Top 25 - October 7th

Shakeup.

1. Ohio State
2. Florida
3. Michigan
4. USC
5. West Virginia
6. Louisville
7. Tennessee
8. Texas
9. Notre Dame
10. California
11. Clemson
12. Auburn
13. Boise State
14. Oregon
15. Georgia Tech
16. Missouri
17. LSU
18. Nebraska
19. Virginia Tech
20. Rutgers
21. Georgia
22. Arkansas
23. Oklahoma
24. Iowa
25. Navy

- Three undefeateds were removed from the race this past weekend: Wake Forest, Georgia, and Auburn. The SEC only proves itself to be the toughest when two undefeateds go down by double-digits, at home.

- The top four teams are the elite of the country. Florida is 2 for 2 in their mid-season gauntlet and now look like a decent bet to make it through unscathed. They also get Florida State at home to end the year. I moved Florida to #2 because if they finish unbeaten then they will have the best resume. I don't like punishing teams, so Ohio State would remain #1, but the Gators would be their opponent in Glendale.

- The next group is only Louisville and West Virginia. Five years ago the Cards' wins over Miami and Kansas State would have been ultra-impressive, but now both of those programs are in decline. West Virginia's best win of 2006 still remains the Sugar Bowl destruction/hang-on against Georgia. Their fall slate has been awful but they've been dispatching teams with ease.

- Tennessee, Texas, and Notre Dame have one loss to one of the above six undefeateds. Interestingly, they've all come at home. Tennessee lost by 1 to Florida, Texas by 17 to Ohio State, and Notre Dame by 26 to Michigan. Because of who and by how much, that is how their ranked.

- California and Clemson are the one-loss scoring machines. California lost to a higher ranked Tennessee and Clemson lost very, very late to Boston College. Either team could be a legit BCS team if they win out, especially because they would each win their conference if they accomplish that.

- Auburn drops just the same as Notre Dame did when they were #2 and got ran over.

- Boise State is knocking on the door for the automatic BCS ranking. The Broncos, in my opinion, still need some top teams to lose (maybe more than once) to avoid being the "token" BCS team.

- Oregon got waxed, but California is that good.

- Georgia Tech is starting to believe they are a conference championship caliber team. They play at Clemson coming up and that game will be a do or die for both.

- Missouri shoots up the rankings for destroying Texas Tech in Lubbock. Two pick sixes surely helped but the Mizzou secondary is for real. I believe. The winner of the Missouri-Nebraska game will be your North champion.

- LSU is the best two-loss team in the country. The key for the rest of the year will be motivation. The Tigers still play Tennessee, Alabama, and Arkansas and with their current situation they would go from championship contenders to fighting for a NYD bowl. Will that be enough to keep the troops amped?

- Arkansas zooms in thanks to the win over Auburn. They now control their own destiny for winning the SEC West. With zero losses in conference the Hogs could lose only to LSU and still go to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game.

- Oklahoma remains ranked because of the Oregon/Pac-10 conference fiasco. Good to see the conference has all the problems worked out, right Ty Willingham?

- Navy gets a decent win at Air Force and they play Rutgers this week. Chance for the gamble on ranking them to prove itself. The game is the only other Top 25 meeting of the week, "rivaling" Florida-Auburn. How many people had this game circled on their calendars in August?

- The week coming up as a whole shapes up to be a challenge for the top teams. Ohio State goes on the road against Michigan State, Florida heads to Auburn for a primetime showdown, and Michigan goes against revenge-seeking Penn State.