Thanks as always to Lee for drafting it — his version and explanation after my draft ballot. As usual, I made some changes which I will note. Still time to point out errors, ommissions or general cluelessness
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ohio State | — |
| 2 | Michigan | — |
| 3 | Louisville |  2 |
| 4 | Texas | 2 |
| 5 | Florida |  1 |
| 6 | California | 3 |
| 7 | Auburn | — |
| 8 | West Virginia | 5 |
| 9 | Southern Cal | 1 |
| 10 | Arkansas | 2 |
| 11 | LSU | 5 |
| 12 | Rutgers | 2 |
| 13 | Notre Dame | 2 |
| 14 | Tennessee | 6 |
| 15 | Boise State | 2 |
| 16 | Wisconsin | 1 |
| 17 | Wake Forest | 2 |
| 18 | Oklahoma | — |
| 19 | Georgia Tech | 2 |
| 20 | Boston College | 5 |
| 21 | Maryland | 5 |
| 22 | Nebraska | 4 |
| 23 | Texas A&M | 1 |
| 24 | Virginia Tech | — |
| 25 | Tulsa | 2 |
Here’s what Lee originally submitted:
1. Ohio State: No, the close win over Illinois wasn’t simply a case of the Buckeyes looking past the 2-8 Illini. Ron Zook and his defense did a skillful job, in the second half, of exploiting what has been Ohio State’s weakness all year – a large, talented offensive line that can’t adjust to a single stunt or loop. The penetration that the Illini got on Troy Smith and Antonio Pittman had better be a wake-up call, because the best front seven in college football is now less than two weeks away. Of course, Tressel’s unimaginative play-calling didn’t help things either, but I tend to believe that he just doesn’t want to show the Wolverines too much. On a side note, Ron Zook has done a tremendous job at Illinois this year, nearly beating not only Ohio State, but Penn State, Wisconsin, and Indiana as well. Really, the only teams that have really been able to physically dominate the Illini are, well, Rutgers and Syracuse. Y’all pardon me while I let my Big East bias shine… Speaking of which, I disagree with Pitt TE Darrell Strong’s assertion that the Panthers are, indeed, number one.
2. Michigan: No, the close win over Ball State wasn’t simply a case of the Wolverines looking past the 3-7 Cardinals. Ball State exploited what has been Michigan’s weakness most of the year – an inability to score enough points to put an opponent away. The dropped catches and putting the reserves in too early didn’t help either. Of course, Carr’s unimaginative play-calling didn’t help, but I tend to believe that he just doesn’t want to show the Buckeyes too much. And yes, the repetition between how I described #1 and #2 is intentional.
3. Louisville: To me, the gap between the first two teams and #3 has narrowed this week. Louisville’s offense looked balanced and great Thursday night, admittedly against a porous WVU defense and pitiful Mountaineer secondary. The Cardinals’ run defense was suspect, admittedly against the most explosive ground attack in the country. So yeah, there were some weaknesses here. But not much worse than the weaknesses that Ohio State and Michigan showcased yesterday. 354 yards through the air and 114 on the ground is nothing to laugh at against anybody, let alone WVU. Yeah, I think that the Cardinals would have a chance against the top two, so long as they decide once and for all how they want to pronounce the name of their city (even Pitino calls it Loo-ee-ville, you hicks).
4. Texas: Everybody keeps talking about an Ohio State-Michigan rematch in the title game, but nobody talks about an Ohio State-Texas rematch there. If Louisville loses to Rutgers and Ohio State is fortunate enough to make it past Michigan (and it will take some fortune), it very well could happen. This is not the same team that lost to the Buckeyes back on Septbember 9th. Colt McCoy has come of age a lot faster than Juice Williams has, with career-high 346 yards on 23-of-29 passing against the Cowpokes. Perhaps the most offensively explosive team in the top five. Perhaps even better than Louisville. But, alas, Louisville is undefeated.
5. Florida: Yeah, Vandy challenged them (especially on defense), but the Commodores challenged the Wolverines in the Big House too. And a win on special teams is still a win. A legitimate top-five team and national championship contender (if Louisville falls).
6. Auburn: (Yawn) A typically unimpressive win, this team against Arkansas Freakin’ State (it’s in Jonesboro, and you bet your @$$ I had to look that up). OK defense. Struggling offense. Can’t put them above Florida.
[And I couldn’t actually move them up for whacking on a 1-AA team, but with the big demotion to WVU, that meant a little something extra for Cal.]
7. California: A good win against a game UCLA squad. Nate Longshore and his offense continued to shine, completing 20 of 24 passes for 266 yards and three touchdowns. Their offense is probably better than Auburn’s or Florida’s. I ranked them just behind these two, though, because of their defense and because Cal plays in the PAC-10 (perhaps unfair). That being said, I won’t argue with anybody who puts Cal as high as #5. The Bears are clearly the class of the PAC-10.
8. West Virginia: Why this high? Because if Slaton had held on to the ball a little better, the Mountaineers would be in the top three. Really, that’s all it might have taken. Yeah, the secondary sucked, and we all knew it would. But what an offense! And how much of a stud is Pat White for being able to run it all by himself for a successful drive without Slaton? On a neutral site, WVU could realistically beat any of the seven teams ranked above them.
9. USC: The second best team in the PAC-10 took out its frustrations on hapless Stanford (how’s the new gig going, Walt?). I am not impressed, nor have I been since they clocked Arkansas in the first week of the season… which, incidentally, is the only reason I have them ranked ahead of…
[You know, that Nov. 18 against Cal is looking mighty big right now. Going to be a great day/night of football.]
10. Arkansas: Nice win in Columbia. The Hogs just keep perking along, winning the SEC West. Big tests in the next three weeks against Tennessee and LSU will tell us how good they really are, though.
11. LSU: Great win in Neyland Stadium. Doucet and Russell looked the way I expected them to look when the season started.
[I thought Les Miles was going to slug the sideline reporter after halftime when she reminded him that his teams have sucked on the road against ranked teams in the second half.]
12. Rutgers: I struggle with where to put Rutgers just as much as everybody else does, whether they’ll admit it or not. Rutgers is a tough, physical team that belongs more with Wisconsin in the Big Ten than with Pitt in the Big East. Ray Rice and the o-line he runs behind are as good as any in the country. They had a bye this week. We’ll see how good they really are Thursday night against the Cardinals. But for now, this is honestly where I think the undefeated Scarlet Knights belong: I think the 11 teams in front of them are better, and the 12 behind them are worse. Of course, my opinion is fluid, though. If Rutgers beats Louisville, I’ll have no problem vaulting them above a few one-loss SEC teams because, at that point, they will have proven themselves to be better than I think they are right now.
13. Notre Dame: Wow. Brady Quinn connects on 23 of 35 passes for 349 yards and four touchdowns against 1-8 North Carolina, and the media starts handing him the Heisman again. What were his stats against Michigan again?
14. Wisconsin: It’s easy to overlook this juggernaut with a huge offensive line, huge tailback (P.J. Hill), and tough defense. Like most Wisconsin teams, they don’t have the flash that gets you noticed. Stucco is a good quarterback who doesn’t make mistakes, but no Troy Smith or Colt McCoy. The wideouts are OK. Still, nobody wants to play this punishing, blue collar team. Lord knows Joe Paterno didn’t (incidentally, that made my 35 year-old knee ache… yeeouch!).
[They are good, but I couldn’t move them this far up.]
15. Wake Forest: Great win on the road on Chestnut Hill. Currently, the class of the ACC. And yes, that’s at least the fifth team that I’ve said that about over the past two months (Georgia Tech, Clemson, and Virginia Tech being others). Either my rankings are a train wreck, or the ACC is. You decide.
[Clearly Lee didn’t watch the game, or was just drunk. It was a home game for Wake. I would love to move them up this high, but I just couldn’t do it. They have one of the best damn coaches out there — now he knows how to gameplan and use personnel — but the injuries are really mounting.]
16. Tennessee: A good team that just has trouble playing big games at home. The opposite of, well, LSU (a good team that couldn’t win big games on the road… until yesterday). Nice defense on LSU’s last drive, by the way.
[As much fun as it would be to put them this far down, they lost by only 3 to a damn good team, and with their back-up QB playing the entire second half.]
17. Boise State: Crushed Fresneck State on Wednesday (Wednesday?) night. Just keep on winning against, well, nobody in particular, and you may get into a BCS game… not that anyone outside of Idaho will care…
[This would be a 4 spot drop for still winning. Even putting them where I did was a slight drop. Can’t let them go this far. Oh, no, lots will care if BSU goes bowling. The ACC will be humiliated and the Big East rule of evaluating questionable conferences rankings will tick against the ACC for a second straight year.]
18. Oklahoma: Good, close win in one of my favorite tough environments, based on yet another gutsy call by Bob Stoops (still a great sideline general). Oh, what this season could have been…
19. Oregon: Impressive win against Ty Willingham’s scrappy Washington squad. The Ducks may beat USC, but they’re obviously not in the same class as Cal this year.
[I swear, Lee is doing this to piss me off. I said Oregon was out of the top-25 until they actually beat a ranked team. Beat the Trojans this week and we’ll talk.]
20. Georgia Tech: Heck, even Akron can beat N.C. State at home. Still, the Wreck is 7-2 and Reggie Ball and Calvin Johnson are for real. Clearly the class of the ACC’s weaker division (the “Coastal,†and incidentally, non-geographical divisions suck… what’s so hard about ACC North and ACC South? It works for the Big XII. And I don’t have to look up which division Nebraska or Texas are in).
21. Virginia Tech: Beating Miami is even less impressive than beating N.C. State these days, and Tech had to work to do even that much. Should easily finish in second place in the ACC’s pitiful “Coastal†division.
[And that’s why I won’t put them this high. I definitely won’t put them above a BC team that smacked them around a few weeks ago. I watched that Miami game, VT has a good running back and little else on offense.]
22. Boston College: Losing to Wake Forest at home puts them in the also-ran category of the ACC’s tougher division (the “Atlanticâ€). Still, a solid squad. Fortunately, they no longer have to compete against powerhouses like WVU and Rutgers.
23. Maryland: Terps QB Sam Hallenbach played out of his mind in a stunning upset over Clemson at Clemson. I never saw the Turtles’ resurgence coming. I hate to credit Ralph Friedgen, but I guess I’ll have to (must be the Under Armor “protecting his houseâ€). They’re in the thick of the chase in the ACC’s tougher division. And to think I wasn’t impressed by WVU’s crushing these guys at the time.
24. Nebraska: Thumped Missouri, my one-time Big XII North favorite. Still, it didn’t impress many people now. Big game in College Station this Saturday will tell us more about the Blackshirts.
25. Texas A&M: Tough loss against Missouri. But they were in it to the end. As an Aggie would say, they just ran out of time.
