Anyone else having trouble filling out the bottom of their ballots? I keep waiting for teams to impress me, and for the most part, they're just not doing it. It really makes me want to start filling out a Mumme Poll ballot instead.
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| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama | |
| 2 | Florida | |
| 3 | Cincinnati |
 2 |
| 4 | Texas |
2 |
| 5 | Southern Cal |
2 |
Yep, still SEC at the top. Did Florida look flawed in fumbling around with Arkansas at home? You bet they did. Still, their season at this point is at least as impressive as Cincinnati's or Texas', and LSU on the road is a better win than anything either the Bearcats or the Longhorns can boast.
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | Boise State |
 2 |
| 7 | Iowa |
2 |
| 8 | Miami (Florida) |
3 |
| 9 | Georgia Tech |
6 |
| 10 | Oregon |
3 |
| 11 | Virginia Tech |
8 |
So, Georgia Tech beat Virginia Tech at home to vault the Yellowjackets into our top 10. Of course, we now have exhibit #3257 as to why the associative property doesn't apply to football: Virginia Tech already has a home win over Miami, who has a home win over Georgia Tech. You want to try and sort those three teams out? Be my guest. Be sure to back up your argument with convincing evidence.
Elsewhere, Boise stumbles a couple spots after it struggles to put away Tulsa on the road, while Oregon moves up a few spots after soundly defeating the ever-fearsome BYE.
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | LSU |
2 |
| 13 | TCU |
5 |
| 14 | Oklahoma State |
9 |
| 15 | Texas Tech |
What's Oklahoma State doing in the Top 15? A nice thrashing of Missouri sure helps, but I submit to you that it's mostly because all of the teams below them have been even less impressive than the Cowboys. On the whole, the Big XII has really failed to impress so far this year (Texas might be really, really good, though I don't know how you could tell...).
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 16 | Brigham Young |
1 |
| 17 | Penn State |
1 |
| 18 | Arizona | |
| 19 | Pittsburgh | |
| 20 | South Carolina |
2 |
Combined, these five teams have just one win over team currently in our Top 25: Arizona over Central Michigan. The most impressive wins to date for this group are still BYU's win over Oklahoma and ... uh, I guess that win over CMU. Pitt, Penn State and Arizona have yet to even play a team that was ranked at the time of the game. South Carolina's defensive struggle vs. #1 Alabama is probably the best reason to rank the Gamecocks at this point, as that win over no-longer-ranked Ole Miss probably won't carry much weight at season's end. A thoroughly 'meh' group...and we've still got 5 more to go.
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 21 | Houston | |
| 22 | Ohio State |
10 |
| 23 | Central Michigan | |
| 24 | Arkansas |
1 |
| 25 | Notre Dame | |
| Last week's ballot | ||
Welcome back, Houston. Welcome back, Notre Dame. Welcome, Central Michigan. Somehow, Ohio State is still ranked...don't look at me, I didn't do it. Losing to a previously 1-5 Purdue team could be considered grounds for relegation to Division I-AA, let alone ejection from the Top 25. Arkansas at least displayed moxie in nearly knocking off Florida on the road, which is why they move up in this week's poll.
Dropped Out: Nebraska (#14), South Florida (#16), Wisconsin (#19), Kansas (#20), Oklahoma (#21), Auburn (#24).
And some teams lost, and dropped out of our Top 25. Turns out Kansas wasn't that good in the first place; losing to Colorado is just as bad as losing to Purdue. At least they didn't lose 31-10 on their home field (I'm looking at you, Nebraska...). We probably shouldn't have ranked Auburn last week; the mistake has been corrected, those responsible have been sacked.