My new top 25:
1. USC
2. LSU
3. West Virginia
4. Florida
5. Texas
6. Wisconsin
7. Louisville
8. Oklahoma
9. Virginia Tech
10. Ohio State
11. Cal
12. Georgia
13. UCLA
14. Rutgers
15. Penn State
16. Auburn
17. Nebraska
18. Arkansas
19. TCU
20. Hawaii
21. Tennessee
22. Michigan
23. Boise State
24. Texas A&M
25. Georgia Tech
There is a significant difference in how I will rank my teams vs James - namely, I'm going to try to guess which teams voters will have in their final rankings as well as my personal assessment. However, there are a few things to note about this week's rankings:
#1 - Michigan dropped out of the official polls, but they're still a better offensive team than pretty much anyone below #15. If you look at the box score and recaps, they lost due to their defense being sucky and their special teams failing. Two blocked field goals! Everyone knows how huge special teams is - if they had made both they would still be in the top 10.
#2 - Tennessee had a quality loss on the road to Cal, but by a little too much. At least they didn't get blown out of the water like Cal did last year.
#3 - The mid rankings were the hardest - too many of them played really weak teams and didn't show how they would handle a quality opponent.
#4 - My top 10, should they continue the season in the fashion they showed this week, should remain relatively unchanged.
