Last week’s rank in parentheses:
TOP 25
1. Alabama, 6-0 (1): Will deliver skull-thumping to Tennessee this week, then the same next week to overrated Mississippi State.
2. Oregon, 6-0 (2): Defense continues to be the story.
3. Florida, 6-0 (4): Angry Spurrier returns to The Swamp. As if he needed more motivation to beat ex-team.
4. Notre Dame, 6-0 (5): Luck of the Irish indeed held up on that call against Stanford.
5. USC, 5-1 (6): It wasn’t pretty vs. UW, but it’s about winning not styling and profiling.
6. Kansas State, 6-0 (8): ’Cats with another big road test at West Virginia this weekend.
7. Oregon State, 5-0 (9): Riley awarded own magic show in Vegas once season is over.
8. LSU, 6-1 (10): Need to focus on Texas A&M this week and not look ahead to Alabama.
9. South Carolina, 6-1 (3): Might be some old visors around for ex-Gators coach Spurrier to use vs. Florida.
10. Ohio State, 7-0 (11): NCAA cringes as Ohio State keeps moving up the polls.
11. Oklahoma, 4-1 (12): Smacking of Texas leaves Sooners bored with this week’s game vs. Kansas.
12. Florida State, 6-1 (13): Rebounded well from inexplicable loss to NC State.
13. Stanford, 4-2 (17): Quoting Walter Sobchak from “The Big Lebowski”, “Over the line!” Yet, they marked it zero.
14. Georgia, 5-1 (14): Dawgs get to clean up their act against Kentucky this week.
15. Clemson, 5-1 (16): Next five winnable for Tigers in woeful ACC.
16. West Virginia, 5-1 (7): We’ll assume last week is the outlier and Geno Smith is still one of the most accurate passers.
17. Louisville, 6-0 (18): Giving up 35 points to Pittsburgh last week not a good sign.
18. Boise State, 5-1 (19): Another layup this week against UNLV.
19. Mississippi State, 6-0 (20): Middle Tennessee is the opponent this week. Seriously.
20. Arizona State, 5-1 (21): Big night tonight for Sun Devils with Oregon coming to town.
21. Rutgers, 6-0 (22): Scarlet Knights play Temple this week with Big East lead on the line. Again, seriously.
22. Texas A&M, 5-1 (23): Shootout win at Louisiana Tech easier task than dealing with LSU this weekend.
23. Cincinnati, 5-0 (24): Dusty Baker called in to manage second half last week. Punts on second-and-2.
24. Texas, 4-2 (15): Another big thing in Texas is size of the problems for Horns’ ‘D’.
25. Texas Tech, 5-1 (NR): Red Raiders back in most rankings.
PACific-12
1. Oregon 6-0, 3-0 (1): Game at ASU the last thing Ducks thought might be in their way.
2. USC 5-1, 3-1 (2): Matt Barkley will get plenty of chances to throw against Colorado.
3. Oregon State 5-0, 3-0 (5): Is that Cody Vaz or Johnny U?
4. Stanford 4-2, 2-1 (4): After heartbreak at Notre Dame, tricky game Saturday at Cal.
5. Arizona State 5-1, 3-0 (3): Sun Devils have allowed just 11 TDs, almost as many as Oregon scored against UW.
6. UCLA 5-2, 2-2 (8): Bye week means reporters get same amount of info from team as regular week: little to none.
7. Washington 3-3, 1-2 (6): Will the topic Sunday be UW’s pass offense cured itself? Or, when will it ever cure itself?
8. Arizona 3-3, 0-3 (8): Coming off bye week and three straight losses, Wildcats should be desperate at home.
9. Cal 3-4, 2-2 (10): Each time coach Tedford seems in trouble, he keeps getting out.
10. Utah 2-4, 0-3 (9): Can’t run, can’t throw, can’t win.
11. Washington State 2-5, 0-4 (11): Corpses, drops and quarterback controversy, oh my.
12. Colorado 1-5, 1-2 (12): Kordell Stewart is not walking through that door.
todd.dybas@ thenewstribune.com
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