Rank	Team	Delta
1	Ohio State	—
2	Michigan	—
3	Arkansas	5
4	Boise State	6
5	Rutgers	7
6	Florida	1
7	Southern Cal	4
8	Notre Dame	1
9	Wisconsin	5
10	Wake Forest	6
11	West Virginia	2
12	Louisville	9
13	LSU	2
14	Texas	10
15	Georgia Tech	4
16	Brigham Young	5
17	Oklahoma	1
18	Virginia Tech	4
19	Maryland	6
20	California	15
21	Boston College	2
22	Auburn	16
23	Hawaii	3
24	Tennessee	7
25	Nebraska	1

Dropped Out: Oregon (#20), Oregon State (#24).

(** NB: I didn’t receive the ballot of one of our voters in time to use for our entry **)

It’s funny, we college football fans are fond of saying, “the rankings are a mess right now, but we’ll know more next week.” We usually say that during the first few weeks of the season. This year we’ve said each week. Things are still in flux, but the two teams at the top are no brainers.

Again, we’ll know more this time next week.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Ohio State	—
2	Michigan	—
3	Louisville	2
4	Texas	—
5	California	1
6	Auburn	1
7	Florida	3
8	Arkansas	1
9	Notre Dame	6
10	Boise State	1
11	Southern Cal	3
12	Rutgers	1
13	West Virginia	10
14	Wisconsin	2
15	LSU	1
16	Wake Forest	3
17	Tennessee	9
18	Oklahoma	3
19	Georgia Tech	3
20	Oregon	3
21	Brigham Young	3
22	Virginia Tech	4
23	Boston College	6
24	Oregon State	2
25	Maryland	1

Dropped Out: Texas A&M (#18), Clemson (#20), Tulsa (#25).

A few thoughts on our poll —

Notre Dame gained 6 spots because it was mysteriously absent from one of our voter’s ballot for a few weeks and just recently reappeared. I think it was punishment for almost losing to MSU. I guess our voter is over that now.

Another voter deemed Oregon State’s victory over USC enough to give them a solid rating, even with three loses. They did beat an okay ASU team but lost to an equally okay team in Wazzou. I’m personally not sold on them.

One team I was sad to see not make it into our top 25 is Hawai’i. They are throwing up HUGE offensive numbers against everyone. At 7-2 (losing by less than a touchdown to both Alabama and Boise) they are worthy of a top 25 ranking.

Any other thoughts?

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Ohio State	—
2	Michigan	—
3	West Virginia	—
4	Texas	1
5	Louisville	1
6	California	3
7	Auburn	—
8	Tennessee	2
9	Arkansas	3
10	Florida	1
11	Boise State	2
12	Wisconsin	4
13	Rutgers	1
14	Southern Cal	10
15	Notre Dame	—
16	LSU	1
17	Boston College	1
18	Texas A&M	1
19	Wake Forest	2
20	Clemson	12
21	Oklahoma	2
22	Georgia Tech	2
23	Oregon	3
24	Brigham Young	1
25	Tulsa	1

Dropped Out: Nebraska (#20), Missouri (#22).

Not a lot to say this week. Big upset for USC and disappointed let-down by Clemson account for their drastic drops. Other than that, just a little reshuffling. I have to give props to SYR for ranking Tulsa high enough to get into this week’s ballot. I hadn’t been paying attention to them, but they’re quietly sitting at 7-1. Definitely not world beaters, but good enough for him to include them in his poll.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Ohio State	—
2	Michigan	—
3	West Virginia	—
4	Southern Cal	—
5	Texas	—
6	Louisville	—
7	Auburn	—
8	Clemson	5
9	California	—
10	Tennessee	2
11	Florida	1
12	Arkansas	—
13	Boise State	1
14	Rutgers	3
15	Notre Dame	4
16	Wisconsin	4
17	LSU	1
18	Boston College	3
19	Texas A&M	3
20	Nebraska	1
21	Wake Forest	2
22	Missouri	2
23	Oklahoma	3
24	Georgia Tech	9
25	Brigham Young	—

Dropped Out: Oregon (#16).

Games we watched:
Clemson vs Georgia Tech
Iowa Vs Michigan
Alabama vs Tennesee
UCLA vs. Notre Dame
Rutgers vs. Pittsburgh

The consensus from the MotSaG bloggers is that outside of the top 2 or 3, everyone has different opinions. SYR is having problems with the 2-loss teams and sportsMonkey still thinks USC has looked stronger than Michigan so far.

Truth is, we could care less about the other 23 teams and what they do right now. We’re all waiting for November 18th when #2 Michigan comes into OUR HOUSE and is introduced to the Troy Smith Express.

Choo choo!

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Ohio State	—
2	Michigan	1
3	West Virginia	1
4	Southern Cal	1
5	Texas	2
6	Louisville	—
7	Auburn	4
8	Tennessee	—
9	California	—
10	Florida	8
11	Notre Dame	1
12	Arkansas	1
13	Clemson	1
14	Boise State	3
15	Georgia Tech	—
16	Oregon	2
17	Rutgers	3
18	LSU	3
19	Nebraska	4
20	Wisconsin	4
21	Boston College	5
22	Texas A&M	4
23	Wake Forest	3
24	Missouri	5
25	Brigham Young	1

Dropped Out: Iowa (#14), Georgia (#16), Virginia Tech (#22), Oklahoma (#25).

Again many games were watched. Again I think Sylvester-Yon Rambo may have watched all of them.

Not much to say here — I feel dirty having Texas A&M and Wake Forest in the top 25, but there they are.

Now that the SEC is done beating up on each other, it’s time for the Big East to cannibalize itself. It could happen!

Those darn five SEC teams (LSU/Auburn/Florida/Arkansas/Tennessee) could probably beat each other on any given day. What a group. I’m not saying the SEC is the best conference in the league, but without question it has the most parity. (sportsMonkey)

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Ohio State	—
2	Florida	4
3	Michigan	1
4	West Virginia	1
5	Southern Cal	2
6	Louisville	1
7	Texas	2
8	Tennessee	6
9	California	7
10	Notre Dame	2
11	Auburn	9
12	Clemson	3
13	Arkansas	13
14	Iowa	4
15	Georgia Tech	2
16	Georgia	5
17	Boise State	2
18	Oregon	8
19	Missouri	2
20	Rutgers	—
21	LSU	13
22	Virginia Tech	—
23	Nebraska	—
24	Wisconsin	2
25	Oklahoma	12

Dropped Out: Texas Tech (#24), Wake Forest (#25).

As a whole, we watched a lot of games. Sylvester-Yon Rambo watched all of them, I think.

A couple comments:

One of our voters didn’t include Arkansas in their top 25. See below for their reasoning. (I don’t agree, I think he should have Arkansas there, but that’s my opinion) Houston Nutt did forget West Virginia last year, so…

We actually have Michigan and Florida tied for number 2, but since that won’t work with the system, I put Florida at #2 and Michigan at #3. Alphabetical order and all…

A few comments from the other MotSaG’ers:

Arkansas’s ranking is based on how far I decided to drop Auburn. I know I the AP & Coaches Poll a team can lose and still be ranked above the team that beat them. I don’t get that logic. Since Arkansas and Auburn have the same record of 5-1, Arkansas gets ranked above Auburn in my poll even if the jump is huge. Plus I watched the whole game and Arkansas looked good. (Zeke)

After the third week in a row that USC struggled against an unranked opponent, they dropped 2 spots. Five may even be a little high, but they are still undefeated. (Zeke)

Florida is unquestionably #2 right now. They’ve beaten Tennessee, Alabama, and LSU in three of the past four weeks, and their “breather” opponents were totally destroyed. Night game at Auburn this weekend, though… so they’re still in the thick of it. If they don’t lose in the next two weeks, they’re going to Arizona in January. (sportsMonkey)

UM had a decent game against MSU, but again, it’s so hard to tell what the _real_ UM is. They haven’t played _anyone_ yet. One ranked team, and that team (ND) completely folded, so it’s difficult to judge how good UM is. I think they’re better than USC, though, so I have them ahead of the Trojans. Finally, this Saturday and next we’ll get to see UM tested. Night game at PSU, then Iowa. (sportsMonkey)

Tennessee jumped into my top five. I’m a little uncomfortable with jumps that huge, but after seeing how nearly-unstoppable Florida is, and how Tennessee’s only loss was by one point to Florida, it seemed obvious to me that the Vols would probably beat the WVU/Louisville combo, and probably Texas too. So I had to bump them up. (sportsMonkey)

I really wanted to put Arkansas in [Sure you don’t want to reconsider? -ed], I feel that a one-loss team that crushes the #2 team in the country should be ranked. I’m not sure where, though. I don’t feel right about bumping Penn St. – they lost to the #1 team in the country, and won at Minnesota last week. I guess for now, Arkansas is my #26. If UM beats JoePa this weekend, then maybe I’ll bump Arkansas up. (sportsMonkey)

We took a crack at Cross Cyed’s BlogPoll questions:

1. We’re about halfway through the season at this point. Have you gotten a gauge on your team’s chances this year to make noise in conference play, or is the team still a total freaking mystery?

We are an Ohio State blog, nothing more to say. (Zeke and company)

2. Many of the bigger conferences such as the Big 12 and the Big 10 use a rotating schedule to determine conference games each year. What are your feelings on the current system used in your conference? Does a rotating schedule work? Has your team always caught a break?

I don’t mind the rotating schedule to determine the winner of the conference. If you have a conference championship it is one more huge game to play and obviously one more chance to lose at the end of the season. Since the Buckeyes never have Michigan or Penn State rotate off their schedule, I would argue they never “catch a break”. Michigan will be one of the two most difficult games for Big Ten teams (the other is no doubt OSU) and Penn State is arguable the third toughest test in the Big Ten (especially in Happy Valley). (Zeke)

3. In an effort to get to know more about college football, both nationally and regionally, what have you done to expand your college football horizons? Have you caught yourself watching games from other conferences, or taking an interest in games that show up on ESPNU or Fox Sports?

I watch as much college football as I can. Simple as that. (Zeke)

I’m with Zeke here, I have always watched as much football as I can (and the wife will let me). I have started being more critical of other teams, though, seeing as we’re part of the BlogPoll, where as before I just watched without much interest in performance. (el Kaiser)

4. What would you change about the current exposure your team gets, either on the radio, television, print, or on the internet?

This is hard question to answer if you actually live in the town when your team is located. Here in Columbus the Buckeyes are given ultimate positive exposure. I understand there is a negative perception that accompanies the Buckeyes nationally, but when you win as much as the Buckeyes do, who cares? HWSNBN left a bad taste in many people’s mouths including Buckeye fans in Columbus. The bad taste lingered for a while. It was 4 years ago and Columbus has moved on. People around the nation, including the media, need to move on as well. The 2006 version of the Buckeyes is a special team. If people don’t wake up and enjoy what they are seeing this year, they are gong to miss one of the greatest college football teams in recent memory. (Zeke)

5. During last Saturday’s game against I-AA Northern Iowa, Iowa State trailed 21-7 at the half. The Cyclone Marching Band played a variety of songs from animated shows, including selections from South Park titled “Blame Canada” and “What Would Brian Boitano Do?” Needless to say, the Cyclones outscored the Panthers 21-6 in the second half. If you had to pick one song for your favorite team to rally to, what would it be? Because we all know what they did for the 2005 White Sox, Journey and “Don’t Stop Believing” are not to be considered.

Hmmm, tough question. I think I’ll have to go with “Going the Distance” by Cake. Because right now, the Buckeyes are going the distance. (el Kaiser)

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Ohio State	—
2	Auburn	—
3	Southern Cal	1
4	Michigan	2
5	West Virginia	2
6	Florida	1
7	Louisville	—
8	Louisiana State	3
9	Texas	1
10	Oregon	2
11	Georgia	2
12	Notre Dame	2
13	Oklahoma	3
14	Tennessee	1
15	Clemson	4
16	Cal	2
17	Georgia Tech	7
18	Iowa	9
19	Boise State	1
20	Rutgers	1
21	Missouri	2
22	Virginia Tech	12
23	Nebraska	1
24	Texas Tech	2
25	Wake Forest	1

Dropped Out: TCU (#17), Purdue (#25).

Games we watched:
OSU/Iowa
Florida/Alabama
TCU/BYU
Rutgers/South Florida
Illinois/MSU
Auburn/South Carolina

A few thoughts:

Teams #3-6 are pretty much interchangeable, only separated by a point or two in our 4-man poll. Michigan has steadily climbed to #3. I know I’m in the minority of Buckeye fans with this kind of thinking, but I’m glad the Wolverines are doing well. I’d love to be able to say we beat three top five teams this year. That being said, I’m still counting on Lloyd remembering who he is and choking in Happy Valley. That will be a sad day indeed.

Virginia Tech fell the furthest after their loss to Georgia Tech, which looks like it could be a good team. Which makes figuring out Notre Dame frustrating. They lost to a great Michigan team, but what about GT? They played ND tough. Illinois beat Michigan State, who had Notre Dame down for the count. So Notre Dame is still an enigma to me.

Good luck to Florida for the next three weeks. That’s gonna be a tough stretch. Ouch.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Ohio State	—
2	Auburn	—
3	West Virginia	1
4	Southern Cal	1
5	Florida	—
6	Michigan	—
7	Louisville	—
8	Texas	—
9	Iowa	3
10	Virginia Tech	—
11	Louisiana State	—
12	Oregon	1
13	Georgia	4
14	Notre Dame	1
15	Tennessee	1
16	Oklahoma	3
17	TCU	3
18	Cal	1
19	Clemson	1
20	Boise State	6
21	Rutgers	3
22	Nebraska	1
23	Missouri	3
24	Georgia Tech	2
25	Purdue	1

Dropped Out: Arizona State (#18), Boston College (#21), Michigan State (#22), Penn State (#25).

Games we watched (all or in part):
OSU/Penn St.
Wisconsin/UM
ND/MSU
West Va./ECU
Purdue/Minnesota

Thoughts:

We still can’t settle on USC or West Virginia for #3 and #4, but neither exactly blew us away with their victories over sub-par teams. Everyone else moved a little here and there, but nothing major.

According to our poll, #1 OSU will meet up with #9 Iowa, their second matchup with a top ten team. They will finish with Michigan, who, if all goes according to plan, could be as high as #3. That would be three top ten teams OSU will have played (and hopefully defeated).

Purdue has quietly managed to go unbeaten, so we think they deserve to be ranked. Their upcoming matchup with Notre Dame could end up being the most exciting game of the week. Of Weis’s four losses, three have been to Big T(elev)en teams – and he barely escaped another one last Saturday. We seem to have his number. Purdue and ND are ranked 10th and 55th, respectively, in overall offense; and 105th and 80th, respectively, in overall defense; so I expect NBC will be happy to broadcast a very high-scoring game. – sportsMonkey

We have until Wednesday to edit our entry, so if you see anything you think is amiss, let us know.