Last week's rank in parentheses. A note on methodology: BON employs a ranking methodology that relies heavily on resume. As such, this is not a power poll.
This is a first draft of our ballot in the BlogPoll. All suggested revisions will be considered.
1. Ohio State (1) Will it be USC, Florida, or Michigan? The better question might be: will there be any tickets left?
2. Southern California (2) Re-exposed Notre Dame as a fraudulent Top 10 team. Only UCLA stands between USC and a third straight trip to the BCS Title game. Go Bruins.
3. Michigan (3) They're in a holding pattern. A rematch is a bad idea so long as USC wins out. If it's just Michigan and Florida, well... that's more interesting. I prefer the Wolverines on paper, but I'd prefer the Gators in reality. The only way I support a rematch is if both Florida and USC lose.
4. Florida (4) Same story as last week: they're failing to impress the voters with these narrow victories over inferior competition. It doesn't diminish the quality of their season, but it's killing their BCS Title Game chances.
5. LSU (9) Under The Hood nailed this one. Road wins at Tennessee and now Arkansas give the Tigers the big boost on the resume. What's frightening is that LSU should probably have beat Auburn and Florida. This is a very deep and talented... and underachieving... team.
6. Arkansas (5) Tough loss for Arkansas, which suffered through a horrific afternoon from Casey Dick in falling to the Tigers. Damn that McFadden looks near-unstoppable, doesn't he? Makes you wonder why the Razorbacks didn't just ditch quarterback altogether, putting the ball in McFadden's hands on every play.
7. Rutgers (7) Rebounded from the Cincinnati debacle to pound Syracuse. The Scarlet Knights win the Big East title with a win in Morgantown Saturday. Last game for Schiano ?
8. Louisville (8) West Virginia's loss dings their resume, but teams across the country are struggling; at this point, there's not much movement. The Cardinals win the Big East with a win over UConn and a Rutgers loss.
9. Oklahoma (11) Revenge of the rednecks.
10. Boise State (12) If they beat the OU-Nebraska winner in the Fiesta Bowl, I think you have to slot these guys in the Top 5. Congratulations to the Smurfs for another stellar season.
11. Auburn (13) I'm still not a fan of this team, but the win over Florida remains the Gators' sole defeat. Still, the offense is so uninspiring.
12. Wisconsin (15) Insert your Capitol One joke here. I still say it's ridiculous that this team is ranked #7 in the BCS. I don't care how many wins they have; only one of them actually counts for anything. A note to Texas fans: our schedule next season rivals Wisconsin's this year in terms of patheticness.
13. Notre Dame (6) Exposed! (Again!) Brady Quinn was pretty solid Saturday night, but on the whole, the Irish were significantly outmatched by USC. As they were by Michigan. SI's Peter King nailed it in this week's MMQ:
"e. The BCS will embarrass itself if it puts Notre Dame in one of the four non-championship BCS games. Two big games for Notre Dame this year: Michigan at home, and at USC. Michigan 47, N.D. 21. USC 44, N.D. 24.
f. The BCS will embarrass itself. We all know that."
14. Tennessee (17) The Vols have settled in to a ranking that feels about right for what I've seen from them. They've looked quite good at times this season, but were lacking in just a few significant areas that prevented them from being a Top 10 team. Definitely a nice bounceback from last season's disaster, though.
15. Virginia Tech (19) Playing good football at the right time, but for the Hokies, it's too little, too late, in terms of the BCS. Would make for an interesting opponent in the Gator Bowl, should Texas receive an invitation.
16. Nebraska (21) The Huskers are starting to roll, and Texas' collapse sets up a (for everyone but Longhorn fans) terrific rivalry matchup that features the Big 12's two hottes teams. Winner goes BCS Bowling.
17. BYU (20) John Beck's thrilling touchdown pass keeps BYU's impressive season rolling along. They're not world beaters, but you have to respect that passing game. Sort of like...
18. Hawaii (23) Beat the visiting Boilermakers to improve to 10-2. Will stay at home for the Hawaii bowl. Now there's a bowl I wouldn't mind Texas sinking into.
19. Wake Forest (25) The resume's not stellar, but it's been a lot of fun watching Wake win the Atlantic Division. Interested in heading to Jacksonville for the ACC Championship game? PWD says it shouldn't break your bank.
20. Texas (10) Indefensible home, senior-day loss sends Texas down the rankings. Maddeningly, Texas has wins over both Big 12 title game participants, but you can't lose to Kansas State and Texas A&M and expect a much higher ranking than this. Really, you can't.
21. California (22) Another Holiday Bowl for the Bears? Looks like it. If the Huskers beat Oklahoma, Cal would likely face A&M. If the Huskers lose to OU, Nebraska would probably be headed to San Diego.
22. Boston College (16) Will Tom O'Brien ever get this team over the hump? Does anyone outside Boston care?
23. West Virginia (14) Last week, I wrote, "It's November 20th and West Virginia still lacks a quality win." The same is true today, but they now can add a nasty wart to the resume. Should they be ranked at all?
24. Georgia Tech (18) Once more, I turn your attention to PWD, who is petitioning for four more years of Reggie Ball. Classic.
25. Texas A&M (NR) I guess. Hey, they deserve credit for Friday's win. Still. Okay, can't think about it anymore.
--PB--