as the SEC and an argument could be made for the middle of the Big 12 looking better on the field than the middle of the SEC recently.
3. Big Ten (LW: 3) - The Big Ten gets very little credit for their weak non-conference schedule in Week 4. While Wisconsin, Michigan, and Michigan State all did their part to take care of the inferior competition the rest of the conference did not fly the banner with pride. Minnesota and Indiana's losses and Illinois' squeaker against Western Michigan put a stain on what could have been a clean sweep for the B1G. Legends and Leaders will strap it up in Week 5 though, with five conference matchups on the slate.
3. Pac-12 (LW: 4) - With Oregon showing flashes of 2010 in their rushing game, the Ducks sent a warning shot across Stanford's bow with their performance on Saturday. Arizona State's victory over USC helped justify what may be the Sun Devils' berth to the inagural Pac-12 title game (due to USC's postseason ban). The conference has plenty of question marks when you look down the entire membership roster, but the heavy-hitters at the top of the standings keep the conference near the top. 
5. ACC (LW: 5) - Florida State's second loss in a row removes the ACC's lone team from the national spotlight. However with a victory over Virignia Tech, Clemson could find themselves elevated to that elite group of undefeated teams. The Tigers have never defeated three ranked opponents in a row, and will be trying to do so on Sunday evening in Blacksburg. The Hokies have played an unimpressive collection of early season non-conference matchups, so Frank Beamer and Co. will be looking for a win to justify their place in the naitonal scene. Georgia Tech is also on the rise, but Maryland's loss to Temple and Miami's loss to Kansas State the ACC's "middle" took a hit in Week 4.
6. Big East (LW: 7) - West Virginia deserves credit for giving LSU their best shot. They were able to move the ball on that touted defense and until Mo Claiborne's 99-yard kickoff return TD it looked like the Mountaineers could take it to the wire. South Florida continues their offensive tear, but that will be put to test in the conference opener at Pittsburgh on Thursday. Despite only having to vote-getting teams in the polls, the conference moves up a spot in the power rankings thanks to a little bit of hope shown by the league's middle. Cincinnati looks like they could be headed back to the postseason after their dismantling of N.C. State and while Pittsburgh is still horrendous to watch at times they gave themselves a shot to win at Notre Dame..
7. Mountain West Conference (LW: 6) - Kellen Moore and Boise State will stay on course, and I imagine their revenge victory against Nevada will be quite the offensive output. TCU is starting to get their footing back as well, but still has not displayed anything on field yet that looks like they could give the Broncos a run for the conference title. The league takes a one-spot drop in the power rankings after San Diego State looked shellshocked against Michigan in the Big House. The Aztecs weren't expected to win, but Rocky Long's squad could have definitely put up a better fight against the Wolverines. 
8. MAC (LW: 9) - Nothing quite like some MACtion upsets to make for good conference smack talk. The fighting Addazio's have lived up to their hype once again, this time picking Maryland apart on their own field. Temple's strong start, and what should have been a Toledo win against Syracuse have the MAC ranking just below the MWC in terms of non-AQ conferences. Throw in Ball State's win over Army and it was a blown call away from a MAC sweep in Week 4.
9. Sun Belt (LW: T-10) - The Sun Belt's darling in 2011 was FIU, at least until Wesley Carroll and T.Y. Hilton left Saturday's game with injuries and the Panthers dropped their first contest of the season. After knocking off Louisville and UCF in back-to-back weeks, it is unfortunate Mario Cristobal's tear came to an end against a conference opponent. Troy now has second life as they try to pursue at least a share of their seventh straight Sun Belt Confernece title. North Texas delivered the upset of the weekend for the league, knocking off Indiana 24-21. 
10. Conference USA (LW: 8) - In a weekend that featured several notable non-conference upset opportunities, Conference USA really dropped the ball. Southern Miss was able to hold on against Virginia, but after the Cavaliers' recent performances even that ACC victory might not be an upset. UCF lost a very winnable game against BYU on Friday night, and an improved Tulane squad certainly had a fighter's chance against Duke. As a league, Conference USA went 2-6 in non-conference play during Week 4. Making their case worse, Memphis continues to make a case for being the worst team in the bowl subdivision. The jury is still out, but the Tigers are making their case.
11. WAC (LW: T-10) - Lots of "almosts" for the WAC in Week 4. Utah State almost knocking off Colorado State. Nevada almost upsetting Texas Tech, and Louisiana Tech almost pulling the upset of the week. Unfortunately "almost" is only acceptable with horshoes and hand grenards. Need more W's to move up these rankings. 
Paul Johnson's team is undefeated and the triple option is humming down in Atlanta so far this season. The Yellow Jackets are ranked 21st in both polls and beat a solid North Carolina team this past weekend. They have been rolling over their competition with the number one offense in college football, a key component of which is actually the passing game with receiver Stephen Hill looking a bit like Calvin Johnson. The Tar Heels were the toughest team they have faced so far and they were able to move the ball on the defense so it's not like anybody is arguing they're a top 10 teams. The schedule is very manageable going forward and they should be a few spots higher than they are, perhaps ahead of one-loss TCU and directional school-playing Michigan. Four voters left the Yellow Jackets off their ballots. It's probably a little bit of a reach for 
Four interceptions. That's how many quarterback Stephen Garcia threw against Vanderbilt on Saturday. Thankfully the Commodores couldn't move the ball at all against the Gamecocks' defense which, along with running back Marcus Lattimore, are the only reasons why South Carolina is currently undefeated. Currently sitting at 10th in the AP Poll and 9th in the coach, Steve Spurrier's ball club needs to look a little better if they're to live up to their ranking. 
Mr. Wolf finally decides to send in a ballot worse than his peers from the great state of California. He's the only voter to rank Navy and is one of two to rank Auburn, which he has 19th despite having one of the worst defenses in college football. Despite going on the road and beating a top 10 team at the time, Oklahoma State finds itself 15th. Apparently one of the best offenses in college football and a quarterback who has never lost on the road is not enough to be a top 10 team according to Wolf. He also ranked Nebraska 5th and has West Virginia, Oregon and South Florida ahead of Wisconsin. So... um... yeah, not so much.
First off, before getting into the BCS mess, we have to call out the coaches/sports information directors who vote for moving Stanford ahead of Boise State despite the Cardinal being off this week and the Broncos rolling Tulsa. Really, there's no excuses for such things. A big thanks to Peter Burns for bring up the Colley Matrix Poll to us on Twitter. You can view 
I've said for the entire year that Wisconsin's closer to fourth or fifth in terms of talent and play quality, and there's nothing the Badgers have done to indicate that they're not one of the five best teams in the nation. Unfortunately, the Badgers have also played noooobody, especially compared to the six teams ranked above the Badgers, so I can't muster up any disapproval of Wisconsin sitting at seventh in both polls. Fortunately, the non-conference slate is over, and Wisconsin's playing a real opponent this week. Finally.
Hey, there's Wisconsin's conference opener right there, Nebraska! Nebraska's now only one spot behind Wisconsin, which if you've actually seen both teams play this year, is preposterous. The Huskers' trip to Madison is, I suspect, going to push both teams back toward where I think they both belong--mainly, Wisconsin at 5, and Nebraska at 15. So if Wisconsin wins by two scores, like I'm predicting, I don't think Nebraska falls very far in my rankings. That's what the 15th best team ought to do in a road game at the fifth best team, isn't it? Of course, in Win Go Up Lose Go Down Poll World, Nebraska's about to tumble, but that just seems like a correction that I don't need to make on my end. And yes, Sensitive Nebraska Fan, I am totally biased against your team now and forever, even while I still think the Huskers win the division title. Whatever you need to sleep at night.
Michigan as the third-highest ranked team in the Big Ten? Shows you what going 4-0 gets you, I suppose. This is higher than I have Michigan, although not by as much as before, and as long as Denard Robinson remains bulletproof things will continue to improve in Ann Arbor. It's just, jeez, that last half of the schedule might mean a 1-5 finish for the Maize and Blue. I'm letting it affect my voting habits for Michigan. I shouldn't yet. Punish the teams the losses they have and not the ones that loom, right? Right. So I suppose No. 19 is fine -- for now.
This ranking is about right. Illinois continues its unlikely unbeaten spree and will probably do so until at least October 15 when it hosts Ohio State. But honestly, that's going to be like a late-oughts Boise State 6-0: One tough opponent, and the rest a set of cupcakes that all but the worst BCS conference teams could go 5-0 against. And yet no matter how many qualifiers you attach to it, unbeaten is still unbeaten, and that puts Illinois on a higher level than 8 of their conference mates so far. Borderline Top 25 works for Illinois until the Ohio State game; that's when their conference season really kicks off.
Sure, the Spartans slaughtered Central Michigan. I still don't trust that rushing attack after how well Notre Dame shut it down, and I won't trust it until MSU runs on a real defense. Sayyy, Michigan State goes to Ohio State this week! Show me something good, Sparty, and I'll be happy to return MSU to my Top 25 at once.
The Sooners can no longer lay claim to being the undisputed poll champions of the universe this week as they're knocked down a spot in the AP poll to make room for LSU. Which, if you've been reading these in recent weeks, is the right thing to do. LSU has three wins against ranked opponents already this season, and none of them have come in Baton Rouge. Oklahoma has a nice win on the road against Florida State, but its other two wins against Tulsa and Missouri just don't compete with what LSU has done. I'm also encouraged to see that the media has taken this into account, unlike the coaches who will only move a team down if it loses.
The Big 12 belongs to the state of Oklahoma, as both of the state's teams are ranked no worse than 6th in any of the polls. What's hilarious to me here, however, is that while the Cowboys jump two spots in the AP poll after beating a Texas A&M team that was ranked 8th last week, the coaches keep Oklahoma State at 6th. They are very impressed with your win on the road, Oklahoma State! Just not enough to actually make any changes. They're still much more impressed by Stanford's wins over bad teams like San Jose State, Duke and Arizona. I won't complain too much about Boise State being ahead of the Cowboys here, but that's debatable as well.
As you'd expect, the Aggies tumble in the polls this week following the loss at home against Oklahoma State. It's a logic that is rather hard to really argue against, though I suppose there are a number of undefeated teams below A&M in the polls that could raise a fuss if they wanted to. The real question for the Aggies at this point though is how far will they climb or fall in the polls after facing Arkansas this weekend. They weren't able to get the Oklahoma State monkey off their back, can they get the Razorback off their monkey? (That's a terrible joke, but I'm not going to apologize for it.)
Well look who is moving on up. Yes it's odd that pollsters are showing more respect for Baylor following a win against Rice than they did for the win against TCU, but I don't think Baylor is going to complain. The fact that they appear in a poll is good enough for the Baylor faithful as it is, the fact that the Bears keep on climbing is like a dream. This team goes as high as Robert Griffin wants to take it.
Sometimes taking a week off can work to your benefit, and that's exactly what happened for Texas this week. It was able to just sit on the sidelines while a couple of teams ranked above it lost, and the Longhorns get the bye week bump because of it. While the win over UCLA last week made me a lot more optimistic about the Longhorns this season than I had been, as I've said for weeks, this ranking is a bit to high for my tastes. We'll have to wait and see what happens when the Longhorns head to Ames this Saturday looking for revenge.
Iowa State also received a bye week bump this week, which is somewhat rare for teams that weren't already ranked to begin with. Voters tend to forget about you when you weren't already on the ballot and didn't play. Still, the Cyclones manage to creep ever closer to having that heralded number next to their name, and if they pull off a win against Texas this weekend, I have a feeling they'll finally get it. 
How do you get voters to notice your 3-0 start to the season? You go down to South Beach and beat Miami, that's how. Things have really turned around since the opening week of the season when the Wildcats struggled to beat Eastern Kentucky 10-7. At the moment, receiving a few votes here and there is exactly where Kansas State deserves to be, but if it can pull off a win against Baylor on Saturday, it might sneak into the rankings next week. 
6/5. Stanford
Nothing like a late-night blow out vs. Arizona to bump the Ducks up in the polls (some losses to teams ahead of them helped too). LaMichael James' school-record breaking rushing performance will likely help Oregon get more positive attention nationally as well. They moved up four spots in the AP Poll and three in the Coaches'. 
Dennis Erickson's squad is back in the AP top 25 after dropping out briefly following their loss to Illinois. A thumping of USC to give the Sun Devils their first win over the Trojans since 1999 will tend to do that. The coaches are not as thrilled with their play as voters are, keeping them behind Houston and Ohio State in the "Others receiving votes" category. They'll play lowly Oregon State at home this week, so they should rise with another win and several teams in front of them losing.