Houston should not be 8th, they were unranked last week and although they played great against Okie State, I think they deserve somewhere between 12-18 ranking. Tennessee should not be in the top 20, maybe top 25, but thats about it. Notre Dame should probably drop behind M. Iowa is not a bad choice for 24, but Northwestern squeaked passed Eastern Michigan, I'd drop them for North Carolina. Why did you drop Utah? They are 2-0. Why did you drop Kansas? They are 2-0 as well. Okie State deserves to still be ranked IMO, but I guess thats up to you.

How can they be out? I like them better than UCLA, Tennessee, Auburn, Iowa, Northwestern, and maybe LSU. And, while they didn't beat Alabama, they played a pretty good game at a neutral site against your #2 team!

I really have no idea why Tennessee is ranked at all.

Ditto on the previous Cincinnati as a 15th-20th comment and add to that GT and TCU should at least flip flop with perhaps dropping GT even further down below 15.

Why did you drop them off the planet? You had them at 13 last week, and while they were not that impressive against Uconn, they still won. doesnt seem like that should be a -13

I don't understand how VT isn't ranked and Tennessee is. That's nutz. Northwestern needs to go too. It's a very weird ballot IME. I think you're cruising for a Mr. Bold.

I get the feeling that you are treating Tennessee like they actually won at home against a good team. Drop them out. They lost at home against a mediocre team. I don't know how that moves someone up.

So you dumped Ok State because they lost to Houston, then you basically replaced Ok State with Houston in your rankings? Losing to a #8 team shouldn't drop OK State out of the poll... And if you think USC is #1, Oh State shouldn't drop at all for losing a close game. Why is LSU so low? I'd keep VT or Georgia or Kansas or UNC or etc. in the poll ahead of Tennessee and Northwestern.

Cincinnati seems really high, I would move Missouri up into the top 25 at least, maybe even replace Tenn. with them, also LSU seems too low

Sparty nooooooo!

I don't think you've done anything bad at the top. I certainly don't believe that you should keep #1 at #1 just because they won. (Even if it is a lopsided win.) USC is a good team, and so is OSU. (USC is just better...) That game was supposed to be close. You might have dropped OSU too far. Houston all the way to #8? This seems excessive. If Houston had lost on a last second FG to an OK State team that you have in your top 10, do you rank them at all? Also, OK State drops out? Again, excessive. If you really believe Houston is #8, you can keep OK St in the top 25, IMO. If Houston is only #15-20, then OK St has to drop out. ND #17, UM #22 is too far apart. You can make the argument that at a neutral field, ND would win. But I think 5 spots is too big of a separation. (2 at the most.) Miami (YTM) #11 - Seems high for a team that's just beaten FSU, who isn't the juggernaut that they once were. Low teens - high 20s seems appropriate. Georgia Tech #12 - Close wins vs. Jacksonville St. and Clemson. I'm not impressed. I'd add 10-15 to that number. Nebraska #14 - At least they beat the crap out of bad teams. But they are still bad teams. So Virginia Tech beats the crap out of Marshall, and they get dropped from the rankings? Did they need to drop 100 on the thundering herd to stay ranked? Sorry, this got a little fisk-y. Didn't mean to be that rough. I will say that (I think) we all feel better when Michigan, Notre Dame, Nebraska, Miami (YTM), and other teams like this are ranked. (Especially if they haven't been ranked recently.) College football seems more "normal" when they are ranked.

I am not sure what your criteria is when putting this ballot together, so I can't argue specifics. Do you really think that Northwestern and Iowa are anywhere near Oklahoma, Oklahoma St, or VaTech, all of whom lost to teams you have ranked in the top 10? Oklahoma just laid 64 points of offense with their 2nd string QB, Oklahoma St beat Georgia, and VaTech just crushed Marshall. For those three, I would drop Northwestern, Iowa, and Tennessee and put all of them in the 10-20 range.

Tennessee should be nowhere near the top 25. I also think it is too early to put N'Western in.

I understand it's tough in the first couple weeks, especially comparing 1-1 teams to 2-0 teams that haven't played anyone. But looking at your polling, the first seven out seem to be more worthy than Tennessee, FSU, NW and Iowa, at the least. I think the problem is you seem to have different criteria for different teams. Lose close games to teams you have ranked in the top 10 (OU, OK St.) they fall completely out of the rankings, but FSU and ND each remain about where they were after dropping similarly tough games (even more troubling considering that FSU almost blew the game to Jacksonville St.) You seem to be punishing Utah for a closer than expected win, but have FSU and Iowa still in the polls who won nailbiters vs. FCS teams. You push NW into the poll who needed a late field goal to beat Eastern. I can't say I know really where teams 6-25 should be ranked, but I think you'd be better suited with some consistency in reasoning.

I have no problem with you ranking ND ahead of Michigan. We did barely beat them at home. However, ND should be at most, 2 spots ahead of UM given how close the game was.

The Northwestern for Kansas swap seems strange. NU barely got by EMU and Kansas easily handled a half decent UTEP team with a really good offense.

117 points in two games. Sheesh. I was at the Ga Tech game. That looked to be a pretty good Clemson team minus the 1st Quarter. 12 maybe a little high for Tech but probably okay. As others have said, I'm having trouble with the back half. Iowa, Northwestern, Tennessee are above the likes of Mizzou and Kansas? Above OU, North Carolina, and Utah? Hmmmnnn. Take a look at Florida State, too. They trailed late in the 4th quarter, and scored twice in the last minute to beat Jacksonville State (Football Championship Subdivision) to stave off 0-2 start. This one really puzzles me.

I do not understand how Northwestern--who, in case anyone forgot, came extremely close to losing to EMU at home, the same EMU that got beat bad by Army at home--can be in the top 25. Oklahoma would murder Northwestern. Oklahoma easily took care of business with their #2 QB--they don't deserve to be dropped 5 spots, particularly when that means they fall below Northwestern and Iowa, two teams they would murder. FSU should not be ranked. They are 1-1 and their win was a sickening squeaker against a div-2 team. Incomprehensible. I don't think USC should be at #1. Florida is the defending champ and has done nothing to suggest they won't repeat. And, for the record, I HATE Florida. I'd have it as: FLA, TX, USC, AL. If USC is #1, OSU should be ranked a little higher. If USC can only squeak by OSU, I think that means they would be in serious trouble against TX and FLA. And not to be a BCS homer, but Boise, BYU, and Houston are all overrated. What justifies BYU? They beat OK, a team you now claim isn't even in the top 25? Granted, I think Ok is a top 20 team, so BYU being near the top 10 isn't odd, but I think they're a little high. Boise beat Oregon (who struggled against Purdue at home) and Miami(OH)--worthy of ranking but I don't think the top 10. Houston beat OK State, what's that mean? I don't know but I think a bump from obscurity to the top 10 is a little much, as is OK State's massive drop (if you think Houston is a top 10 team, I don't see how a 20 spot drop of OK State is justified). I think Cal would beat all three of those teams. Vandy was decent last year, I think LSU should be around #15. Am I reading that right? Tenn moves UP two spots after losing to a rebuilding UCLA at home? EDIT: I hope that doesn't read like I'm being a total jerk--I was just trying to be direct and not waffle. I appreciate your good work, Tim.

I think you got a little drop-happy. OK State, OU, Va Tech, and Utah should still be ranked (I'd drop Tenn., Auburn, Iowa and Northwestern). Tennessee especially has no place in the top 25 after losing at home to a very mediocre UCLA team (they, UCLA, are well coached but still very thin talent-wise). I'd flip Florida and SC for now (though I think SC will be better by the end of the year when they finally open up the offense). Also, agree with others that Houston is way too high. Georgia didn't look good against South Carolina so I'm less impressed with the OK State win over them. That being said, I don't think beating probably the 4th best team in the Big 12 earns you a top ten ranking (especially when it took some crazy tipped interceptions to make it happen). Finally, there is NO WAY notre dame should be ranked ahead of us. 38-34. Scoreboard.